Friday Second Free Practice - Canadian GP

Briton David Coulthard led the field after Friday's opening day of practice for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix as World Champion Michael Schumacher struggled to perform in the hot conditions at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Coulthard, boosted by more power from the Mercedes engine in his McLaren this weekend, beat last year's pole position time on his way to the fastest time of the day, and finished one tenth of a second faster than Williams-BMW rival Juan Pablo Montoya.

World Champion Michael Schumacher managed the third fastest time in his Bridgestone-shod Ferrari as the Michelin runners claimed the edge, and even a late run could serve only to move him ahead of the second McLaren-Mercedes of Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who finished fourth.

German Ralf Schumacher, in the second Williams-BMW, was fifth fastest, six tenths of a second slower than leader Coulthard, while Mika Salo claimed sixth fastest time for Toyota.

Olivier Panis, who broke his leg in a heavy accident at the Montreal circuit in 1997, was seventh for the British American Racing Honda team as his Canadian teammate Jacques Villeneuve finished ninth, behind the second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello, with German Heinz-Harald Frentzen, of Arrows, completing the top ten.

Italian Jarno Trulli had a troubled start to his weekend when he stopped out on the track with just seven minutes of the second hour-long practice completed and was forced to sit out the rest of the session and ended in 21st place.

Schumacher's Ferrari had slowly dropped down the order after topping the times in the first session and Williams driver Montoya moved into the ascendancy by setting a lap time of 1:15.702. But with three minutes of the session to go, Coulthard set a time of 1:15.407 to claim the top spot.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:15.407 208.198 km/h 39 2. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:15.543 + 0.136 36 3. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:15.788 + 0.381 40 4. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:15.946 + 0.539 42 5. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:16.018 + 0.611 45 6. Salo Toyota (M) 1:16.259 + 0.852 38 7. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:16.333 + 0.926 48 8. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:16.440 + 1.033 37 9. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:16.448 + 1.041 48 10. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:16.793 + 1.386 40 11. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:16.801 + 1.394 46 12. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:16.989 + 1.582 36 13. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:17.018 + 1.611 27 14. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:17.250 + 1.843 46 15. Button Renault (M) 1:17.473 + 2.066 32 16. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:17.489 + 2.082 52 17. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:17.765 + 2.358 42 18. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:18.034 + 2.627 36 19. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:18.143 + 2.736 34 20. McNish Toyota (M) 1:18.311 + 2.904 34 21. Trulli Renault (M) 1:18.465 + 3.058 19 22. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:19.050 + 3.643 55 All Timing Unofficial