Pizzonia, Heidfeld, Montoya and Ralf stayed out whilst everyone else returned to their respective garages.

1:27.617 and Antonio set the benchmark time, though seconds later Ralf had beaten this - well and truly - with a 1:25.823. Meanwhile the two Ferraris, which were quickest yesterday, came out on track to thunderous applause.

His first lap was well off the pace but next time around Montoya set best of day in sector one but then aborted the lap, the Colombian feeling his way.

1:26.053 and Jenson Button goes second, the BARs were very impressive yesterday, as was Mark Webber in the Jaguar.

1:24.910 and on his first flying lap Michael goes quickest, cue the sound honking of thousands of air horns.

Button improves to stay second as Barrichello goes fourth ahead of Heidfeld, Pizzonia, Montoya and da Matta.

Another best time in sector one, Michael is charging, unfortunately his second sector isn't as good, nor is his third. Brother Ralf meanwhile goes third with a 1:25.823, as da Matta goes fifth, Panis eighth and Villeneuve ninth.

After just two laps, and without posting a time, Webber's session is over, the Jaguar coming to a halt in sector two.

Fisichella goes fifth on his first flying lap, as Heidfeld goes seventh and Jos goes eleventh with a 1:29.662.

1:25.407 and David Coulthard is second quickest as Trulli sets best time of day in sector two, seconds later this is eclipsed by Kimi Raikkonen. Best time in sector three gives Trulli 1:24.703 and the Italian tops the timesheets, Raikkonen slots in neatly behind with a 1:24.770.

Fifteen minutes gone: Trulli, Raikkonen, Michael, Button, Ralf, Coulthard, Alonso, Montoya, Fisichella and Villeneuve. No times from Frentzen or Wilson, or of course Webber who's out.

Most of the top eight, with the exception of Schumacher, stay out on track, but don't seem to be improving.

1:26.230 and Pizzonia goes twelfth, while Frentzen goes thirteenth with his first flying lap of the day. Moments later Frentzen improves to sixth as Barrichello (twelfth) comes out to attempt to improve his time.

Heidfeld improves but is still 0.6s off his team-mate's pace, as Alonso and Montoya come out to play. Justin Wilson has yet to post a time.

Best of the day in sector two and Barrichello crosses the line in 1:23.536, to top the timesheet by over a second.

The Brazilian virtually has the track to himself with only Heidfeld, da Matta and Verstappen running at the time. The German improves to eleventh while da Matta remains fourteenth.

Best of day in sector one, Ralf is on a hot lap, another best of day in sector three gives him 1:23.310 and takes him to the top of the timesheets by 0.226s.

Fifteen minutes remain: Ralf, Barrichello, Button, Trulli, Raikkonen, Michael, Frentzen, Coulthard, Firman and Fisichella.

The Jordan's are looking good, clearly buoyed by Fisi's performance success in Brazil, it's good to see Ralph Firman begin to establish himself too.

1:24.924 and Villeneuve goes seventh, slotting in right behind his former nemesis, Michael Schumacher.

Frentzen stops in sector two, smoke pouring out of the back of the Sauber, as fellow German Michael Schumacher goes through the gravel having gone very wide.

Jarno Trulli meanwhile leapfrogs Button to go third, team-mate Alonso is a disappointing twelfth.

Best time of day in sector three is only good to get Montoya into ninth as Alonso suddenly goes third with a 1:24.117, pushing his team-mate down to fourth. Not for long though, Montoya improves yet again and goes third.

The BAR battle hots up too as Jacques goes quicker than Jenson, the Canadian taking sixth.

Wilson finally posts a time and though it's four seconds off the pace it's still better than Panis as Toyota's miserable weekend continues. That said, from out of nowhere da Matta goes eighth as Firman also improves but remains ninth.

Michael Schumacher is on track, the German has now slipped to tenth but improves with a 1:24.037 to fourth.

1:23.684 and Schumacher improves again, the Ferrari driver is now third behind brother Ralf and team-mate Rubens.

A bad session for Jaguar as Pizzonia come to a halt in sector two, clearly the Milton Keynes outfit still has a lot of work to do.

1:23.196 and out of nowhere Kimi Raikkonen goes quickest, 0.114 faster than Ralf Schumacher's previous best. Michael also improves but stays fourth. Kimi's team-mate David Coulthard also improves to give McLaren first and fifth.

The session ends with Raikkonen quickest ahead of Ralf, Barrichello, Michael, Coulthard, Montoya, Panis (!), Alonso, Fisichella and Trulli.

In the dying moments several drivers made quite dramatic improvements most notably Panis, who really needs a boost at this stage.

The second practice session should be held in similar conditions, but there's a good chance of rain for this afternoon's qualifying session.