Friday First Free Practice

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello began his United States Grand Prix weekend with a bang when he clattered into the wall halfway through Friday's first practice session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

As teammate Michael Schumacher put in a faultless performance to top the times, Barrichello lost control on the exit of the final corner and smashed sideways into the wall on the start-finish straight.

Barrichello had use of the spare Ferrari but he failed to get back out on track and the scarlet cars were left at opposite ends of the timesheets, with Schumacher out in front and Barrichello bringing up the rear.

Schumacher set a time of 1:15.188 to lead the second-placed Jordan Honda of Italian Giancarlo Fisichella by 0.305 seconds as the German champion's brother also hit trouble. After an earlier spin, younger Schumacher, Ralf, lost control of his Williams-BMW again with ten minutes of the session remaining and spun into the tyre barriers at turn eight.

The light contact, made with the rear of the car, caused Schumacher to lose his rear wing and left him down in 17th place, with a brave marshal recovering the debris to ensure the practice was not halted for a second time.

At the end of the action-packed practice it was more smiles for Jaguar, whose Ford owners announced prior to the session that they will continue to back their Formula One programme.

The team's two drivers, Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa and Ulsterman Eddie Irvine, claimed third and fourth place behind Schumacher and Fisichella, outpacing fifth place Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya in the lead Williams-BMW.

Jordan, who will use Ford engines next year, were also on form as Japanese driver Takuma Sato backed up his teammate Fisichella's good performance with a sixth place finish.

German Nick Heidfeld, of Sauber, was seventh with Briton Jenson Button eighth for Renault and the two McLaren-Mercedes' of Finn Kimi Raikkonen and Briton David Coulthard rounding out the top ten.

Sauber new boy Heinz-Harald Frentzen, replacing the penalised Felipe Massa for this weekend and proving to be a tight fit in the Swiss team's small cockpit, was just outside the top ten in 11th place.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:15.188 200.713 km/h 4 2. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:15.493 + 0.305 19 3. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:15.561 + 0.373 12 4. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:15.589 + 0.401 13 5. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:15.632 + 0.444 18 6. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:15.659 + 0.471 23 7. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:15.763 + 0.575 15 8. Button Renault (M) 1:15.841 + 0.653 19 9. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:15.853 + 0.665 11 10. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:15.949 + 0.761 12 11. Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:15.997 + 0.809 18 12. Salo Toyota (M) 1:16.200 + 1.012 15 13. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:16.223 + 1.035 21 14. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:16.309 + 1.121 18 15. Trulli Renault (M) 1:16.427 + 1.239 15 16. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:16.568 + 1.380 19 17. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:16.795 + 1.607 13 18. McNish Toyota (M) 1:16.873 + 1.685 15 19. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:17.365 + 2.177 23 All Timing Unofficial