Friday First Free Practice - French GP

The debt-riddled Arrows team failed to turn a wheel in Friday's opening practice session for the French Grand Prix as Rubens Barrichello claimed the fastest time for Ferrari.

The Arrows cars passed scrutineering last night, but continued struggles with shareholders Morgan Grenfell left their cars sitting in the garages for yet another practice session.

An Arrows spokesperson admitted their team "cannot run until (the situation) is sorted out", but with team boss Tom Walkinshaw still working hard to end Morgan Grenfell's block on new Red Bull investment it is likely that they will also miss the second practice session.

Both Arrows drivers Heinz-Harald Frentzen, of Germany, and Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi were out of their overalls as Barrichello beat the field around Magny-Cours with a lap of 1:15.056.

The Brazilian was just four hundredths of a second faster than Scot David Coulthard, who beat German rival Michael Schumacher to finish as the McLaren-Mercedes meat in a red Ferrari sandwich.

The Williams-BMW pair of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and German Ralf Schumacher were fourth and fifth fastest respectively, both still within half a second of the fastest time, which was itself some two seconds slower than last year's pole.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen, of McLaren-Mercedes, was sixth fastest with the lead Renault of Briton Jenson Button seventh ahead of impressively placed Ulsterman Eddie Irvine, who worked his newly-modified Jaguar up into the top ten, finishing 1.310 seconds behind the fastest time.

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa also gave suggestions that the new Jaguar is an improvement on the old by finishing ninth fastest, with Japan's Takuma Sato, of Jordan, claiming the final top ten spot.

His teammate, Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, was one spot behind but went off at the final corner on his last lap, while Canadian Jacques Villeneuve also had a trip across the gravel in his British American Racing Honda and finished 18th fastest.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:15.056 203.896 km/h 13 2. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:15.099 + 0.043 14 3. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:15.174 + 0.118 18 4. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:15.271 + 0.215 19 5. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:15.481 + 0.425 20 6. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:15.525 + 0.469 14 7. Button Renault (M) 1:15.869 + 0.813 14 8. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:16.366 + 1.310 15 9. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:16.423 + 1.367 18 10. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:16.493 + 1.437 23 11. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:16.506 + 1.450 19 12. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:16.574 + 1.518 25 13. Trulli Renault (M) 1:16.763 + 1.707 15 14. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:16.776 + 1.720 22 15. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:16.814 + 1.758 18 16. Salo Toyota (M) 1:17.205 + 2.149 9 17. McNish Toyota (M) 1:17.219 + 2.163 18 18. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:17.415 + 2.359 16 19. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:18.203 + 3.147 15 20. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:20.891 + 5.835 23 All Timing Unofficial