Flying Scot David Coulthard, second here the last four years, posted the fastest time in the free practice forthe Austrian Grand Prix today.
He edged his flu-stricken teammate, Finn Mika Hakkinen, in the final moments of the second session after Hakkinen had the best time in themorning session.
Coulthard's McLaren-Mercedes raced round the 4.326-kilometer A1-Ring circuit in 1min 11.245sec pipping Hakkinen's 1:11.272. In the first hourHakkinen led the results with 1:11.751.
Third best was Ferrari's Rubens Barichello at 1:11.401.
The Schumachers took the next two places with Ralf's Williams-BMW edging brother Michael's Ferrari 1:11.555 to 1:11.647.
World champion Michael Schumacher said he was not bothered at tailing the McLaren duo.
"All in all, it is looking pretty close," he said. "Even though the gap is four tenths, my last run was compromised by traffic, so I am not worriedabout the time difference.
"I am optimistic for tomorrow because I do not feel that my lap times today are representative of what me and the car can do," Schumacheradded.
Nick Heidfeld of Sauber-Petronas was sixth in 1:11.776 ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Jordan-Honda, 1:11.977.
The top times were better than the pole position time of last year when Hakkinen was the pace-setter with 1:11.410. He went on to win the racewhich was held in July last year.
There is qualifying on Saturday for Sunday's 71-lap race.
Coulthard trails three-time world champion Michael Schumacher, 36-28, in the drivers standings so far and Schumacher has taken three of thefirst five races this season.
However Schumacher has not won here in Austria while Coulthard has taken second since the race returned to the schedule in 1997 whileHakkinen has won twice. -AFP