The seven-time world champion, who was one of a number of celebrity guests at Roger Waters’ Dark Side of the Moon performance at the track last night, slumped to 14th on the timing sheets.

That was the least of his worries though as mechanics worked feverishly to repair the damage and avoid an engine change, which would bring a 10-place grid penalty.

World champion Fernando Alonso, who leads Schumacher by 19 points in the standings, was also off form this morning.

The Renault driver spun at the Adelaide hairpin at the very end of the session, ruining his quickest lap and condemning him to 16th.

The BMW-Saubers of Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld were the surprise pacesetters.

Villeneuve’s best lap of one minute 17.005 seconds was 0.044secs quicker than team-mate Heidfeld while Toyota’s Jarno Trulli was also impressive in claiming third.

Williams enjoyed a welcome return to the front with Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber netting fourth and fifth respectively while Honda’s Jenson Button was sixth.

Pedro de la Rosa warmed up for his first qualifying session for more than a year with eighth spot, one behind McLaren team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

The Spaniard is standing in for Juan Pablo Montoya, who was dropped by McLaren after announcing his defection to NASCAR.

Scotsman David Coulthard, the man Montoya replaced at McLaren, was 10th.