The German lapped in 1m25.093s, still slower than his lightning fast Friday time of 1m24.718s which most observers believe was set on an ultra light fuel load. The reigning World Champion was certainly pushing though, and had a couple of off track moments during his 13 laps in the second session.

For the first time all weekend, it wasn't a Ferrari 1-2. Second fastest this time was the Williams-BMW of Juan Pablo Montoya, the Colombian stopping the clocks at 1m25.255s. His teammate Ralf Schumacher was third on 1m25.628s , the pair of them only completing nine laps each as they preserve their engines under the new rules.

Rubens Barrichello was fourth fastest with a 1m25.649, with Fernando Alonso fifth in the Renault, and Olivier Panis an impressive sixth in the Toyota.With the general dismay at the speed of the Ferraris on the opening day of practice in Melbourne, in the final session before qualifying it was interesting to see the top 10 covered by just 1.1s.

Jarno Trulli in the second Renault was seventh fastest, with local hero Mark Webber eighth best in the Jaguar. In ninth and 10th places were the McLaren-Mercedes pair, Kimi Raikkonen just edging out David Coulthard.

Jenson Button was the fastest of the much-fancied BAR-Hondas in 11th, 1.4s slower than Schumacher's best.

Now we head into the next of the unknowns of the 2004 season, with new qualifying ruls giving the potential for an unlikely grid, and putting more pressure on the drivers not to make a mistake.