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Schumacher on track to another record in Monaco

The Schumacher brothers had different fates in the opening practice sessions for the Monaco Grand Prix on Thursday.

Michael Schumacher started his bid for a record sixth consecutive season-opening win much the way he did in the other five victories -- by posting the fastest times.

However, Ralf Schumacher hopes of repeating last year's pole position vanished. The Williams driver was unable to complete a flying lap in the morning practice session after an engine failure and the team was forced to change the BMW engine, incurring a penalty which sees him penalized 10 grid spots in tomorrow's race, according to new regulations.

"The engine problem I had at the beginning of today's session undermined all my plans for the weekend, of course," Ralf Schumacher said. "I have also lost a lot of valuable time for setting up the car. That means we have a lot of work ahead of us for practice."

The elder Schumacher, who started from fifth position last year, seeks to improve Nigel Mansell's 1992 record Formula One start of five consecutive victories and also Ayrton Senna's record of five Monaco GP wins.

The Ferrari driver has a perfect 50 points after five races with teammate Rubens Barrichello closest at 32 points.

In the morning, Michael Schumacher went out late, mid-way through the one-hour session, stopped a bit when the practice was interrupted after Mark Webber's Jaguar caught fire, then resumed and set the best time of 1 minute, 16.502 seconds on his final lap.

"It was an entertaining and interesting session as we have come to expect in Monaco," Michael said.

As temperatures and the track got warmer in the afternoon, he improved his time by nearly two seconds in the later session, clocking 1:14.741.

BAR-Honda drivers Takuma Sato and Jenson Button were second and third, respectively, in the morning, giving yet another indication that the team is able to challenge Ferrari.

Button had the pole position at the San Marino Grand Prix last month and Sato was third in qualifying at the Spanish GP two weeks ago. Neither was able to beat Schumacher.

Sato clocked 1:17.279 and Button 1:17.338.

Barrichello was 12th in the practice at 1:18.621.
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