Final order: Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, Pedro de la Rosa, Jarno Trulli and Eddie Irvine make the top 6.
Massa, Coulthard, Raikkonen, Panis, Button, Salo, Fisichella, Sato, Villeneuve, Heidfeld, McNish, Yoong and Webber make the rest of the field. Barrichello didn't set a time this session.

60 min: Final lap ... Irvine improves his time in 6th, Raikkonen moves into 9th and Panis takes 10th.

59 min: Barrichello won't be able to set a time this session. Fortunately for him he tested here last week.

58 min: At this stage, the McLaren's appear to be caught up by the Renault's and the Jaguar's with Coulthard in 8th and Raikkonen in 11th!

57 min: Jarno Trulli improves into 5th with a time of 1:24.800.

57 min: Ralf Schumacher moves into 3rd with a time of 1:24.115

56 min: A number of drivers are on the track for their final run of the session.

55 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, Montoya, de la Rosa, Irvine, Massa, R Schumacher, Coulthard, Trulli, Button and Salo. Barrichello has yet to set a time.

53 min: Jarno Trulli takes 8th from his team-mate Jenson Button with 1:25.119

52 min: Alex Yoong in 19th isn't far off Mark Webber. Of course he has the advantage of racing here last year while this is Webber first race appearance here.

51 min: Under 10 minutes remaining in the session and Barrichello has yet to set a time.

50 min: Eddie Irvine improves in 4th with a time of 1:24.882. Still over half a second behind his team-mate.

49 min: Montoya in second is now 0.8 seconds behind Michael but he hasn't improved his time since his first timed lap!

48 min: And Michael improves yet again with a time of 1:22.869. Stunning!

47 min: But Felipe Massa changes that as he jumps into 4th with a time of 1:24.929. Still over 1.8 seconds off Michael's pace!

46 min: Kimi Raikkonen improves into 10th with a time of 1:25.409. Now Michael Schumacher is the only Bridgestone runner in the top 10!

45 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, Montoya, de la Rosa, Irvine, R Schumacher, Coulthard, Button, Trulli, Salo and Panis. Barrichello has yet to set a time.

43 min: Kimi Raikkonen must be having a problem down in 17th place and over 3 seconds off the pace. He is currently on the track hoping for an improvement.

42 min: Olivier Panis has covered the most number of laps so far with 15 laps.

40 min: Rubens Barrichello has yet to set a time this session.

39 min: Olivier Panis is currently the next best Bridgestone runner behind Michael Schumacher in 10th place and a massive 2.4 seconds behind!

38 min: And Eddie Irvine goes off after his flying lap but manages to recover.

37 min: Eddie Irvine moves into 4th behind his team-mate with a 1:24.398. If they are running heavy fuel loads, this will be a massive boost to the team!

36 min: Michael Schumacher improves at the top again with a 1:23.074. His time is under a second away from the Pole time of last year and this is only the first practice session on Friday!

35 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, Montoya, de la Rosa, R Schumacher, Coulthard, Irvine, Trulli, Button, Fisichella and Salo. Barrichello has yet to set a time.

34 min: And Michael just improves his time in 1st with a 1:23.347.

33 min: At this stage it looks like Michelin have the advantage in the tyre war with 8 out of the top 10 on Michelin tyres. Of course the fastest which is Michael is on Bridgestones!.

32 min: All the drivers with the exception of Barrichello have set lap times. Arrows are not taking part in this event.

31 min: David Coulthard jumps into 5th with a time of 1:25.044.

31 min: Button improves again with a 1:25.528 and moves into 6th.

30 min: Team-mate Jenson Button takes 7th from Trulli with a 1:25.782.

29 min: Jarno Trulli moves into 7th with a time of 1:25.949. Yesterday he indicated that he didn't expect to be competitive here.

28 min: Felipe Massa improves to 7th with a time of 1:25.973. Coulthard on the track.

27 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, Montoya, de la Rosa, R Schumacher, Irvine, Salo, McNish, Sato, Raikkonen and Massa.

26 min: Pedro de la Rosa moves into 3rd with a 1:24.281. Jaguar looked strong during testing but we won't know for sure until tomorrow afternoon!

25 min: Kimi Raikkonen moves into 7th with a time of 1:27.426. That is slow for a McLaren!

24 min: Juan Pablo Montoya moves into second with a time of 1:23.668 only 0.14 seconds slower than Michael. Lets hops it stays this close all weekend! 

23 min: Mika Salo moves into 5th with a time of 1:26.342. 

22 min: Michael Schumacher improves his time with a 1:23.524. Montoya on the track. 

20 min: Allan McNish moves into 4th with a time of 1:26.604. Only 6 drivers have set timed laps so far. 

20 min: And indeed Michael Schumacher goes fastest with a time of 1:24.352. 

19 min: Now Ralf Schumacher goes fastest with a 1:24.980 but Michael Schumacher is on a hot lap too! 

18 min: Interestingly, Irvine's time is already faster than the fastest time this session last year! 

17 min: Michael Schumacher goes second with a 1:26.867 while Webber improves his time again with a 1:27.453. Ralf Schumacher on the track! 

17 min: Eddie Irvine goes fastest with a time of 1:25.142 . Only 3 drivers have set times so far. 

16 min: But Mark Webber improves again with a 1:28.004. Eddie Irvine on the track. 

15 min: Alex Yoong responds to Webbers time with a 1:28.547. 

14 min: Michael Schumacher finally appears on the track for the first time this weekend. 

13 min: Mika Salo has pitted without setting a time! 

13 min: Team-mate Mark Webber sets a time of 1:28.504! 

12 min: Alex Yoong sets the first time of the day, a 1:30.143.  

11 min: And Panis pits without setting a time!. Mika Salo is on the track. The Toyota's are expected to do well here. 

10 min: Alex Yoong is on the track as well. 

9 min: Villeneuve pits while Panis starts the first flying lap of the day! 

8 min: Villeneuve stays on the track for a second lap as Olivier Panis come out for his second lap. 

6 min: Jacques Villeneuve appears on the track for his installation lap. 

5 min: No action on the track at this stage.

3 min: Most of the drivers have now completed their installation lap. The 2 Ferrari's, Villeneuve and Button have yet to appear on the track.

2 min: Minardi's Alex Yoong who was replaced by Anthony Davidson in the last 2 races due to poor form is back in the driving seat. He raced here last year so he has some experience of the track.

1 min: As usual, Michael Schumacher is one of the few drivers who has yet to go out onto the track.. 

Session underway and the cars head out onto the track for their installation lap. All the teams have tested here for 4 days last week. 

Ferrari are expecting a closer fight on this track although the Williams camp isn't making any high expectations. The next couple of days will show whether Ferrari are dominant on all kinds of tracks or if Williams can pose a threat here. Session starting in 5 minutes

Session starting at 11:00 AM local time. It is partly cloudy with an air temperature of 18 degrees.