Barrichello Happy with Practice Performance

Rubens Barrichello celebrated his new Ferrari contract by upstaging teammate and World Champion Michael Schumacher in free practice for the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday.

The Brazilian, now confirmed at Ferrari to the end of 2004, lapped 0.030 of a second faster than Schumacher as the Italian team began the sixth Formula One weekend of the season in familiar dominant fashion.

Barrichello is looking to end a run of bad luck and finish on Sunday for only the second time this year, and the extended deal with the World Champions has undoubtedly boosted his confidence.

He ran Schumacher close in the morning session, skidding off into the gravel at the end, and slashed his time further in the afternoon.

"In general, it has been a good day," admitted the Brazilian. "Right at the end of the morning session, I went off the track after I locked the front wheels under braking. This afternoon, we concentrated mainly on the tyres and, as usual here, the grip on the track will improve still further tomorrow."

Four-times World Champion Schumacher, who has never won in Austria, had no reply and was second best on the timesheets after completing five laps more than the Brazilian. The German driver, who has started from pole in the last two races, is expecting Barrichello to be hard to beat.

"Things have gone smoothly today," Schumacher said. "We had a few little excursions into the gravel, but on this circuit that is quite normal. I am happy with the performance of my tyres and I expected Rubens to be very quick here.

"As usual on the first day at this circuit, the track surface was very slippery. I expect qualifying will see a very close battle tomorrow."