Saturday First Free Practice - Spanish GP

Jenson Button continued his encouraging preparations for the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday morning, when he topped the times for BAR-Honda in the opening practice session of the day in Barcelona.

Briton Button finished fastest in Friday's afternoon session and said he is confident he can take the fight to Ferrari this weekend after claiming two thirds and a second in the last three races.

Button backed up his claims with another smooth performance in the 45-minute session, run under clear skies but still with cool temperatures, when he posted a time of 1:15.984 to beat Italian Renault driver Jarno Trulli by 0.031 seconds.

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was third for Williams-BMW and lead team-mate Ralf Schumacher by a little less than two tenths, while World Champion German Michael Schumacher was down in fifth in his Ferrari, half a second off the pace.

After struggling on Friday, Japanese BAR-Honda driver Takuma Sato improved his pace to claim sixth with Frenchman Olivier Panis claiming a place in the top ten with a strong seventh place for Toyota.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello finished eighth in the second Ferrari, 0.811 seconds behind Button, with Briton David Coulthard, of McLaren-Mercedes, and the second Toyota of Brazilian Cristiano da Matta completing the top ten.

The thin but anticipant crowd gathered in the stands were left waiting for more than 20 minutes to see some real action as the teams concentrated on conserving their engine life for the rest of the weekend.

Brief glimpses of Zsolt Baumgartner's Minardi, Christian Klien's Jaguar and the two Jordans of Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano did little to inspire interest but the pace soon quickened when Schumacher came out with 11 minutes to go.

The Ferrari driver put in a 1:16.519 lap to move to the head of the times with team-mate Barrichello slotting in behind, but his brother then went faster in the stump-nosed Williams-BMW before Trulli, then Button, took over at the top.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:15.984 10 2. Trulli Renault (M) 1:16.015 + 0.031 8 3. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:16.048 + 0.064 4 4. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:16.233 + 0.249 7 5. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:16.519 + 0.535 8 6. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:16.685 + 0.701 11 7. Panis Toyota (M) 1:16.721 + 0.737 6 8. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:16.795 + 0.811 8 9. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:17.106 + 1.122 8 10. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:17.252 + 1.268 8 11. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:17.277 + 1.293 6 12. Alonso Renault (M) 1:17.294 + 1.310 4 13. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:17.428 + 1.444 8 14. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:17.860 + 1.876 7 15. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:18.643 + 2.659 13 16. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:19.146 + 3.162 10 17. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:19.851 + 3.867 18 18. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:19.949 + 3.965 12 19. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) No Time 2 20. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) No Time 3 All timing unofficial