Raikkonen roars back in practice

Kimi Raikkonen today refused to be overshadowed by the Ferraris as he topped the standings at the end of the penultimate practice session for the British Grand Prix.

McLaren star Raikkonen, who trails Michael Schumacher in the drivers’ championship by eight points and who suffered a dismal qualifying session at Silverstone yesterday, went some way to making amends by clocking one minute 22.263 seconds.

The title-chasing Finn finished ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher, with the former setting about making up for his own qualifying error.

Barrichello will today be second out of the garage for qualifying following his run into the gravel at Brooklands yesterday during the initial qualifying run when he was on course for a quick time.

But the Brazilian finished just 0.134 of a second down on Raikkonen and more than two-tenths quicker than five-times world champion Schumacher, who will be last out for qualifying after the 34-year-old German was fastest yesterday.

Juan Pablo Montoya in his Williams, the Renault of Fernando Alonso and the BAR of Jacques Villeneuve completed the top six, although the latter suffered a blown engine late in the 45-minute session.

The best of the Britons was David Coulthard in his McLaren, albeit 1.625 seconds adrift of his team-mate, with Jenson Button 11th in the second BAR, while Ralph Firman and Justin Wilson were 17th and 19th in their Jaguar and Minardi respectively.