Friday First Free Practice - German GP

British test driver Anthony Davidson topped the times for BAR-Honda in Friday's opening practice for the German Grand Prix to push home favourite Michael Schumacher down to second.

Schumacher had sent an encouraging message to his air horn blowing fans when he topped the session for most of the morning but then dropped behind and failed to better Davidson's time despite two efforts late in the session.

German Schumacher, who has won 10 of the 11 races so far this season, finished 0.108 seconds down on Davidson, who led the session with a time of 1:15.756 in the 30-degrees sunshine.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen finished third fastest for the resurgent McLaren-Mercedes team with Brazilian Riccardo Zonta giving the new Toyota an encouraging first try-out with the fourth fastest time.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, benefiting from improved aerodynamics on his Sauber, finished fifth to split the Toyota pair as Frenchman Olivier Panis finished sixth.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was seventh in the second Ferrari with Briton Jenson Button eighth for BAR and Williams pair Juan Pablo Montoya and Antonio Pizzonia, in for the injured Ralf Schumacher, in ninth and tenth.

Timo Glock caused the session to be stopped briefly after he clattered over a kerb at turn one and scattered debris over the track when the front wing cracked off his Jordan car. Glock stopped out on track after the restart.

Davidson had a small off at turn seven in the second part of the session and Italian Minardi driver Gianmaria Bruni spun his car harmlessly at turn six just two minutes from the end. Jaguar's Mark Webber failed to set a time.

A team spokeswoman said the Australian had been due to do a few laps towards the end of the session but that proved impossible after Austrian teammate Christian Klien's car developed a problem. The same part was changed on Webber's car as a precaution, leaving no time to get out on track.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:15.756 32 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:15.864 + 0.108 11 3. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.318 + 0.562 8 4. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:16.340 + 0.584 36 5. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:16.451 + 0.695 11 6. Panis Toyota (M) 1:16.484 + 0.728 20 7. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:16.493 + 0.737 15 8. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:16.544 + 0.788 12 9. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:16.795 + 1.039 14 10. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:16.845 + 1.089 14 11. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.916 + 1.160 8 12. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:17.111 + 1.355 21 13. Alonso Renault (M) 1:17.142 + 1.386 11 14. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:17.361 + 1.605 18 15. Trulli Renault (M) 1:17.487 + 1.731 14 16. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:17.526 + 1.770 14 17. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:17.714 + 1.958 20 18. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:18.257 + 2.501 15 19. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:18.768 + 3.012 17 20. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:18.810 + 3.054 9 21. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:19.088 + 3.332 17 22. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:19.270 + 3.514 14 23. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:19.959 + 4.203 13 24. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:20.029 + 4.273 17 25. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) No Time All timing unofficial