Free practice 1: Barrichello goes fastest

In a busy first free practice session, Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello topped the times as Mika Hakkinen's McLaren gave up the ghost early on. Jarno Trulli took second for Jordan, with the BAR of Ricardo Zonta and the Arrows of Jos Verstappen heading up an unusual top four.
The session began with heavy skies threatening, and all but five cars appeared on-track for an exploration lap within the first five minutes. Hakkinen's Austrian Grand Prix weekend began badly when his McLaren-Mercedes ground to halt out on the circuit. After just six minutes of the first practice session, the Finn stopped at the Remus Kurve, and after posing for the photographers, began a slow trip back to the pits.

With twenty minutes gone, things were looking good for Jaguar, which sat one-two on the timesheets. However, the session didn't really get going until the half-hour mark, at which point both Ferraris had still to set a wheel on the track, and David Coulthard's McLaren had not yet set a flying lap.

When Barichello and Coulthard came on track, the session began to liven up, with the Saubers of Mika Salo and Pedro Diniz and Trulli all topping the times before DC hit the top on his fifth lap. Ralf Schumacher became the first and only man to take a trip across the gravel in the session when he went off in his Williams-BMW at the Power Horse Kurve.

With 15 minutes to go, points-leader Michael Schumacher's Ferrari took the top spot, while the rest of the pack constantly shuffled positions behind him. As the times tumbled, Barrichello jumped up to first, but was quickly replaced by Zonta's flying BAR. With the session drawing to a close, Jarno Trulli became the first man into the 1m13s, but with the chequered flag poised, there was still time for Barichello to steal the top spot with a 1m13.603.

For full results of Free Practice 1 click here.