The bottom 6 teams in the 2003 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday.

Second was Ralf Schumacher, while Webber surprisingly took third place, still a full second behind the pole position time.

The difficult conditions of the track put several drivers in difficulty: Alonso, Räikkönen, Montoya and Barrichello made mistakes, relegated to the second half of the grid.

When Michael Schumacher refueled four laps later, he rejoined the track as the leader, ahead of Button (who started with a two-stop strategy and therefore had not yet pitted).

While the BAR duo fought for third place (Sato with a three-stop strategy against Button's), the race is livened up by the comeback of Barrichello, Montoya, Räikkönen and Alonso; Trulli, however, is relegated and, having started with little petrol on board, has to deal with a Toyota that is very difficult to manage with a full tank of fuel.

On lap 20, Webber retired for a rather unusual reason: the cockpit of his Jaguar inexplicably overheated to such an extent that the Australian driver suffered minor burns on his thigh.

After the first series of stops, Trulli, Montoya, Barrichello and Fisichella gave rise to an intense duel, with the Sauber driver having difficulty with the tyres, having to give way to the Brazilian from Ferrari, but managing to defend himself from the other two until his second refueling, on the 24th lap.

On lap 38, the Brazilian attempted an attack, but the McLaren driver came out of the corner and the two subsequently touched each other.