Saturday March 16th, 2002

Rubens Barrichello put Ferrari back on top with the fastest time in Saturday's opening free practice session for Sunday's Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix.

The Brazilian lapped 0.314 of a second quicker than teammate and World Champion Michael Schumacher, who will be seeking a fourth successive Malaysian pole in qualifying later.

Barrichello, who started the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on pole two weeks ago, was well inside the race lap record but his time of one minute 36.974 seconds was slower than Schumacher's 2001 pole of 1:35.220.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, fastest on Friday, was third with a time of 1:37.639 ahead of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya in a Williams.

The covered grandstands overlooking the pit straight were again largely empty with only a scattering of fans braving the sticky heat on an overcast day made more hazy by forest fires in the Sepang area.

The opening session was incident free, with Germany's Heinz-Harald Frentzen the only driver who failed to set a lap time in his Arrows.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Times                 
 1.  Barrichello   Ferrari            (B)  1:36.974  205.775 km/h
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari            (B)  1:37.288    +    0.314
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:37.639    +    0.665
 4.  Montoya       Williams BMW       (M)  1:37.804    +    0.830
 5.  Button        Renault            (M)  1:37.829    +    0.855
 6.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW       (M)  1:38.380    +    1.406
 7.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:38.748    +    1.774
 8.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda       (B)  1:39.168    +    2.194
 9.  Massa         Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:39.783    +    2.809
10.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:39.875    +    2.901
11.  Bernoldi      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  1:40.064    +    3.090
12.  Trulli        Renault            (M)  1:40.295    +    3.321
13.  Panis         BAR Honda          (B)  1:40.375    +    3.401
14.  Sato          Jordan Honda       (B)  1:40.422    +    3.448
15.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda          (B)  1:40.444    +    3.470
16.  Salo          Toyota             (M)  1:40.891    +    3.917
17.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:41.158    +    4.184
18.  McNish        Toyota             (M)  1:41.226    +    4.252
19.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:42.618    +    5.644
20.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:42.744    +    5.770
21.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:43.719    +    6.745
22.  Frentzen      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  No Time               

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 01:49:31 GMT

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