Schumacher off to a flyer

Michael Schumacher maintained his domination of practice as Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello shrugged off his first day crash at the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis this morning.

The five-time champion finished the penultimate session before qualifying at the Motor Speedway later today almost half a second ahead of Barrichello.

Brazilian Barrichello had finished bottom of the time-sheets yesterday after smashing into a concrete wall, but showed no after-effects today as he quickly joined Schumacher at the head of the standings.

Schumacher looks an odds-on certainly to maintain his perfect qualifying record on the track having been on pole for both the previous races since Formula One returned to theUnited States.

Britain’s David Coulthard led the challenge to the Ferraris but even though he was third quickest he was still almost a second adrift of Schumacher’s pace in his McLaren-Mercedes.

Colombia’s Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth fastest with Williams-BMW team-mate Ralf Schumacher sixth quickest – the duo were split by Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen in the other McLaren.

Eddie Irvine was unable to maintain his promising second spot from yesterday but the Jaguar Racing driver was still handily placed in eighth place just behind the Jordan of Giancarlo Fisichella.

Jenson Button was 12th for Renault while Allan McNish was 18th for Toyota with Japan’s Takuma Sato slipping to the bottom after his Jordans stopped on the track just moments after the session started.