Raikkonen ahead in Italian GP second practice

Kimi Raikkonen set the best time in the second Friday practice for the Italian Grand Prix, clocking a fastest of 1:20.846. The McLaren man was just five hundredths ahead of Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello, and Michael Schumacher was third. Schumacher's time from the morning session remained the fastest of the day, three tenths quicker than Raikkonen in the afternoon.

Kimi Raikkonen.

Photo by Brousseau Photo.

The track temperature had climbed to around 40 degrees for the afternoon session and the conditions remained dry. Once again it was Jordan third driver Timo Glock who started the proceedings, his first time being 1:24.088. Two other third drivers, Jaguar's Bj?rn Wirdheim and Toyota's Ryan Briscoe quickly demoted him.

Briscoe's 1:22.352 held the top of the times and the three Minardi's were also on track, Gianmaria Bruni leading Zsolt Baumgartner and third driver Bas Leinders. Mark Webber's Jaguar clocked fourth fastest and the Williams duo of Juan Pablo Montoya and Antonio Pizzonia took second and third.

BAR third driver Anthony Davidson went quickest, 1:21.745, Briscoe returned to second and Pizzonia moved ahead of Montoya for third. Ricardo Zonta slotted his Toyota into seventh and Jaguar's Christian Klien improved from 12th to eighth. Nick Heidfeld only managed a couple of laps before his Jordan suffered an oil leak in the first sector to end his day.

His teammate Giorgio Pantano posted 10th and Klien moved up another place to seventh. Felipe Massa jumped up from outside the top ten to put his Sauber fifth, and Jarno Trulli was the first Renault out for sixth. McLaren's David Coulthard was 11th on his first flyer and the second Renault of Fernando Alonso clocked fourth initially.

Coulthard then improved to third and Rubens Barrichello made 10th on his first effort, then improved to sixth. BAR's Takuma Sato managed ninth, while Raikkonen hurled his McLaren to second, just under three tenths down on Davidson. Schumacher took 11th on his initial run, then moved up to fourth.

After an active first 15 minutes, only Toyota's Olivier Panis and Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella hadn't been out on track. Webber improved to fifth then Panis wound up to 16th after a couple of installation laps. Sato put in very fast middle and last sectors to demote Davidson from the top; 1:21.313 for the Japanese, four tenths up. Jenson Button was the lowest BAR in ninth at the time.

Pizzonia and Klien improved in tandem to 10th and 16th respectively and Zonta climbed to sixth. Fisichella finally appeared after 25 minutes and posted seventh quickest. Montoya was the next man on the move but after the fastest first sector of the session he lost out slightly when he edged into the gravel and took second, a tenth down on Sato.

Button moved up to fifth and Schumacher shifted Sato from the top with a 1:21,080, two tenths up. Massa improved to eighth, Barrichello to fourth and Alonso to 10th after being shuffled down the order. Trulli did likewise to seventh and Pizzonia moved up to third fastest. Button had another go and took second, just four hundredths down on Schumacher.

Pizzonia came to grief shortly afterwards, crashing into the tyre barrier at the Parabolica due to a front brake failure. He was unharmed but the Williams suffered quite heavy damage on the right rear side. Alonso improved to eighth and Raikkonen set the fastest first and last sectors on his next flyer to post 1:20.846 for the top.

Barrichello slotted into second, just five hundredths down and that was about it for the day. The top ten was much closer than in the morning session, a second between Raikkonen and teammate Coulthard in 10th and half a second covering the top six. BAR had a good afternoon with all three cars in the top eight.

Williams had both cars in the top ten, despite Pizzonia's crash, and Alonso was the sole Renault -- Trulli finished 11th. No surprises elsewhere; Toyota, Sauber and Jaguar circled in the midfield, along with Jordan's Glock, and the other two Jordans and the Minardis were at the back. Final top eight classification: Raikkonen, Barrichello, Schumacher, Button, Pizzonia, Sato, Montoya, Davidson.