Friday First Free Practice - Malaysian GP

As the heat rose in Malaysia on Friday morning, and temperatures at the Sepang circuit topped 30 degrees, German Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari team dominated the opening free practice session for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.

The quadruple World Champion finished almost a second faster than his teammate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello who was nearly 1.5 seconds quicker than Ferrari's nearest rival Nick Heidfeld of Germany in a Sauber.

Briton David Coulthard's hopes of mounting a convincing response to Schumacher's early-season success were hit when his participation in the session came to an end after only 20 minutes.

A fire erupted from the rear right corner of his McLaren Mercedes-Benz car following a problem with the exhaust system. As he climbed from the car, some over-zealous marshals doused the flames and created a plume of smoke across the track. Coulthard was then left to push the car back to the pits by himself in the humid and hot conditions.

It took the Scot more than 20 minutes to return the car to the McLaren garage, a gallant effort in the conditions and one appreciated by the team and the few spectators scattered around the circuit's thousands of empty seats.

There were several other spins and incidents as the drivers became acquainted with the circuit and these included off-track excursions for Schumacher and Barrichello as they tested the limits of their cars and the circuit.

It was little surprise that Minardi received the biggest cheer from the crowd, as local Malaysian hero Alex Yoong was the first man on the track when the lights turned green. His teammate Mark Webber, who won points on his debut in Melbourne two weeks ago, had to endure a less happy start this time as he was forced to ride a moped back to the pits after spinning off the track at turn seven.

Schumacher's younger brother Ralf, had a minor spin at turn 15 in his Williams-BMW shortly before his older brother demonstrated, in his Ferrari, how things are meant to be done on the circuit where he has dominated for the last three years.

His first flying lap chopped more than 1.7 seconds off Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi's then-best time in an Arrows, but Schumacher then had an uncharacteristic spin as he tried to push through turn nine on the very next lap.

Barrichello joined Schumacher at the top of the time-sheets, but was half a second slower than his team-mate and he also went off the circuit as he pushed for an improved time. Schumacher later increased his advantage.

At the end of the session, Bernoldi retained his fourth place, Briton Jenson Button claimed fifth for Renault ahead of Takuma Sato of Japan in the leading Jordan. The Williams pairing of Schumacher and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya languished in 10th and 11th places.

In the tyre war, Bridgestone had the upper hand. Button was the only Michelin runner in the top six, an outcome that had seemed unlikely after listening to the confidence of the Michelin-shod teams in the previous days' build-up to the event.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:38.626 202.328 km/h 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:39.602 + 0.976 3. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:41.124 + 2.498 4. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:41.242 + 2.616 5. Button Renault (M) 1:41.265 + 2.639 6. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:41.475 + 2.849 7. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:41.506 + 2.880 8. Trulli Renault (M) 1:41.543 + 2.917 9. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:41.686 + 3.060 10. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:41.832 + 3.206 11. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:41.956 + 3.330 12. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:41.978 + 3.352 13. Salo Toyota (M) 1:42.104 + 3.478 14. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:42.251 + 3.625 15. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:42.358 + 3.732 16. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:42.569 + 3.943 17. McNish Toyota (M) 1:42.631 + 4.005 18. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:42.643 + 4.017 19. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:43.868 + 5.242 20. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:44.262 + 5.636 21. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:44.583 + 5.957 22. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 15:53.481 + 14:14.855 All Timing Unofficial