Schumacher fastest in old Ferrari
Formula One champion Michael Schumacher showed that last year's Ferrari was still the car to beat on Friday with the fastest lap in the opening free practice session of 2002.
The German, who has won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix for the last two years, fired up his campaign for a record-equalling fifth world title with a strong statement of intent in the same Ferrari model he used last season.
His fastest lap of one minute 27.276 seconds was 0.523 quicker than his second-placed Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello and less than half a second outside the time he set to seize pole position last year.
Although teams were testing different setups in free practice, the Mercedes-powered McLarens were left way down the order.
Last year's runner-up David Coulthard was 11th with a best time of 1:30.312, while his new Finnish team mate Kimi Raikkonen was seventh.
Schumacher's younger brother Ralf was third fastest overall in 1:28.821 with his Williams team mate, Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, 0.049 behind in fourth place.
HEIDFELD SURPRISE
Sauber's Nick Heidfeld put in a surprisingly strong showing by setting the fifth fastest time on his 30th and final practice lap while Mika Salo gave newcomers Toyota great cause for optimism with the sixth best time.
Toyota wasted little time making their track debut after a 10-year dream finally came to fruition, accelerating on to the Albert Park circuit as soon as the lights turned green in the first of two hour-long practice sessions.
Light rain fell during both sessions but the track was mostly dry for the first workout of the new season, which was relatively incident-free.
Several cars, including both Ferraris, made unscheduled excursions into the gravel traps and the caution flag was displayed during each session. But there were no serious incidents or crashes.
Brazil's Felipe Massa was the best of the four rookies in the field, setting the eighth fastest time in his Sauber while Japan's Takuma Sato was 13th, Briton Allan McNish 16th and Australia's Mark Webber 20th.
Webber's Malaysian team mate Alex Yoong, making his first appearance at Albert Park after joining Minardi for the final three races last year, was the slowest of the 22 drivers, finishing more than 16 seconds behind Schumacher.
