But it would be Renault F1 driver Jarno Trulli who would secure the top time, ahead of fellow Michelin men David Coulthard and Juan-Pablo Montoya. Trulli has looked very impressive all weekend and was able to set the fastest time in the closing moments of practice. 

Ralf Schumacher was fourth ahead of the Ferraris, whose drivers struggled and also had some technical dramas during the session. Rubens Barrichello was fifth, while Michael Schumacher was sixth. Michael would lose the last twenty minutes after suffering technical problems with his F2002.

Trulli’s team-mate Jenson Button was back in seventh place, followed by Jordan’s Giancarlo Fisichella, and Arrows’ Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Sauber drivers would fill tenth and eleventh, ahead of BAR’s Olivier Panis, Mika Salo, and Enrique Bernoldi. Irvine would damage his Jaguar after clouting the barriers at the Swimming Pool.

McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen was to crash his car for a second time at St. Devote and would finish in fifteenth. Pedro de la Rosa was sixteenth, ahead of Alan McNish, Jacques Villeneuve, and Takuma Sato, who like Raikkonen, crashed at St. Devote.

Mark Webber was another who would damage his car, hitting the barriers at the Swimming Pool shortly after Jaguar’s Eddie Irvine had crashed his R3 in the same section.