Saturday First Free Practice - European GP

Olivier Panis continued Toyota's impressive form at their home Grand Prix on Saturday morning when he topped the timesheets in the first part of the final practice session for the European Grand Prix.

Frenchman Panis delighted the visiting staff from the team's factory in Cologne with a late run that enabled him to beat Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello to the top spot with a time of 1:31.181.

Brazilian Barrichello set a time of 1:32.039 to finish 0.858 seconds behind, with third-placed David Coulthard 1.290 seconds off the pace in the first of the McLaren-Mercedes machines.

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya finished fourth for Williams-BMW with Coulthard's Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen fifth and the two Schumacher brothers, Michael and Ralf, sixth and seventh in their respective Ferrari and Williams-BMW cars.

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia finished eighth in the Jaguar, Cristiano da Matta backed up his Toyota teammate Panis' performance with an impressive ninth place and Italian Jarno Trulli completed the top ten for Renault.

Montoya went off the track in the Mercedes Arena between turns two and three and Nick Heidfeld, in his Sauber, also went off track at turn one but both continued.

Da Matta lost control of his Toyota under braking and had a brief trip across the gravel at turn one but he still managed to help boost Toyota's hopes of a promising performance this weekend.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Panis Toyota (M) 1:31.181 203.253 km/h 18 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:32.039 + 0.858 15 3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:32.471 + 1.290 14 4. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:32.477 + 1.296 16 5. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:32.803 + 1.622 12 6. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:32.852 + 1.671 16 7. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:32.891 + 1.710 15 8. Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:33.127 + 1.946 11 9. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:33.140 + 1.959 17 10. Trulli Renault (M) 1:33.707 + 2.526 15 11. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:34.127 + 2.946 13 12. Alonso Renault (M) 1:34.179 + 2.998 12 13. Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:34.564 + 3.383 13 14. Button BAR Honda (B) 1:34.582 + 3.401 10 15. Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:34.775 + 3.594 10 16. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:34.784 + 3.603 12 17. Firman Jordan Ford (B) 1:34.967 + 3.786 12 18. Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 1:35.332 + 4.151 11 19. Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 1:36.845 + 5.664 9 20. Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) 1:37.001 + 5.820 8 All Timing Unofficial