Schumacher’s team-mate, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, finished just a tenth of a second back as none of Ferrari’s nearest rivals came within a second of the pair in scarlet all day.

Ferrari clocked the 10 fastest lap times of the day, including Schumacher’s flying morning run of 1min 25.127secs, which bettered the lap record for the first time.

Renault’s Jarno Trulli placed third in both timed sessions – his best lap being 1:25.757 – but there was evidence BAR’s work over the winter is ready to pay dividends.

Britain’s Jenson Button was the fourth quickest driver of the day with an impressive time of 1:25.786, a run during which he matched Barrichello in recording the fastest speed of the day at 302kph.

BAR finished fifth last year and their developments over the summer, led by Button who is now the senior driver despite being only 24, has the leading four teams looking anxiously over their shoulders.

“I am reasonably encouraged by that performance,” said team principal David Richards.

“Clearly, Ferrari’s performance was very, very impressive. They obviously have a very quick car and it was a very impressive performance.

“If we drained all the fuel out I am not sure we could get those times.”

Richards did warn not to get too carried away with Ferrari’s times, quick as they are, because the new qualification system leaves a sense of the unknown about Friday practice.

“Let’s wait and see where everyone is when we are actually running for the grid tomorrow afternoon,” he said.

Button’s best split the two Renaults, with Spain’s Fernando Alonso (1:25.853) a tenth of a second further back, while the Williams pair of Ralf Schumacher (1:25.882) and Juan Pablo Montoya (1:26.206) were the sixth and seventh fastest drivers respectively.

It was no surprise that the afternoon timed session proved by far the quickest of the day as few teams risked their race engines with a full run-out early on.

Coulthard had warned earlier in the week that the leading teams would not risk over-burdening their engines with unnecessary laps in the first practice session.

He disagreed with the regulation, arguing it would short-change supporters, but said limiting the laps was crucial if the team can hope to complete Sunday’s Grand Prix.

“The consequence of this regulation change is that you probably wont see that many cars run on the Friday morning,” he said earlier this week.

“The engines have to go 200-300 kilometres further and the team focus is on finishing the Grand Prix, it is not on just doing laps for the sake of demonstrating the car.

“I think the spectators lose out.”

Coulthard’s McLaren team-mate Kimi Raikkonen completed just five laps and Ferrari took a similar approach, with Schumacher running four laps before retiring to the pits to fix an oil leak, and Barrichello nine.

Button completed only seven laps in his BAR – clocking a best of 1:27.867 - but the lower teams have the opportunity to run a third car during practice.

BAR’s test driver Alan Davidson ran 25 laps, giving team engineers extra opportunity to test the car just a day before qualifying while not risking the engine.