Although the result was the same, another Ferrari one-two for Schumacher and Barrichello, at least it was closer this time – basically because the Scuderia's cars were slower. Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW) was only a tenth away from Rubens this time, and the Williams was the quickest car through most speed traps.

M Schumacher's 1m25.786s was some way off the 1m24.718s he achieved yesterday, which had caused much consternation elsewhere in the paddock. Again, neither Ferrari embarked on any long runs, however, so it was impossible to gauge how much fuel was in the red machines. Michael also briefly took to the grass at one point, as he did yesterday, but no harm was done to his car.

Ralf Schumacher was a couple of tenths behind his Williams team-mate in fourth, ahead of David Coulthard. The McLarens didn't venture out of the pits until there was less than 10 minutes remaining, but they looked quick when they were on track. Kimi Raikkonen was seventh fastest, less than a tenth away from the quickest Renault of Fernando Alonso.

Mark Webber was another to wait until the end of the session and banged in the eighth fastest time in his Jaguar, with the second Renault of Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button's BAR rounding out the top 10.

Toyota duo Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta were next up, and the latter was the only car to grind to a halt during this session. The Saubers of Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa were 13th and 14th respectively, ahead of Takuma Sato's BAR. The latter got embroiled in an entertaining 'race' with Montoya for a lap or so, before finally deferring to the obviously faster Williams.

Christian Klien was 16th in the second Jaguar, very nearly 2secs slower than the impressive Webber, but youth outpaced experience in the Jordan camp, where Giorgio Pantano – who showed excellent track manners when faster cars bore down on him – pipped Nick Heidfeld. The latter also endured the scariest of a number of high-speed grassy excursions at the 125mph Waite right-hand kink, his EJ14 tankslapping on the exit of the bend but the German just held on.

In Minardi land, Gimmi Bruni outshone Zsolt Baumgartner by just under a second. The Hungarian blotted his copybook with a gravelly off at Turn 3.

The session began overcast, but the sun broke through midway through the 45 minute period, despite early fears of rain. The final session before qualifying starts at 12:15am GMT.