Friday First Free Practice - Australian GP (Updated)

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello upstaged teammate and world champion Michael Schumacher to set the fastest time in Friday's first free practice session for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday.

Barrichello slashed almost one-third of a second off Jacques Villeneuve's 1997 lap record as he powered his Ferrari around the Albert Park street circuit in one minute 29.056 seconds.

Schumacher also dipped under Villeneuve's four-year-old record but had to settle for second fastest overall, 0.312 seconds behind his teammate.

Friday's practice times do not count towards qualifying for Sunday's opening race of the year but did suggest little has changed from last season.

McLaren, second behind Ferrari in the 2000 constructors' championship, filled the next two places as the first four drivers all went under the time Schumacher set to take pole position 12 months ago.

Finn Mika Hakkinen, world champion in 1998 and 1999 and runner-up a year ago, was third quickest with a best lap of 1:30.037. His Scottish teammate David Coulthard was just 0.015 seconds behind in fourth place.

Schumacher's younger brother Ralf was the best of the rest, clocking the fifth best time overall in his Williams. But he was more than a second adrift of the two silver McLarens.

It was a relatively incident-free first session although Ralf Schumacher and his new Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya both slid off the track into the grass.

Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi was the first driver onto the circuit but his Arrows colleague Jos Verstappen was the early pacesetter before he also ran off the track.

Olivier Panis, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Hakkinen all took their turn at the top of the leaderboard before they were overtaken by the two Ferraris.

Pos Driver Team Time 1.. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:29.056 214.368 km/h 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:29.368 + 0:00.312 3. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes (B) 1:30.037 + 0:00.981 4. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (B) 1:30.052 + 0:00.996 5. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:31.352 + 0:02.296 6. Verstappen Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:31.830 + 0:02.774 7. Frentzen Jordan Honda (B) 1:31.908 + 0:02.852 8. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:32.287 + 0:03.231 9. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:32.329 + 0:03.273 10. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:32.330 + 0:03.274 11. Trulli Jordan Honda (B) 1:32.347 + 0:03.291 12. Raikkonen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:33.369 + 0:04.313 13. Burti Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:33.471 + 0:04.415 14. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:33.969 + 0:04.913 15. Button Benetton Renault (M) 1:34.522 + 0:05.466 16. Alonso European Minardi (M) 1:34.829 + 0:05.773 17. Fisichella Benetton Renault (M) 1:34.892 + 0:05.836 18. Mazzacane Prost Acer (M) 1:34.941 + 0:05.885 19. Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:35.752 + 0:06.696 20. Marques European Minardi (M) 1:36.463 + 0:07.407 21. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:38.349 + 0:09.293 22. Alesi Prost Acer (M) 1:46.977 + 0:17.921 All timing unofficial