Schumacher at home at Hockenheim

Michael Schumacher signalled his intention to clinch yet another world championship for Ferrari by posting the fastest time in practice for the German Grand Prix today at Hockenheim.

Schumacher, who has a record-equalling 11th win of the season in his sights as well as the constructors’ crown for Ferrari, was the man to beat in the second practice session today.

His time of one minute 15.001 seconds was the fastest yet so far this weekend and the world champion pipped McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen to top spot by 0.044secs.

McLaren’s new car again seemed competitive in the hands of Raikkonen while Juan Pablo Montoya offered Williams hope of a resurgence by claiming third place.

Jenson Button was an encouraging fourth, just 0.378secs slower than Schumacher, while BAR test driver Anthony Davidson completed 33 laps and took sixth with his best effort.

Antonio Pizzonia put in a strong showing on his debut as Ralf Schumacher’s stand-in at Williams, setting the fifth fastest lap.

The session did not start well for the Brazilian though when he pushed too hard and spun after just eight minutes.

But he showed he was getting to grips with his new role by moving up to second fastest after 25 minutes.

Schumacher set the standard early on and his effort stood for much of the session.

Pizzonia was not the only driver to come a cropper, with Coulthard, Montoya and Giorgio Pantano also having minor offs.

In what was proving to be an eventful session for him, Coulthard ran wide just seconds before team-mate Raikkonen moved to the top of the timing sheets with his best lap of the weekend to depose Schumacher.

The Finn’s time at the top was brief though and Schumacher reclaimed the number one position just a few minutes later as Button moved to third.

Schumacher was pushing hard to break the 1min 15secs barrier and drifted across the grass with 17 minutes remaining while Coulthard suffered his third incident of the one-hour session, losing the back of his McLaren under breaking and spinning harmlessly.

The Scot’s day was turning out to be embarrassing and he suffered a similar spin at the same corner one lap later before ending second practice 11th fastest.

Button’s session came to an early halt when his BAR gave out with two minutes to go. Exactly the same problem happened to Davidson in the first session, which the Englishman nevertheless claimed the fastest lap from.

Davidson set a best lap of 1:15.756 to put even Schumacher in the shade, with the Ferrari driver’s best effort 0.108secs slower.

Raikkonen, fresh from his best result of the season at Silverstone two weeks ago, was third fastest in the new McLaren, just over half a second down. Button was down in eighth while Coulthard posted the 11th quickest time.