Fastest time on 1st Friday practice in 2000 - Michael Schumacher - 1:27.270

Session over -  Top 10 - Rubens Barrichello ahead of Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen. Coulthard, Trulli, Frentzen, Raikkonen, Panis, Irvine, and Villeneuve make the top 10.

59 min: Final run for the drivers as Michael Schumacher goes out again.

58 min: Ralf Schumacher goes into the gravel again but recovers.

57 min: Rubens Barrichello goes fastest just 0.04 seconds ahead of Michael. Coulthard moves into 4th.

56 min: Ralf Schumacher improves to 11th on dry tyres while Mika Hakkinen is now in 3rd.

55 min: Michael Schumacher improves further to 1:33.418 while Barrichello moves into 2nd and 1.35 seconds off the pace.

54 min: Ralf Schumacher goes out on dry tyres. He spins but recovers.

53 min: Trulli moves into second but Villeneuve takes it from him. Still 2.8 seconds off Michael's pace.

52 min: He goes fastest with a time of 1:34.386. The track is drying quickly now!

51 min: Michael Schumacher back on track.

50 min: Villeneuve moves to 3rd ahead of Coulthard. He is 0.3 seconds off the pace!

48 min: Top 10 - Rubens Barrichello ahead of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard. Panis, Heidfeld, Villeneuve, Irvine, Trulli, Hakkinen and Raikkonen make the top 10.

46 min: Villeneuve moves from 17th to 5th! while Raikkonen moves into in 8th place.

45 min: Jean Alesi in 6th!. He is know to be good in mixed conditions.

44 min: Both Williams are off the pace here so far with Juan in 12th and Ralf in 17th.

43 min: Olivier Panis is doing very well mixing it with Ferrari and McLaren. He is now 4th and 1.4 seconds off the pace.

42 min: Rubens Barrichello takes the top spot and the first time under the 1:37 mark.

41 min: Olivier Panis moves to 4th while Hakkinen is in 5th. Coulthard spins but recovers.

40 min: David Coulthard goes fastest but Michael Schumacher takes the top spot back.

38 min: Top 10 - Michael Schumacher ahead of Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard. Heidfeld, Irvine, Frentzen,  Panis, Hakkinen, Bernoldi and Trulli make the top 10.

37 min: Mika Hakkinen moves into 8th place on his first timed lap. 

36 min: Michael Schumacher improves and sets a time of 1:37.853. 

35 min: Coulthard moves into 3rd and the only driver other than the Ferrari's to set a time under the 1:40 mark.  

33 min: Coulthard improves to 5th now 2.2 seconds off the pace. Only Mika Hakkinen is yet to set a time. Verstappen cannot set a time this session as his car stopped on the track. 

31 min: David Coulthard is in 8th place. He is 3.8 seconds off the pace

30 min: Top 10 - Michael Schumacher ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine. Frentzen, Heidfeld, Bernoldi, Trulli, Raikkonen, Panis and Villeneuve make the top 10.

29 min: Burti almost loses it with 2 wheels in the gravel. Villeneuve improves to 10th.

27 min: Villeneuve moves into 11th place 6 seconds off the pace. David Coulthard is out on his first timed lap.

26 min: Mika Hakkinen goes out on his installation lap. Eddie Irvine moves to 3rd!

25 min: Eddie Irvine moves into 5th and is the quickest Michelin runner while Jacques Villeneuve is out on his first timed lap.

23 min: Only Hakkinen, Coulthard and Villeneuve have yet to set times. Barrichello has improved in 2nd place only 0.3 seconds behind Michael. Frentzen moves to 3rd still over 2 seconds slower than Ferrari.

21 min: Top 10 - Michael Schumacher ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Nick Heidfeld. Frentzen, Panis, Trulli, Bernoldi, Alesi, Fisichella and Irvine make the top 10.

20 min: Frentzen spins while close behind Montoya but manages to recover. David Coulthard finally goes out on his installation lap.

19 min: Olivier Panis moves into 5th place while Juan Pablo Montoya is in 14th place.

18 min: Only 12 drivers have set times so far. Neither McLaren has gone out yet even for an installation lap. Nick Heidfeld moves into 3rd but 4 seconds off Michael's pace.

17 min: The track is dying quickly and we will see times dropping soon. Michael Schumacher is the only driver under the 1:40 mark.

16 min: Ralf Schumacher moves into 8th place with a time of 1:48.476.

15 min: Top 8 - Michael Schumacher ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Jarno Trulli. Bernoldi, Irvine, Heidfeld, Alesi and Alonso make the top 8.

13 min: Michael Schumacher stays out and improves again to 1:39.743. Jarno Trulli is now second with a time of 1:44.321.

12 min: Michael Schumacher improves to 1:40.692 while Bernoldi sets a 1:45.831. 

10 min: Eddie Irvine goes out on his first timed lap while Barrichello is out on his installation lap. 

9 min: Michael Schumacher is the first to set a time today. His time is 1:47.554. Enrique Bernoldi goes out on his first timed lap.

7 min: Michael Schumacher continues for a second lap, he might set a time but he might want to just explore the drying track a bit more. 

6 min: Neither McLaren have come out. Barrichello has not come out either. No timed laps yet. 

5 min: Both Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya are out on their installation laps. 

3 min: The cars are on wet tyres as the track is damp from rain overnight. No driver has set a time yet. 

2 min: The cars are on wet tyres as the track is damp from rain overnight. No driver has set a time yet. 

1 min: Bad luck for Verstappen, his car stops on the installation lap. He cannot take the spare car in practice session over for him.

1 min: Both Arrows are the first to go out, they are followed by both Jaguar drivers.

Session underway and a stream of cars leave the pit lane on their installation lap

This is the first race in Europe this season. There are 11 races in Europe, 2 in North America, 2 in Asia and 1 in both South America and Australia.  Session starting in 2 minutes.

This race will be crucial for Mika Hakkinen if he is to take the fight to Coulthard internally and Michael Schumacher externally. He only has 1 point so far. Session starting in 4 minutes.

At the press conference yesterday, Michael Schumacher indicated that there was nothing particularly wrong with his Ferrari in Brazil so he referred to the problem as a 'set-up' problem. Session starting in 8 minutes.

It will be interesting to see how Juan Pablo Montoya will do on this track today as he is familiar with it having raced here once in F3000. Session starting in 10 minutes.

Session starting in 15 minutes. Temperature at Imola is a low 13 degrees under partly cloudy skies.