Practice 1: Schuey signals his intent

Conditions were cool and overcast as expected, and true to form it was a good day for Bridgestone. The top six were all on the Japanese rubber and the only Michelin-shod car in the top 10 was David Coulthard's seventh-placed McLaren.

It was a session of relatively little incident, but in the final minutes both Massa and Barrichello took to the gravel. The Ferrari driver went off on the entry to the final corner and became beached in the kitty litter.

Despite ending the session back in 11th place, Ralf Schumacher was the first of the main players to record a fast lap, although the Williams driver's opening mark was fully five seconds away from last year's pole. The times soon tumbled, with Nick Heidfeld, Enrique Bernoldi and Allan McNish all enjoying some time at the top before first Ralf and then Juan Pablo Montoya ensured normal service was resumed.

The Ferrari drivers bided their time before setting out on hot laps, but they soon raised the standard with their opening efforts. Rubens Barrichello was the first driver into the 1m12s, although Michael soon went half a second quicker despite putting two wheel in the gravel on his first flier.

With 20 minutes remaining Heidfeld caused a surprise by vaulting up from the lower end of the top 10 to supplant the Ferraris at the head of the times. The Sauber driver's lap of 1m12.129s kept him on top until Michael and Rubens put in laps in the 1m11s in quick succession. Michael actually equalled his best time of 1m11.072s on his last lap, and he looks in good shape for his first Austrian GP win.

Jordan received some much-needed cheer with a double top six performance from Giancarlo Fisichella (fifth) and Takuma Sato (sixth). Heinz-Harald Frentzen continued his good recent form by taking eighth while both BAR drivers were in the top 10, boosting Honda's hopes of scoring its first point this weekend.

For full practice session 1 results, click here.