Rubens Barrichello in a Ferrari had the fastest time in the opening practice for the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg Friday while Mika Hakkinen had his McLaren-Mercedes falter and stop on the circuit. He called it quits early and did not have a timed lap preferring to wait until the afternoon session.
Barrichello's best lap was 1min 13.603sec around the 4.326km A1-Ring circuit.
Next best was Jarno Trulli in a Jordan-Mugen-Honda, 1:13.840 followed by Ricardo Zonta in a BAR-Honda, 1:14.046 edging Jos Verstappen in an Arrows-Supertec, 1:14.048.
There is another free practice later Friday with official qualifying for the 71-lap race Saturday.
World championship leader Michael Schumacher was fifth in 1:14.214 while rival David Coulthard was sixth in the early practice.
Schumacher's Ferrari has broken down in two of the last three races after winning the first three races of the season and taking five of the first nine.
Coulthard has taken advantage of the Ferrari failure. He won two of the last three to come within 12 points of Schumacher's lead with eight races to go. Schumacher has 56 and Coulthard 44 with Hakkinen now third at 38.
Last year, Coulthard knocked teammate Hakkinen off the track. Eddie Irvine of Ferrari won the race to put himself in a run for the title in the place of Schumacher, who was missing his first race after breaking a leg in a crash - (AFP)
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