Barrichello sets the pace

Rubens Barrichello continued his perfect practice run as he scored his own hat-trick ahead of tomorrow’s United States Grand Prix.

Barrichello, who described yesterday as “near perfect” after topping the time sheets following the opening two practice sessions at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, made it three out of three this morning.

The Brazilian was again out in front in his Ferrari, lapping the 4.192km track in one minute 10.911 seconds, albeit six tenths of a second slower than the fastest time he set yesterday.

But Barrichello appears to have the car set up perfectly and is in good shape to score his first pole position since the final race of last year in Japan in qualifying today.

Barrichello finished 0.160 of a second quicker than Jenson Button, who posted his best time to date in his BAR by clocking 1:11.071.

The Briton was sandwiched by the Ferraris as Michael Schumacher wound up third, almost three tenths down on his team-mate, with Fernando Alonso fourth, despite losing a bargeboard off his Renault after clipping one of the kerbs too hard.

Ralf Schumacher was fifth in his BMW Williams, and Jarno Trulli sixth in the second Renault. They were only drivers to finish within a second of Barrichello.

Takuma Sato at least avoided any incidents, following yesterday’s collision with Felipe Massa, to take seventh, with Cristiano da Matta (Toyota), Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) and Mark Webber (Jaguar) completing the top 10.

After yesterday’s electrical gremlins, which robbed David Coulthard of vital practice time in yesterday’s second session, the McLaren driver was struggling in 16th.