World champion Michael Schumacher kept Ferrari out front on Friday with the fastest lap in free practice for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. The four-times world champion, aiming for a fourth win in five races this season, lapped in one minute 20.380 seconds on a bright afternoon in Barcelona.
Germany's Heinz-Harald Frentzen was a surprising second quickest in 1:20.450 for Arrows, ahead of Jenson Button in a Renault in 1:20.693. The times were well off last year's pole mark of 1:18.201 but are likely to be considerably faster in Saturday's qualifying.
Schumacher won last year in Barcelona, a circuit where all the teams have tested extensively, and has been on pole for the past two seasons. The German leads his younger brother Ralf, 12th fastest on Friday in a Williams, by 14 points in the standings after a Ferrari one-two finish with Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in the last race in Italy. Barrichello was fourth quickest on Friday.
Jordan, who have yet to score a point and cut their workforce on Tuesday, made a difficult start to the weekend when Japan's Takuma Sato pulled over at the end of the pit lane with the session only seconds old. The rookie, whose engine died after a camshaft sensor problem, sat out the rest of the session but completed 20 laps in the afternoon to end the day 14th fastest.
Malaysian Alex Yoong, who failed to qualify his Minardi at Imola two weeks ago, was the slowest driver, running off track and also spinning in the morning.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
