Barrichello takes top spot in new-look qualifying.

Rubens Barrichello defied speculation about his sore back to set the pace in the first Friday qualifying session of the new-look Formula One season, guaranteeing himself the final slot in tomorrow's grid-defining shoot-out.

The Brazilian, who set the pole for last year's season opener in a more conventional Saturday session, ran second on track behind team-mate Michael Schumacher, but immediately set about blitzing the German's tentative effort. Half a second up at the second split, Barrichello went on to take a full seven-tenths from his target time after what was almost a perfect run.

Hoping that no-one would usurp him from top spot, the Brazilian then had to wait and watch as another 18 cars took to the track, but managed to hold on to top spot after the leading runners yielded but one serious challenger.

Kimi Raikkonen, sporting his new helmet design for the first time in competition, had to wait until after both Williams-BMWs and McLaren team-mate David Coulthard had given it their best shot, but overcame a deep entry to turn one to stay close to Barrichello's time throughout the lap. 0.078secs down at the second split, the young Finn was only a tenth off the pace by the time he crossed the line.

The reigning world champion did not even make the top three on day one of the new regime, as the BAR team stunned onlookers with two impeccable performances given their morning tribulations. Unofficial team leader Jacques Villeneuve had only managed five laps in the single hour practice session he was allowed before qualifying, courtesy of a fiery Honda engine, and was forced to run in an untried chassis when the timed run came around. Despite that, however, the Canadian got things just right to slot in to third spot, claiming that he had managed to get the best from his Bridgestone tyres.

All that left Schumacher Sr in fourth spot - and freely admitting that team-mate Barrichello had simply out-paced him on the day. The German had the problem of running first on the road, not knowing the conditions or how hard to push with regard to picking the optimum spot in Saturday's starting order, and he appeared more tentative than some of those following him. He ran deep into turn one, compromising his lap early on, and only just managed to record a time quicker than that established in the morning session.

The Ferrari was sandwiched by the second BAR of Jenson Button, who leapt above the likes of Coulthard and both WilliamsF1 drivers with a stunning run to what was then fourth place. The Briton, like team-mate Villeneuve - who ran behind him on the road - had seen his morning session truncated by an engine failure, and did not have quite the unit JV used to do his qualifying run, but nevertheless lapped just 0.05secs from the world champion in spite of complaining of understeer.

Coulthard took sixth spot in the second McLaren, another victim of understeer around the tricky Albert Park track, and only just managed to fend off the leading Renault of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard had had to run among the later starters after sitting out the 2002 season - the order was based on last year's championship positions - and appeared to have blown his chance of a good lap when he oversteered into turn three. However, a quick second sector and steady progress through the third ensured that seventh was his reward.

Alonso's showing ensured that he outshone more experienced team-mate Jarno Trulli, who had followed Button on to the track and appeared to have a trouble-free run. His lap of 1min 27.411secs was only good enough for ninth, however, and allowed the leading Toyota of Olivier Panis to squeeze between the two blue-and-yellow R23s.

Panis was another who had no overt visible problems, but a slow opening sector compromised his entire lap. The quickest middle portion to that point was of little use, and the Frenchman wound up almost a full second off the pace. As a result, he could have been upstaged by diminutive rookie team-mate Cristiano da Matta, who appeared to be on course for a sensational run that would have belied his limited experience on the Melbourne track. Running last of the 20 entries, the Brazilian made the most of his CART single-car qualifying experience to be within 0.2secs of Barrichello's benchmark at the second split, but lost grip in the final sector and dropped to eleventh overall.

The Brazilian's disappointment allowed at least one of the two Williams-BMWs to break into the top ten, although Juan Montoya will probably not be too chuffed to be propping up the top half of the field. The Colombian was third out but, in the still unwieldy FW25, was half a second down at the second split and 1.078secs adrift as he crossed the line, the victim of a lock-up at T3.

In light of his team-mate's result, Montoya had much to be grateful for, however. Ralf Schumacher followed the Colombian out on track, but ran deep into the first corner and compounded his error by locking up the front wheel. Already a second plus down at the second split, the German could do little to rectify the lap, and will be among the first out again on Saturday. Almost two seconds separated him from the top of the order, meaning that 16th was his final reward, with just the rookies Firman, Pizzonia and Wilson, plus Minardi-shod veteran Jos Verstappen to pave the way in the final timed session.

Between da Matta and Schumacher Jr, the two Saubers both fell victim to turn four, with Nick Heidfeld running too hot into the corner and team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen kicking out the back of his C22 to wind up twelfth and 13th respectively. Despite this, the two Germans ended the day ahead of the leading Jordan, in which Giancarlo Fisichella looked a little tentative, and the fastest of the two Jaguars, which Mark Webber was unable to place as highly as he had in the morning session. The Australian, running with the expectation of the Melbourne crowd on his shoulders, ran wide into the first corner and kicked the tail out as he tried to recover, but left himself too much to do over the rest of the lap.

At least he managed to keep the car on the road, which both Ralph Firman and Antonio Pizzonia failed to do at turn 15, running out of room and taking briefly to the grass. While the Briton - with considerably less F1 experience than Pizzonia - had managed to keep his composure over the early part of the lap, his Brazilian rival looked ragged throughout, overdriving the R4 and eventually dropping behind the lead Minardi of Verstappen, who put in a measured run that only involved a slight error at T15 that prevented him from usurping the second Jordan as well.

Justin Wilson brought up the rear of the field after admitting that he had found it difficult coming to terms with his first low fuel run in the PS03. The lanky Briton will thus start the Saturday session running first on the road but, with rain forecast for some point on 'qualifying day', could yet still find himself higher up the grid than expected.

Perhaps Ralf Schumacher's run wasn't quite so bad after all......