Raikkonen overtakes Pizzonia

Championship leader Kimi Raikkonen swept to the top of the time-sheets as rookie Antonio Pizzonia landed a much-needed confidence booster at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

Raikkonen took top spot for McLaren late in the penultimate practice session for tomorrow’s race at the Circuit de Catalunya, displacing Pizzonia who is battling to save his seat at Jaguar.

The 22-year-old Brazilian’s place at the Milton Keynes-based outfit is under pressure from McLaren’s reserve driver Alexander Wurz because of his disappointing start to the campaign compared to team-mate Mark Webber.

Former world champion Jackie Stewart has added his voice to calls for Pizzonia to be given more time to prove his worth and perhaps his Jaguar bosses are now doing so.

Pizzonia, who had a nightmare start to his crunch weekend yesterday when he injured one of his mechanics, could have been running with a lighter fuel load to ensure he moved up the grid.

The former British F3 champion led until the last couple of minutes when Raikkonen, who leads the championship by 13 points heading into the fifth race of the 16-round season, took over at the top by 0.250secs.

Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello was third fastest with team-mate Michael Schumacher fifth quickest in the new Ferrari having set the pace in first qualifying yesterday.

The Ferrari pair were split by the McLaren of David Coulthard with just over 0.1 secs separating the trio.

Renault’s Jarno Trulli, who will be the penultimate man on the track in final qualifying later today, was sixth fastest.

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya saw his disappointing weekend continue as he skidded into the gravel trap sending plumes of red dust into the air before finishing eighth quickest in his Williams-BMW.

Jenson Button was 11th for BAR-Honda with Ralph Firman 13th for Jordan while Justin Wilson was again bottom of the time-sheets in his Minardi.