MELBOURNE, MARCH 10: Michael Schumacher had the fastest time on Friday in an eventful opening practice for Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix, but later smashed two wheels off his Ferrari in a crash he admitted was his fault.The 31-year-old german, who lost control of his Ferrari F1-2000 car at high speed and slid sideways into the barriers, walked away unhurt from the spectacular accident. ``It was my fault,'' he said. ``I was pushing too hard and went past the braking point. The car slipped away from me and I lost it. There was nothing I could do. I was going just a bit too fast in that section of the track.``But at the end of the day I am very happy with the performanceof the car. We are on top, we are close together- myself and rubens (Barrichello) - and we are not one second behind the McLarens. So it is a good thing for us today and, also, we had no major problems.``I am happy with the car and it has a lot of room for improvement.''Schumacher, looking for his third world championship, was whistling when he arrived back at the Ferrari garage and he spent most of the remainder of the session on the pitwall watching the action.Schumacher, who is seeking a winning start to a year in which he hopes to end Ferrari's 21-year wait for their first drivers world title since South African Jody Scheckter's 1979 triumph, clocked the quickest time early in the afternoon session.His lap of one minute 32.130 seconds was good enough to keep him on top to the end of the day ahead of Briton David Coulthard in a McLaren, his new Ferrari team-mate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello and defending world champion Mika Hakkinen of Finland in the other McLaren.That meant it was ``all the usual suspects'' at the front of the field on the opening day as McLaren Chief Ron Dennis remarked. ``business as usual,'' he said.
