Free practice 1: Same old Ferrari story

The Ferrari drivers traded places at the head of the times throughout the hour, but it was Barrichello's lap of 1m33.655s that established a new track record at the revised Nurburgring.

Barrichello's time is almost 20 seconds slower than last year's pole, so pre-race estimates that the tighter first corner and the new complex of three turns that follow it would add 15 seconds to the lap appear correct. The revised T1 hairpin certainly caused its share of problems, with many drivers locking up on entry and running well wide of the apex. Fortunately, there is plenty of run-off area there and all of the drivers concerned were able to continue.

Michael Schumacher almost had an embarrassing incident at the first corner when he overshot his braking point after making a practise start from the pitlane exit, narrowly avoiding taking an on-coming car out in the process.

The one driver who did put his car in the barrier was Enrique Bernoldi, who lost the rear of his Arrows through the Ford Kurve and spun into the barrier. His car didn't look too badly damaged, but the lost time meant he was back in 18th.

Takuma Sato also had his session cut short when his Jordan just died on the run down to the hairpin. The Japanese, who was comfortably in the top 10 at the time, said he thought the problem could have been electrical and he faces an anxious wait to see how much, if any, of the second session he'll miss while the car's repaired. He ended first practice in 13th.

Behind the Ferraris at the top of the times there were a few unusual faces. Nick Heidfeld was third for Sauber, Allan McNish a promising fourth and Brazilian Felipe Massa fifth. David Coulthard was sixth, the Bridgestone-shod Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Giancarlo Fisichella seventh and eighth ahead of the second Toyota of Mika Salo.

Ralf Schumacher had a brief stint at the top at the start of the session, but as has become the norm for Williams in free practice, neither he nor Juan Pablo Montoya were any threat to the quickest time. Montoya rounded out the top 10; Ralf was 14th, one place ahead of Jenson Button.

There was an ominous start to the weekend for Honda, with Jacques Villeneuve's BAR trailing smoke behind it early in the session.