Free practice 1: Coulthard crashes

Schumacher's best lap of 1m48.655s was two seconds under last year's pole time and a useful 0.749s better than the next fastest car, the Jordan of Jarno Trulli.

Schuey's team mate Rubens Barrichello was just 0.052s slower than Trulli. But it was the fact that Trulli was able to bang in several Ferrari-challenging times during the session that gave rise to hopes that the Italian may still be a genuine challenger in the session that really counts - Saturday's hour of qualifying. Particularly impressive was the Jordan-Honda's ability to take Blanchimont flat.

Just like in Hungary, Coulthard has effectively written off the bulk of Friday running after an accident early in the session. The Scot, who is battling to hold on to second overall in the points, went wide on the kerbs out of Fagnes, then slewed into the barriers on the inside, heavily damaging the front of his McLaren-Mercedes.

Minutes later, DC was joined by Jacques Villeneuve, who dumped his BAR-Honda in the same corner's gravel trap. With a long walk back to the pits ahead of them, the pair firstly took five in a couple of marshals' deck chairs.

Fourth fastest was Coulthard's team mate Mika Hakkinen, with Ralf Schumacher the best non-Bridgestone runner in fifth. His Williams-BMW and that of team mate Juan Pablo Montoya both looked a handful through Blanchimont and the daunting Eau Rouge, with Montoya having to settle for ninth overall.

Between the brace of Williams cars, Jean Alesi backed up Jordan's potential with sixth overall, ahead of the Saubers of Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld.

Despite his Renault V10's apparent lack of grunt, Giancarlo Fisichella impressed with 10th overall for Benetton, while Arrows' Jos Verstappen was higher than of late in 11th.

Eddie Irvine was fastest of the Jaguars, bagging the 12th spot ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Prost. But the disappointment of the session was the relative lack of pace of the BAR-Hondas.

As already noted, Villeneuve's session was considerably truncated, but his team mate Olivier Panis could only manage 14th. In fact, the nearest thing to a Honda head-to-head so far was Panis's spinning avoidance of a late-braking Trulli on the entrance to the Bus Stop.

Further back still, Fernando Alonso impressed once again for Minardi with 17th overall, one spot behind Jenson Button's Benetton.

For a full list of times click here.