Germany's Michael Schumacher of Ferrari sits in his car at the Silverstone racetrack during first practice for the British Grand Prix yesterday.[Shanghai Daily]

The Pole, who will not race tomorrow, lapped the 5.1-kilometer Silverstone circuit in one minute 21.082 seconds on a sunny afternoon.

Austrian Alexander Wurz, another test driver, had been fastest in the morning for Cosworth-powered Williams in 1:21.946. Japan's Sakon Yamamoto, a new test driver for the Super Aguri team, was the slowest of those who completed laps at 1:29.678.

Only eight race drivers set timed laps in that first session and while the afternoon was livelier it was still the unsung reserves, with no worries about conserving engines for two races, who stood out.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, for champion Renault, spun but still ended up second-quickest ahead of Wurz and Honda's Anthony Davidson.

Toyota's unlucky Italian Jarno Trulli, who has yet to score a point this season, had a promising day with the fourth-best time in the morning and fifth in the afternoon.

Ferrari's seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, in confident mood despite the furore he created in Monaco qualifying two weeks ago when he was stripped of pole position for deliberately stopping on the track, was fifth and eighth respectively.

Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso was seventh quickest in the afternoon.

The Spaniard, winner of four of the seven races so far, leads Schumacher by 21 points in the standings. After four victories and three seconds, Alonso has 64 points. Schumacher has 43 with two victories and two seconds.

Schumacher has won the British GP three times for Fer-rari and the Italian team added another victory with Rubens Barrichello in 2002, meaning the red cars have finished first here four times since 1998.

That equals McLaren's feat of four wins here in the past seven years - David Coulthard in 1999 and 2000, Mika Hakkinen in 2001 and Juan-Pablo Montoya last year.

Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren has finished third, second and third in the last three races here.

Fisichella, and Raikkonen are tied for third with 27 points.