Free practice 1: Schuey top 'track-cleaner'
Ferrari's Michael Schumacher topped the timesheets in the opening free practice session for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix. But with a dirty track surface rendering the times fairly meaningless, the German's fastest lap was almost two seconds slower than last year's pole
Schumacher was 0.827s quicker than McLaren-Mercedes driver David Coulthard, with Jarno Trulli's Jordan-Honda third ahead of his team mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari and the McLaren of Mika Hakkinen completed the top six, with Ralf Schumacher's Williams-BMW best of the Michelin runners in seventh.
Of the Monaco debutants, Kimi Raikkonen came out top with 11th fastest in his Sauber, five places ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams.
The session saw Pedro de la Rosa and Tarso Marques both damaging their cars against the barriers. The former's Jaguar lost a front left corner, while Marques' Minardi backed into the barriers at the entry to Rascasse. With spare cars not allowed until Saturday's qualifying session, neither got on track again.
Arrows gave a short-lived debut to an interesting aerodynamic addition on the A22 of team-leader Jos Verstappen. Looking like something from the late '60s, the Dutchman's car sported a high-mounted mini wing on its nosecone and an additional forward-mounted rear aerofoil.
The car certainly drew the attention of FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer, but ran in the latter part of the session with the wing removed.
For free practice 1 results, click here.
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