Practice 2: Not bad for an old car...

The only man who came close to matching Schumacher was his team-mate Rubens Barrichello, proving that Ferrari are still a force to be reckoned with, even though they are running last year's car for the season-opener.

Despite a light shower of rain mid-way through the hour-long session, the teams were able to get a fair amount of dry running on the Albert Park circuit. Schumacher's final run left him a full 0.5secs up on Barrichello, who in turn was over a second clear of the first of the two Williams drivers Ralf Schumacher. Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth fastest.

Nick Heidfeld backed up the opinion of many F1 pundits who reckon he could be up for a good result in Melbourne by going fifth fastest. But the surprise of the day had to be the man in sixth: Mika Salo.

Although times in Friday's free sessions can be misleading, the performance of the brand new Toyota team will please the Japanese manufacturer's bosses. Their V10 engine is already said to be one of the most powerful in F1, and the evidence is already building up. Salo topped the maximum speed figures in the second sector of the track.

Kimi Raikkonen proved quicker than his team-mate David Coulthard on his first day at a GP as a McLaren driver, the pair going seventh and 11th fastest respectively. The other Brits were all strung together - Jenson Button, Allan McNish and Eddie Irvine covering 15th to 17th.

There were few incidents in the two sessions. The most significant spin befell the hapless Alex Yoong who beached his Minardi at the first corner.

For full practice session 2 results, click here.