Friday First Free Practice - Malaysian GP

World Champion Michael Schumacher sizzled in the heat of Sepang as he topped the times from Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello by almost a second in Friday's opening practice for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.

The high temperatures - 35 degrees at the start of the session - were expected to level the field but Schumacher failed to work to the script as he set a time of 1:34.437 to finish 0.943 seconds faster than Brazilian Barrichello.

Briton Anthony Davidson, the BAR-Honda test driver, was the fastest non-Ferrari and non-Bridgestone runner but he could only set a time 1.553 seconds off the searing pace of German Schumacher.

Brazilian Ricardo Zonta, the Toyota test driver, finished fourth fastest with German Ralf Schumacher, in the Williams-BMW, 1.792 seconds off Schumacher's pace in fifth spot.

Finn Kimi Raikkinen gave his McLaren-Mercedes team a boost by finishing just behind the lead Williams in sixth place with Australian Mark Webber, in the Jaguar, seventh and Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams eighth.

Jenson Button, the leading BAR-Honda race driver, finished ninth fastest with Fernando Alonso, the man tipped to be Ferrari's closest challenger this weekend, finishing tenth some 2.682 seconds behind Schumacher.

With teams conscious of conserving engine life, the opening exchanges saw mostly test drivers in third cars providing the on-track action and by the end Ferrari had done just 19 laps, McLaren nine, Williams 20 and Renault 23.

Ralf Schumacher was the first lead driver to set a competitive time but half way through the session his brother Michael immediately stamped his authority on the situation with a lap time some 1.615 seconds faster.

Barrichello then put in his first fast lap and slotted into second but he was still more than a second slower than his teammate, while Montoya put himself into third before teammate Schumacher spun trying to improve his time.

Turn eight caused problems for several drivers during the session as it caught out Zsolt Baumgartner, in his second race for Minardi, Felipe Massa, in his second race since returning to Sauber, and Montoya in the Williams.

Takuma Sato also spun in the dying seconds of the session as he lost control of his BAR-Honda and Giorgio Pantano made a mess of a neatly-raked gravel trap as he spun at turn nine after the chequered flag.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:34.437 211.303 km/h 11 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:35.380 + 0.943 8 3. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:35.970 + 1.533 21 4. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:36.147 + 1.710 21 5. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:36.229 + 1.792 11 6. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:36.314 + 1.877 5 7. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:36.478 + 2.041 6 8. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:36.606 + 2.169 9 9. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:37.018 + 2.581 5 10. Alonso Renault (M) 1:37.119 + 2.682 13 11. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:37.438 + 3.001 4 12. Panis Toyota (M) 1:37.590 + 3.153 12 13. Trulli Renault (M) 1:37.816 + 3.379 10 14. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:37.995 + 3.558 5 15. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:38.023 + 3.586 6 16. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:38.086 + 3.649 18 17. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:38.554 + 4.117 11 18. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:38.734 + 4.297 11 19. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:38.788 + 4.351 18 20. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:38.831 + 4.394 8 21. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:39.860 + 5.423 14 22. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:41.149 + 6.712 6 23. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:42.556 + 8.119 14 24. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:42.718 + 8.281 5 25. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:43.424 + 8.987 15 All timing unofficial