Thursday First Free Practice - Monaco GP

Monaco master Michael Schumacher put in an impressive performance around the damp Monaco streets on Thursday morning to finish three tenths of a second ahead of his closest rival, Briton David Coulthard, in preparation for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.

The controversy-hit Ferrari driver, who is chasing a record-equalling sixth victory here, kept control in the blustery conditions to set a lap of 1:21.094 during an incident-filled session which saw both Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, of Jaguar, and Finn Kimi Raikkonen, of McLaren-Mercedes, hit the barriers.

Scot Coulthard, who secured pole position here last year with a lap of 1:17.430, was second for McLaren, half a second ahead of third-placed Trulli, who remains confident of a good performance on a track that is expected to suit his Renault car.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello placed the second Ferrari in fourth, but was eight tenths of a second off the pace of his German World Champion teammate Schumacher, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen claimed fifth for the Arrows team, who continue to surprise with their impressive pace.

De la Rosa had become the first man to hit the barriers, when he went off at the exit of the famous swimming pool complex after 17 minutes of the opening session. The heavy impact damaged both the nose and front right suspension of his Jaguar and it had to be craned off the track.

Finn Raikkonen was next to fall foul of the intimidating barriers when he clipped the inside tyre barrier on the entry to La Rascasse, and spun backwards into the barriers, damaging both ends of his McLaren.

British American Racing had a good session, with on-form Canadian Jacques Villeneuve claiming sixth fastest time, and his French teammate Olivier Panis finishing in seventh.

Briton Jenson Button claimed eighth place in the second Renault, with Raikkonen ninth despite his crash, and German Ralf Schumacher claiming the final top ten spot for Williams-BMW.

Ulsterman Eddie Irvine, who finished on the podium here last year, was 11th fastest for Jaguar, while the second Williams-BMW of Juan Pablo Montoya was down in 16th place, 3.4 seconds off the pace after an early scare which saw the Colombian go straight on at Mirabeau.

Japan's Takuma Sato, who crashed an historic Lotus in the Historic Monaco race last weekend, took a cautious approach and finished 17th, while his Jordan teammate Giancarlo Fisichella finished bottom after only three laps.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:21.094 149.604 km/h 13 2. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:21.388 + 0.294 16 3. Trulli Renault (M) 1:21.907 + 0.813 21 4. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:21.937 + 0.843 14 5. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:22.248 + 1.154 21 6. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:22.553 + 1.459 29 7. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:22.711 + 1.617 30 8. Button Renault (M) 1:22.864 + 1.770 15 9. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:22.904 + 1.810 6 10. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:22.927 + 1.833 22 11. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:23.330 + 2.236 16 12. McNish Toyota (M) 1:23.395 + 2.301 23 13. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:23.738 + 2.644 20 14. Salo Toyota (M) 1:23.996 + 2.902 15 15. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:24.110 + 3.016 20 16. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:24.532 + 3.438 17 17. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:25.032 + 3.938 18 18. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:25.428 + 4.334 14 19. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:25.496 + 4.402 18 20. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:26.518 + 5.424 18 21. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:27.555 + 6.461 6 22. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:40.346 + 19.252 3 All Timing Unofficial