Schumacher quickest at Jerez

The German, who was running an F2004 fitted with Ferrari's new V8 engine, set a best lap of 1:18.020, despite an off-track excursion late in the day.

Schumacher's lap was more than one second faster than his nearest challenger - Ricardo Zonta in the Toyota TF106 - with the Brazilian's teammate Ralf Schumacher third quickest overall.

Both Toyota drivers caused red flags during the course of the day. Zonta spun off the track shortly after lunch, while Schumacher stopped with a mechanical problem late in the afternoon.

Most of the attention on the day was reserved for Giancarlo Fisichella in the new Renault R26, which was having its first run.

The Italian left attending journalists frustrated that he has been banned from speaking to the press about his feelings on the car before the official launch in Monaco later this month, but he quickly got down to work with the sleek-looking machine.

And although World Champion Fernando Alonso outpaced the new car in his updated R25 to set the fourth fastest time, Fisichella was able to complete 39 laps in the new machine to set the sixth fastest time, just behind Luca Badoer in the V10-powered Ferrari.

David Coulthard was slowest out of the seven runners as he gave Red Bull Racing's RB2 its first proper test. His day was hit by a mechanical problem early in the day, which brought out the first red flag of the session and left him stranded in the pits for several hours.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                Tyres  Time     Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              (B)  1:18.020   82
 2.  Zonta         Toyota               (B)  1:19.348   66
 3.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  1:19.866   59
 4.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  1:19.929   61  *
 5.  Badoer        Ferrari              (B)  1:20.091   63  *
 6.  Fisichella    Renault              (M)  1:20.555   39
 7.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  1:21.986   31
 
* V10 engine

All Timing Unofficial