But as is becoming all to predictable it was the Ferrari Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello who topped the times.  Michael Schumacher would set the fastest time with a lap of 1m:11.072. Michael would spend the session working on tyre compound testing and general set-up work. As for team-mate Barrichello, who has seen his contract extended to the end of 2004, finished two tenths behind.

The opening session was very encouraging for Sauber with their drivers third and fourth. Felipe Massa was able to set a time of 1m:12.013, nine tenths slower than Schumacher, and finish in third with team-mate Nick Heidfeld in fourth.

In what is hopefully an improvement over their recent form Jordan Honda’s were in fifth and sixth with Giancarlo Fisichella ahead of team-mate Takuma Sato. For the McLaren team David Coulthard would be the fastest finishing in seventh but team-mate Raikkonen was way down in eighteenth. Coulthard's time, to put things in perspective, was a massive 1.5 seconds off Michael's time.

The Arrows driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen was eighth quickest, followed by BAR’s Jacques Villeneuve who improved throughout the session, and team-mate Olivier Panis.

Renault's drivers Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button were thirteenth and fourteenth, ahead of the Arrows of Enrique Bernoldi, Toyota’s Alan McNish, and Kimi Raikkonen in the second McLaren, the young Finn really struggling with the set-up of his machine.

Mika Salo was nineteenth, followed by Jaguar’s Pedro de la Rosa, Mark Webber, and Alex Yoong.