Friday March 15th, 2002

By Will Gray

New boy Kimi Raikkonen made light of the heat and humidity in Sepang on Friday as his McLaren-Mercedes-Benz team out-paced rivals Ferrari in opening practice for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.

The quiet young Finn shot to the top of the time-sheets early in the second free practice session as the Michelin-shod teams improved markedly following a cooler morning session when the outfits using Bridgestone tyres had shone.

Even Raikkonen's more experienced McLaren teammate Briton David Coulthard, who had suffered an exhaust fire in the morning, was unable to match his pace. He ended the day in second place, eight-tenths of a second slower.

Quadruple World Champion Michael Schumacher of Germany, who dominated the morning practice session, made only a slight improvement on his earlier time, but slipped to third behind the two resurgent McLaren drivers.

His younger brother Ralf Schumacher improved after a disappointing morning to claim fourth place for Williams-BMW ahead of Finn Mika Salo, who continued the Friday form he and his Toyota team had shown in Australia, by finishing the day fifth. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, in the second Williams, was sixth and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello seventh in the second Ferrari.

Briton Jenson Button and Italian Jarno Trulli produced impressive performances in their Renaults to claim eighth and ninth, with Nick Heidfeld completing the top ten for Sauber.

After spinning out of the first session, Australian Mark Webber continued to be beset by troubles in the second. He stopped out on the circuit just one minute after the start and wound up 22nd and slowest of the drivers.

Michael Schumacher had his second spin of the day during the afternoon when he exited the first corner too fast as he pushed to improve on Raikkonen's fastest time.

It seemed all the top men were in a spin in the afternoon session as Montoya rotated his Williams at turn five and Coulthard spun at turn 14. At the same corner 15 minutes later, Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi, in an Arrows, spun off and compatriot and Sauber new boy Felipe Massa went straight on across the gravel trap immediately afterwards. He just missed the nose of the Arrows machine.

Pos  Driver        Team                    Times                 
 1.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:37.399  204.877 km/h
 2.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes   (M)  1:38.038    +    0.639
 3.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari            (B)  1:38.490    +    1.091
 4.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW       (M)  1:38.650    +    1.251
 5.  Salo          Toyota             (M)  1:39.066    +    1.667
 6.  Montoya       Williams BMW       (M)  1:39.158    +    1.759
 7.  Barrichello   Ferrari            (B)  1:39.279    +    1.880
 8.  Button        Renault            (M)  1:39.714    +    2.315
 9.  Trulli        Renault            (M)  1:39.774    +    2.375
10.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:39.889    +    2.490
11.  McNish        Toyota             (M)  1:39.982    +    2.583
12.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:40.147    +    2.748
13.  Frentzen      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  1:40.576    +    3.177
14.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda       (B)  1:40.815    +    3.416
15.  Bernoldi      Arrows Cosworth    (B)  1:41.095    +    3.696
16.  Sato          Jordan Honda       (B)  1:41.111    +    3.712
17.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda          (B)  1:41.461    +    4.062
18.  Panis         BAR Honda          (B)  1:41.473    +    4.074
19.  Yoong         Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:41.805    +    4.406
20.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth    (M)  1:41.857    +    4.458
21.  Massa         Sauber Petronas    (B)  1:41.917    +    4.518
22.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech   (M)  1:44.583    +    7.184

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 06:05:50 GMT