Barrichello's engine blows

Michael Schumacher maintained his supremacy when practice resumed at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, although Ferrari suffered a rare reliability failure.

The world champion finished the penultimate session before qualifying later on Saturday fastest.

But team-mate Rubens Barrichello, second quickest on Friday, wound up one off the bottom of the time-sheets after his engine blew.

Barrichello was forced to park his car on the grass after plumes of smoke signalled the engine failure midway through the 45-minute session and officials halted practice for several minutes while the Ferrari was pushed away.

Schumacher saw his advantage cut to just 0.025 secs by the Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya.

David Coulthard shrugged off Friday's spin into the gravel to catapult up the standings into third place in his McLaren - just over half-a-second adrift - with team-mate Kimi Raikkonen fourth.

Ralf Schumacher was fifth quickest in his BMW-powered Williams which his older brother predicted would be much closer to him this weekend.

Eddie Irvine continued his impressive showing with sixth spot for Jaguar Racing with team-mate Pedro de la Rosa also just one spot further back.

Allan McNish posted the ninth best time in his Toyota while Jenson Button was back in 15th spot for Renault.