The Ferraris of Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher dominated the first free practice session here at the A1-Ring, the two hour-long stints punctuated by many cars spinning off the dusty and slippery circuit. Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams and Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren finished the day third and fourth as the fastest Michelin runners behind the two Bridgestone-shod Ferraris.

Technical: No major changes to the cars for this race.

Sporting: The team had a generally good day completing many laps working on brake development and enhancing traction. Barrichello reported no problems at all apart from a minor off-track excursion right at the end of the first hour. He tried the latest soft Bridgestone tyre, the softest used since the start of the season. Schumacher had no problems and worked only on race set-ups.

Quotes: Schumacher" I had three off-track moments because the track was very dirty and slippery."

Technical: Modified front wing on hand for this race.

Sporting: Montoya happy with the handling balance, admitting that it would be a tough weekend and that the team's only problem was Ferrari, while Ralf Schumacher admitted that he was not yet quite certain which tyre compound to choose.

Quotes: Schumacher: "If we find the right set-up we can fight for the first two rows of the grid."

Technical: No major changes to the cars for this race.

Sporting: Working on race set-up with varying fuel loads, both drivers surviving lurid slides on the dusty, low grip track surface.

Quotes: Coulthard: "A tenth here, a tenth there is hardly going to dent the Ferrari team's advantage, but hopefully we can inch closer to Williams this weekend."

Technical: Revised front wing available although it will not be used this weekend as the team judges it requires more development.

Sporting: Salo reported that the handling balance was good in the slow corners, but not quite so good in the high speed turns. McNish quite happy to be so well placed but ran a lighter fuel load than his team-mate.

Quotes: McNish: "I'm very impressed with this circuit. It is extremely challenging and I like it very much."

Technical: No major changes to the cars for this race.

Sporting: Both drivers spun during the course of the session, Frentzen losing 15 minutes after damaging his undertray when he spun over the kerb at the final right-hander. The handling balance was generally good.

Quotes: Frentzen: "We still have got a bit of work to do but I'm hopeful we'll have a good weekend."

Technical: No technical changes to the cars for this race.

Sporting: De La Rosa tried a revised and original specification front wing, but otherwise a routine session working on race set-ups for Sunday.

Quotes: Niki Lauda: "For the next few races we just have to manage with the technical package we have while our aerodynamicists work on a revised package for Silverstone."

Technical: No major changes to the cars for this race.

Sporting: Both drivers reported that the set-up and handling balance was still not quite on target yet. Villeneuve missed the first fifteen minutes of the second hour while the engineers completed chassis set-up changes on his car. Panis ran a different fuel load to his team-mate.

Quotes: Villeneuve: "We had a long tyre assessment run planned for this afternoon but after the delays changing the set-up we had to rush the programme."

Technical: Two redesigned front wings available for the team to use tomorrow. Using modified versions of the older wings today.

Sporting: Fisichella lost half a session after spinning into a gravel trap while Sato went the wrong way on chassis set-up and had to back-track later in the day.

Quotes: Sato: "We didn't do any runs with new tyres, which most of the other teams did, so that probably had a reflection on our times."

Technical: No major technical changes to the cars.

Sporting: Button spent much of the session battling poor handling balance and was generally not happy with his R202 set-up. Trulli used the T-car from Barcelona as his race chassis.

Quotes: Button: "We still haven't finalised our tyre choice, but we know the direction we need to work in tomorrow."

Technical: Revised aero package with new undertray, front wing and altered bodywork round the engine cover. Qualifying engine available for tomorrow.

Sporting: Heidfeld celebrated his 25^th birthday in disappointing fashion, stopping out on the circuit this afternoon with an electrical problem. Massa spent the afternoon focusing on race set-up but said there was more work needed to optimise the set-up.

Quotes: Heidfeld: "I lost a lot of track time and I hope that we can make it up tomorrow."

Technical: Strengthened rear wings for this race following Webber's Barcelona failure.

Sporting: Webber ran only race set-ups with a lot of fuel in today.