Mar 21: Michael Schumacher sent out a warning to his rivals by setting a scorching pace in Friday's qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The world champion, who failed to make the podium in the opening race in Australia, produced a blistering lap round the Sepang circuit. Schumacher's time of 1:34.98 was seven tenths of a second quicker than that of his Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello, with Juan Pablo Montoya third fastest in the Williams.

David Coulthard, who won in Melbourne and was fastest in free practice, had to settle for fifth behind his McLaren team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Jarno Trulli was sixth in the Renault and Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Heinz-Harald Frentzen both put in impressive displays to finish seventh and eighth respectively.

Under the new rules, Friday's qualifying session sets the order in which the cars go out to determine grid positions on Saturday.

That means Schumacher, who was fourth in Australia, will be last on to the track as he chases a fifth consecutive pole in Malaysia.
As the early championship leader Coulthard was first out on Friday.
Ralf Schumacher finished down in 13th in the sweltering conditions, 1.825 seconds slower than his elder brother.
And Villeneuve suffered more embarrassment after his pitstop mix-up in Australia, losing the back end of his car under braking to finish 15th fastest.

To add to his discomfort, team-mate Jenson Button was comfortably faster in ninth.
The Jaguar team had a disappointing day as Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia failed to register a time and Mark Webber finished down in 16th, with only Jordan's Ralph Firman and the Minardis of Jos Verstappen and Justin Wilson slower.
Bureau Report