Friday Free Practice - Australian GP

The McLaren Mercedes-Benz duo of Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard delivered an early warning to their perennial Ferrari rivals on Friday morning, when they came out late in the session to top the times in opening practice for Sunday's season opening Australian Grand Prix.

On a morning of rising temperatures and bewildered faces, as the teams experimented with fuel loads in advance of first qualifying in the new radical structure of Formula One's weekend order, it may or may not have been significant, but at least it provided proof that the Anglo-German outfit are intent on serious business this year.

Raikkonen, the baby-faced assassin from Finland who is regarded as the coolest man in the paddock, clocked the best time of 1:26.509 to finish ahead of Briton Coulthard, who was four-tenths of a second slower around the dusty, slippery and unpredictable Albert Park circuit. Interestingly, Italian Jarno Trulli was third-fastest in his Renault after doing only seven laps in practice, following a decent data-collection session earlier in the day in the early morning test session enjoyed by only four teams.

Ferrari were fast again, as expected, but appeared to be carrying more fuel and their two drivers Rubens Barrichello and five-times Champion Michael Schumacher were fourth and sixth respectively, the German red baron having dominated proceedings for a long period before being outpaced in the closing stages by his Brazilian partner before the McLarens came out in faster trim to steal the best times.

Australian Mark Webber, in his Jaguar, was also among the quickest men and also made the best of having been on the track in the early part of the day. He finished up fifth, splitting the two Ferraris, after running only 13 laps compared to 21 by Barrichello and 25 by Schumacher.

The one hour session saw many cars sliding and spinning with a long list of men managing to recover their briefly out-of-control vehicles as they slithered beyond the limits, but the bad news department was dominated by the BAR-Honda team. Both of their cars appeared to suffer serious engine problems, Canadian Jacques Villeneuve climbing from his as flames licked around the cockpit early in the session and Jenson Button also departing early as his seemed to blow up, without quite the same drama.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:26.509 220.680 km/h 17 2. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:26.988 + 0.479 23 3. Trulli Renault (M) 1:27.286 + 0.777 7 4. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:27.459 + 0.950 21 5. Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:27.564 + 1.055 13 6. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:27.666 + 1.157 25 7. Alonso Renault (M) 1:27.671 + 1.162 8 8. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:27.918 + 1.409 17 9. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:27.929 + 1.420 12 10. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:27.982 + 1.473 23 11. Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:28.092 + 1.583 13 12. Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:28.207 + 1.698 19 13. Panis Toyota (M) 1:28.362 + 1.853 12 14. Button BAR Honda (B) 1:28.493 + 1.984 10 15. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:28.698 + 2.189 24 16. Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 1:29.327 + 2.818 6 17. Firman Jordan Ford (B) 1:29.531 + 3.022 15 18. Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 1:30.198 + 3.689 14 19. Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) 1:30.606 + 4.097 16 20. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:31.529 + 5.020 5 All Timing Unofficial