Friday Second Free Practice - Australian GP

World Champion Michael Schumacher hammered out a warning to his Formula One rivals on Friday as Ferrari set an ominous pace in Australian Grand Prix practice.

With new regulations forcing drivers to stick with one engine all weekend or pay a heavy price, the German limited his running in the first session of the season but his times were still astounding.

Despite flirting with disaster in the afternoon, bouncing at speed over the rough runoff and almost hitting the wall, the six-times champion still ended the day with a fastest lap at the Albert Park circuit.

Schumacher's time of 1:24.718 was more than a second quicker than the previous best of 1:25.843 set by Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello in securing pole for the 2002 race.

That season-opener, won by Schumacher, set Ferrari on the road to a record-breaking season of domination and led to sweeping rule changes that made life harder for them last year.

Barrichello was second fastest, 0.108 slower than Schumacher, and Renault's Italian Jarno Trulli ended both sessions as the third fastest more than a second slower than the pacesetter.

The usual suspects dominated the top 10 in two hour long sessions with drivers running less than in the past to preserve their engines. Briton David Coulthard, last year's race winner for McLaren and destined to leave at the end of the season to make way for Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, was fourth in the first session and eighth fastest in the second.

The Scot was ahead of Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen, a title contender after finishing last year as runner-up, in both morning and afternoon. The title-challenging Williams pairing of Ralf Schumacher and Montoya were more than a second adrift of the Ferraris in the second session with the sixth and seventh fastest times respectively.

For the first time, all but the top four teams were allowed to run a third car with their test driver.

Jordan, Toyota, BAR and Jaguar took advantage of the opportunity while Minardi had their application for a super licence for Belgian Bas Leinders turned down. BAR's Briton Anthony Davidson was the only test driver to break into the top 10, finishing ninth fastest in the morning.

German test driver Timo Glock pulled over in his Jordan in the afternoon with smoke coming from the engine cover after just four laps of the second session.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:24.718 225.345 km/h 15 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:24.826 + 0.108 22 3. Trulli Renault (M) 1:25.757 + 1.039 23 4. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:25.786 + 1.068 15 5. Alonso Renault (M) 1:25.853 + 1.135 22 6. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:25.882 + 1.164 26 7. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:26.206 + 1.488 19 8. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:26.215 + 1.497 17 9. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:26.312 + 1.594 17 10. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:26.579 + 1.861 18 11. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:26.601 + 1.883 27 12. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:26.967 + 2.249 14 13. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:26.969 + 2.251 25 14. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:27.165 + 2.447 25 15. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:27.516 + 2.798 11 16. Panis Toyota (M) 1:27.710 + 2.992 11 17. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:27.724 + 3.006 20 18. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:27.807 + 3.089 16 19. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:27.826 + 3.108 15 20. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:28.781 + 4.063 30 21. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:28.991 + 4.273 18 22. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:29.708 + 4.990 9 23. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:30.061 + 5.343 18 24. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:30.291 + 5.573 11 All timing unofficial