Friday First Free Practice - US GP

World Champions Ferrari set the pace in Friday's opening practice session for Sunday's United States Grand Prix when Rubens Barrichello led teammate Michael Schumacher at the head of the field.

Brazilian Barrichello, who is yet to outqualify his German teammate this season, finished with a time of 1:11.354 - faster than last year's pole and fastest race lap - to put himself 0.265 seconds clear.

British test driver Anthony Davidson posted his usual strong Friday performance for BAR-Honda to finish third and he was just 0.339 seconds off the pace of the lead Ferrari.

Williams-BMW got back on track after their disqualification at the last race in Canada and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya finished as their fastest driver in fourth place with his German teammate Ralf Schumacher down in 10th.

Toyota had a strong showing with Brazilian Ricardo Zonta, another of the fast Friday test drivers, fifth fastest and the team's French race driver Olivier Panis in ninth.

Bjorn Wirdheim put his Jaguar inside the top ten with sixth place, just more than one second off the lead pace, while Briton Jenson Button, of BAR-Honda, and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, in his Sauber, finished seventh and eighth.

The session was briefly stopped after 40 minutes when Italian Gianmaria Bruni spun his Minardi and stopped in the middle of the track and Italian Jarno Trulli also had a brief spin in his Renault once the session restarted.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:11.354 16 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:11.619 + 0.265 16 3. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:11.693 + 0.339 23 4. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:12.008 + 0.654 11 5. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:12.366 + 1.012 25 6. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:12.424 + 1.070 25 7. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:12.553 + 1.199 14 8. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:12.575 + 1.221 12 9. Panis Toyota (M) 1:12.631 + 1.277 16 10. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:12.850 + 1.496 14 11. Alonso Renault (M) 1:12.989 + 1.635 15 12. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:13.147 + 1.793 8 13. Trulli Renault (M) 1:13.351 + 1.997 15 14. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:13.371 + 2.017 17 15. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:13.532 + 2.178 12 16. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:13.555 + 2.201 18 17. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:13.762 + 2.408 10 18. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:13.916 + 2.562 10 19. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:14.407 + 3.053 26 20. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:15.017 + 3.663 25 21. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:15.020 + 3.666 14 22. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:15.028 + 3.674 20 23. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:15.260 + 3.906 20 24. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:15.468 + 4.114 9 25. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:17.051 + 5.697 16 All timing unofficial