Friday March 7th, 2003

By Timothy Collings

Five-times World Champion Michael Schumacher and one of his greatest young rivals Kimi Raikkonen both crashed and damaged their cars during Saturday's free practice session for Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.

On a circuit left dirty and slippery after heavy overnight rain storms, the Ferrari ace and his McLaren Mercedes-Benz challenger both damaged the front left wheels and front wings of their cars after spinning into the barriers.

Briton Jenson Button in a BAR-Honda topped the times at the end of the session when it resumed after being red-flagged to a halt for nine minutes following Finn Raikkonen's accident.

German Schumacher and his Ferrari teammate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello both went off-track and regained control early on, several other drivers also recovered from unscheduled off-circuit excursions and then Schumacher slid off at T15, a sharp left-hand corner after 28 minutes.

Six minutes later, after Schumacher's debris had been cleared, Raikkonen lost his car at T5, a fast sweeping right-hand corner, and the session was brought to a premature halt. Afterwards, Button topped the times and then saw his BAR-Honda teammate Canadian Jacques Villeneuve pull up and halt in his car with what looked like engine problems.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                    Laps
 1.  Button        BAR Honda         (B)  1:27.415  218.393 km/h  16  
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:27.614    +    0.199  16  
 3.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW      (M)  1:27.814    +    0.399  15  
 4.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:27.987    +    0.572   9  
 5.  Trulli        Renault           (M)  1:28.037    +    0.622  11  
 6.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:28.090    +    0.675  16  
 7.  Montoya       Williams BMW      (M)  1:28.120    +    0.705  15  
 8.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  1:28.154    +    0.739  14  
 9.  Webber        Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:28.421    +    1.006  21  
10.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda         (B)  1:28.509    +    1.094  16  
11.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:28.564    +    1.149  10  
12.  Frentzen      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:29.170    +    1.755  15  
13.  Panis         Toyota            (M)  1:29.212    +    1.797  15  
14.  Fisichella    Jordan Ford       (B)  1:29.343    +    1.928  12  
15.  da Matta      Toyota            (M)  1:29.673    +    2.258  14  
16.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:29.674    +    2.259  12  
17.  Firman        Jordan Ford       (B)  1:29.912    +    2.497  13  
18.  Pizzonia      Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:30.551    +    3.136  10  
19.  Wilson        Minardi Cosworth  (B)  1:30.857    +    3.442  12  
20.  Verstappen    Minardi Cosworth  (B)  No Time                  2

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 22:58:02 GMT

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