Saturday First Free Practice - San Marino GP

World Champion Michael Schumacher returned to top-spot in Saturday's opening practice session at Imola as he finished ahead of BAR-Honda driver Jenson Button.

Schumacher, winner of the opening three races this season, powered his Ferrari to a lap time of 1:20.856 to end the 45-minute session 0.309 seconds ahead of Button.

Button's impressive run of form continued as he finished more than four-tenths ahead of Rubens Barrichello, in the second Ferrari, with Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya fourth quickest.

Montoya's team-mate Ralf Schumacher was fifth in the timesheets, but ended more than a second down on his brother Michael, with Fernando Alonso sixth for Renault and BAR-Honda's Takuma Sato seventh overall.

McLaren pair David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen were classified eighth and ninth quickest despite completing only 11 laps between them, and Renault's Jarno Trulli completed the top-ten.

Jaguar's Christian Klien failed to set a time after crashing his car into the barriers at turn 12 early in the session after losing control running over the kerbs on only his second lap.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:20.856 13 2. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:21.165 + 0.309 11 3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:21.583 + 0.727 10 4. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:21.764 + 0.908 14 5. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:21.864 + 1.008 13 6. Alonso Renault (M) 1:21.954 + 1.098 13 7. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:22.013 + 1.157 11 8. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:22.051 + 1.195 6 9. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:22.164 + 1.308 5 10. Trulli Renault (M) 1:22.462 + 1.606 13 11. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:22.707 + 1.851 10 12. Panis Toyota (M) 1:22.885 + 2.029 14 13. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:22.991 + 2.135 6 14. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:23.105 + 2.249 10 15. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:23.482 + 2.626 17 16. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:24.255 + 3.399 13 17. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:24.907 + 4.051 10 18. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:26.783 + 5.927 11 19. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:27.539 + 6.683 13 20. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) No Time All Timing Unofficial