Saturday First Free Practice - Japanese GP

World Champion Michael Schumacher topped the times in Saturday morning's first free practice session, in advance of Sunday's season ending Japanese Grand Prix, as normal order was restored following Jean Alesi's fastest time on Friday.

The German, in his Ferrari, clocked a best time of 1:34.711 seconds to outpace nearest rival Finn Mika Hakkinen, in a McLaren Mercedes-Benz, by three-tenths of a second. Schumacher's time was seven-tenths of a second faster than Frenchman Alesi's time in his Jordan-Honda on Friday.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in the second Ferrari was third fastest, ahead of Briton David Coulthard in the second McLaren, and Ralf Schumacher, who was fifth for Williams-BMW and his sixth-placed Williams teammate Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya.

Alesi was 13th fastest, while his Jordan teammate Jarno Trulli was eighth. Kimi Raikkonen was seventh in his Sauber and Briton Jenson Button ninth in his Benetton Renault, six places ahead of his teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:34.711 222.893 km/h 2. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes (B) 1:35.043 + 0.332 3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:35.222 + 0.511 4. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (B) 1:35.424 + 0.713 5. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:35.651 + 0.940 6. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:35.742 + 1.031 7. Raikkonen Sauber Petronas (B) 1:36.597 + 1.886 8. Trulli Jordan Honda (B) 1:36.710 + 1.999 9. Button Benetton Renault (M) 1:36.819 + 2.108 10. Frentzen Prost Acer (M) 1:36.820 + 2.109 11. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:36.899 + 2.188 12. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:36.964 + 2.253 13. Alesi Jordan Honda (B) 1:36.987 + 2.276 14. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:37.028 + 2.317 15. Fisichella Benetton Renault (M) 1:37.035 + 2.324 16. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:37.493 + 2.782 17. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:38.049 + 3.338 18. Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:38.416 + 3.705 19. Enge Prost Acer (M) 1:38.868 + 4.157 20. Verstappen Arrows Asiatech (B) 1:39.050 + 4.339 21. Alonso Minardi European (M) 1:39.172 + 4.461 22. Yoong Minardi European (M) 1:40.678 + 5.967 All Timing Unofficial