MOTOR SPORT/Brazilian Grand Prix: David Coulthard, last year's winner in Brazil, yesterday demonstrated that McLaren are far from a spent force after topping the timesheets in free practice on the day Michael Schumacher also introduced Ferrari's new F12002 to a tremulous pitlane.

Rubens Barrichello, who tested the car in a three-day programme at Barcelona, had already branded the car a vast improvement over the F12001 in which Schumacher has continued to dominate since the start of this season and yesterday Schumacher said that despite finishing the day fourth, he was impressed with the new car's debut.

"This is the first time we've run the new car on this track and so we're learning all the time, so there's still room to improve," said Schumacher. " It looks as though it will be a good battle this weekend with myself and Rubens fighting the Michelin runners, especially as McLaren seem more competitive than in the first two races. It is difficult to read anything into the times though and I'm pretty happy with what we achieved today."

Coulthard, though, was the man in charge yesterday, pushing his so far unreliable McLaren MP4/17 two tenths ahead of Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya and half a second clear of the world champion. Once again there was the suspicion that Coulthard, whose best morning time was some two and a half seconds slower than the afternoon, was running light fuel loads, while Schumacher set his fastest time on almost his first run of the day and then spent the remaining hours concentrating on fine-tuning race set-up.

That Coulthard might, in reality, be at least a second adrift of his rival would be a major blow to the Scot, who desperately need to kickstart his season after non-finishes in Australia and Malaysia.

"I'm quite encouraged by today's performance and I do believe we've taken a step forward since Malaysia," he said. "We ran reliably and I got a lot of laps under my belt. There was a small spin in the first session due to a problem with the traction control, but on the whole I'm pleased."

Meanwhile, Takuma Sato, who has had a torrid start to his season with a start from the back of the grid in Melbourne after failing to set a qualifying time and a collision with his own team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella in Malaysia, found troubles again yesterday.

The young Japanese incurred the wrath of the race stewards after leaving the pit while the red light was still on. The Tokyo-born driver will now have his fastest qualifying time deleted, a penalty that heaps more pressure on the 25-year-old's already overburdened shoulders.

It was a mixed day for Jordan with both Fisichella and Sato quick in the morning session, with the Italian taking the morning's third fastest time behind the Schumacher brothers and Sato finishing eighth. But in the afternoon, the Jordan pair drifted out from the sharp end of the action, Fisichella eventually finishing the day 16th with Sato three places further back.

"We seem to have lost our way a little this afternoon, although it's possible the results were skewed by teams doing different things with fuel loads," said race engineering director Gary Anderson. "But we've had two trouble-free sessions and looked okay this morning so I think if we do some hard work with the data tonight we can be back up to where we should be tomorrow."

Eddie Irvine, meanwhile, finished his day's work with a respectable 14th fastest time, with the Irishman saying that the car felt much improved from Malaysia, where he qualified a dismal 20th. "The car has definitely improved in handling terms," he said. "I'm suffering some high-speed understeer but that shouldn't be too difficult to dial out. The Michelins are working very well as expected but it was hard to push the limit during the first session because of how slippery the track was.

"Our main problems are aero related and the changes we undertook between the sessions made some difference to the car's balance. It's hard, though, to predict at this stage where we'll qualify, but given that we're a second and a half slower than last year, I think we might struggle again.

Until we make some fundamental steps forward on the aero side, we can't realistically hope for better at this stage."