Trulli, who had set the pace in every session so far this weekend, looked set to continue this form after jumping to the top of the timesheets with ten minutes of the session to go. However, Barrichello put in a late flying lap to go fastest by just 0.012s.

Michael Schumacher missed the first 20 minutes of the session whilst his mechanics worked frantically to repair the mechanical failure that halted him on his installation lap in first practice this morning.

When the German finally got on track, his first flying lap took him straight to the top of the timesheets, showing that the lost track-time hasn't affected his outright speed too badly. Although later outpaced by Barrichello and Trulli, Schumacher's time was just 0.027s off the pace.

Juan Pablo Montoya was the lead Williams in fourth. Team-mate Ralf Schumacher was only ninth fastest, after crashing midway through the session. The German out braked himself heading into turn nine, slithering across the soaking wet grass before slamming into the barriers. He was quickly out of the car, and appeared unhurt.

The McLaren duo finally bothered to complete some laps, with David Coulthard fifth, just ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. Olivier Panis was seventh for Toyota, ahead of Jaguar's Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso found himself down in tenth, losing track time after a spin early in the session.

Giancarlo Fisichella spun his Jordan early in the session, which he ended 17th fastest. Meanwhile, Cristiano da Matta's session ended a few minutes early when he suffered what appeared to be a Toyota engine failure. He was 13th quickest.