Saturday First Free Practice - Bahrain GP

Jenson Button shot to the top of the times for BAR-Honda in first practice on Saturday morning as Ferrari's charge appeared to slightly falter ahead of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Briton Button, who claimed his first career podium at the last race in Malaysia, has looked strong this weekend and his time of 1:30.062 bettered the previous fastest time at the track by more than a second.

With early morning ambient temperatures already up to 32 degrees Celsius and the track temperature rising to 42 degrees, the Michelin runners claimed the top two places with Williams-BMW's Juan Pablo Montoya 0.059 seconds back in second.

Michael Schumacher, who topped the first ever session at the track on Friday, finished third fastest but was 0.483 seconds off the pace as Ferrari's previous stranglehold at the top of the timesheets came to an end.

Schumacher's Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello, who had claimed the previous best time of 1:31.450 on Friday afternoon, was fourth fastest 0.554 seconds back and Ralf Schumacher finished fifth in the second Williams-BMW.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who was forced to have his engine changed after it failed on Friday, gave McLaren a glimmer of hope by finishing sixth fastest but he was almost a second off the lead pace.

Japan's Takuma Sato was seventh for BAR-Honda, Briton David Coulthard eighth in the second McLaren, and the Renaults completed the top ten with Spaniard Fernando Alonso and Italian Jarno Trulli ninth and tenth respectively.

Brazilian Felipe Massa had trouble at turn one after 11 minutes of the session and was forced to stop his Sauber at the side of the track, losing vital minutes of preparation time on the new circuit.

Italian Giorgio Pantano spun his Jordan at turn 15 just five minutes later then World Champion Schumacher made a similar mistake at the same place but was able to just run wide and continue.

The Ferraris looked to be struggling and were pushing to the limits with Barrichello going wide at turn 10 just two minutes later and Schumacher off again at turn 14 two minutes after that.

Turns 13, 14 and 15 proved to be the ones to catch the drivers out for the remainder of the session with Toyota's Cristiano da Matta, Minardi's Zsolt Baumgartner, Jaguar's Christian Klien twice and Pantano again all running wide.

McLaren's glimmer of hope, however, quickly faded when Coulthard spun his car into the gravel at turn one late in the session and was forced to help marshals push it back to safety.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:30.062 11 2. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:30.121 + 0.059 9 3. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:30.545 + 0.483 10 4. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:30.616 + 0.554 10 5. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:30.651 + 0.589 13 6. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:31.003 + 0.941 14 7. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:31.090 + 1.028 10 8. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:31.341 + 1.279 9 9. Alonso Renault (M) 1:31.485 + 1.423 9 10. Trulli Renault (M) 1:31.644 + 1.582 17 11. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:31.692 + 1.630 4 12. Panis Toyota (M) 1:31.962 + 1.900 16 13. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:32.183 + 2.121 10 14. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:32.210 + 2.148 10 15. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:32.276 + 2.214 9 16. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:33.404 + 3.342 12 17. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:33.474 + 3.412 11 18. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:33.863 + 3.801 11 19. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:35.696 + 5.634 9 20. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) No Time All timing unofficial