Friday First Free Practice - Belgian GP

by Will Gray

Briton Anthony Davidson topped the times in opening practice for the Belgian Grand Prix on Friday when he finished faster than World Champion Michael Schumacher on the German driver's favourite circuit.

BAR-Honda driver Davidson set a time of 1:45.104 late in the session to climb to the top of the timesheets and finished 0.304 seconds faster than Schumacher's Ferrari in temperatures of 17 degrees Celsius.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who is the only man who can stop Schumacher winning the title this weekend, finished third fastest with a time half a second slower than Davidson.

Jaguar test driver Bjorn Wirdheim, of Sweden, put himself fourth fastest but was more than 1.5 seconds behind Davidson with Finn Kimi Raikkonen in the leading McLaren-Mercedes finishing fifth.

It was a good session for Jaguar as race drivers Mark Webber, of Australia, and Austrian Christian Klien finished just behind sixth-placed Renault driver Fernando Alonso in seventh and eighth.

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, who led the session early on in his Williams-BMW, finished down in ninth but was half a second faster than his 12th-placed Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya.

Australian Ryan Briscoe, taking part in only his second set of Friday practice sessions after being promoted to the third driver role when Ricardo Zonta moved up to the race team, finished tenth fastest.

Italian Giorgio Pantano braked late and spun his Jordan as he headed into the La Source hairpin 26 minutes into the session and he was forced to push his car away after stalling.

With half the session gone Schumacher was on top, having completed just one flying lap, with Pizzonia just behind -- but that clearly was not good enough for the World Champion. On his next flying lap, 20 minutes from the end of the session, he pushed harder and extended his advantage over the Brazilian stand-in Williams driver to 1.675 seconds.

Barrichello then made it a Ferrari one-two when he eased past Pizzonia's time to slot into second bud Davidson then moved three tenths ahead of Schumacher to take the top spot.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:45.104 12 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:45.408 + 0.304 10 3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:45.605 + 0.501 8 4. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:46.658 + 1.554 20 5. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:46.674 + 1.570 6 6. Alonso Renault (M) 1:46.679 + 1.575 10 7. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:46.782 + 1.678 16 8. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:46.809 + 1.705 18 9. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:47.083 + 1.979 10 10. Briscoe Toyota (M) 1:47.506 + 2.402 21 11. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:47.511 + 2.407 6 12. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:47.560 + 2.456 13 13. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:47.618 + 2.514 5 14. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:47.648 + 2.544 12 15. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:47.650 + 2.546 6 16. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:47.765 + 2.661 11 17. Trulli Renault (M) 1:47.829 + 2.725 9 18. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:48.642 + 3.538 12 19. Panis Toyota (M) 1:48.834 + 3.730 10 20. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:50.165 + 5.061 9 21. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:50.311 + 5.207 13 22. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:50.317 + 5.213 19 23. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:50.531 + 5.427 12 24. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:50.805 + 5.701 10 25. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:50.950 + 5.846 10 All timing unofficial