Temperatures have increased slightly for today's second free practice session. Air temperature is now 21 degrees C, while the track temperature is 27 degrees.

The lights turn green, but nobody seems eager to come out, finally, three minutes later, Mark Webber leaves his garage, followed by Toyota's Ricardo Zonta.

The Australian continues around and consequently posts the first time of the session, 1:22.954, though moments later Jenson Button eclipses this with a 1:22.773. Antonio Pizzonia goes third, ahead of Klien and Bruni.

1:22.589, sees Fernando Alonso go quickest, but within seconds Button and then Raikkonen go quicker, the Finn crossing the line at 1:21.563.

The action is fast and furious as Sato goes second and Montoya third, though almost instantly the Colombian is leapfrogged by Massa.

As ever, Michael Schumacher settles the issue, the German crossing the line at 1:20.714. Elsewhere Jarno Trulli goes fifth and Giancarlo Fisichella tenth.

Massa's glory is short-lived, his (Ferrari) engine blows up, which is of course going to compromise his grid position.

Schumacher goes quickest in the second sector, and again in the third, but a poor first sector time means he fails to improve his overall lap time.

With fourteen minutes gone, we have yet to see a time from Barrichello and the two Toyota drivers.

Moments later, the Brazilian comes out and goes sixteenth, behind Klien, with his first timed lap. Next time around the Ferrari driver goes quickest in the first and second sectors, improving to tenth overall. Meanwhile, teammate Schumacher posts 1:20.029, a staggering lap.

As Schumacher looks set to raise the benchmark even higher, Barrichello goes second with a 1:20.842. Third-placed Raikkonen is now 1.122s off Schumacher's pace.

On his first flying lap of the session, Zonta goes third, posting a 1:20.960, though moments later he's demoted to fourth by Trulli, who clearly has a point to prove.

As Sato goes quickest in the second sector, Raikkonen goes second, posting 1:20.614, though moments later he's dropped to third as the Japanese BAR star goes second with a 1:20.363. Not to be outdone, Montoya goes third as Alonso goes quickest in the first sector. The Spaniard crosses the line at 1:20.363, to go third. The top nine are now covered by less than a second.

Still no time from Panis, however.

As Mark Webber improves to eleventh, Antonio Pizzonia goes quickest in the first sector. The Brazilian loses ground in the second sector, but nonetheless goes quickest, becoming the first man to break the 1:19s barrier.

Olivier Panis finally makes an appearance, the Frenchman going seventh with a 1:20.689.

Meanwhile, from out of nowhere, Barrichello produces a 1:19.768, to eclipse Pizzonia by 0.145s. A sensational time from the Brazilian.

With ten minutes remaining, Jenson Button goes quickest in the second sector, crossing the line at 1:20.039 to go fourth behind Barrichello, Pizzonia and Schumacher.

There's now a distinct lull in the action, as the drivers prepare for the final onslaught.

David Coulthard improves to eleventh - teammate Raikkonen is eighth - as Montoya goes quickest in sector one. The Colombian loses ground in the second sector, and subsequently returns to the pits.

With three minutes remaining, Barrichello is on track, as are Sato, Alonso, Montoya (again), Raikkonen, Panis and Coulthard.

Klien improves to fourteenth, as teammate Webber languishes in sixteenth. Moments later, the Australian improves to thirteenth, no doubt he's counting the days until his move to WilliamsF1.

As Zonta goes eighth, Button goes quickest in the second sector, the Englishman finally crossing the line at 1:19.556, a brilliant lap, and a real slap in the face for his critics.

Schumacher also improves (1:19.747) but fails to eclipse the BAR star.

The session ends with Button quickest ahead of Schumacher, Barrichello, Pizzonia, Trulli, Sato, Alonso, Montoya, Zonta and Raikkonen.

An interesting session, with some blistering times. However it could all prove immaterial as rain is now being forecast for this afternoon's qualifying session, or at least part of it.