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Test drivers quickest in Melbourne
 World champion Alonso was second only to Jenson Button in Friday practise. MELBOURNE, Australia -- World champion Fernando Alonso settled for fifth spot as the top drivers all took it easy in Friday's practise session for the Australian Grand Prix. The Spaniard drove well within his limits as he lapped a windy Albert Park circuit in a best time of one minute, 27.44 seconds during the two 60-minute sessions. With all of the teams adopting a cautious approach to conserve their engines and tyres for Sunday's race, the top three times were all recorded by test drivers. Briton Anthony Davidson set the fastest time of 1:26.82 in a Honda just ahead of Austrian Alexander Wurz in a Williams and BMW's Polish driver Robert Kubica. Jenson Button of Britain, also driving a Honda, set the fastest time amongst the actual race drivers, to be fourth overall, just ahead of Alonso, Germany's Michael Schumacher and Finland's Kimi Raikkonen. "It's been a positive start to the weekend and so far so good," Button said. "The circuit had very low grip but we ran through everything we intended and most importantly, it's good that Anthony completed all his test items." Alonso finished less than a quarter of a second behind Button and said all the signs pointed to another good weekend for Renault after he won the season-opener in Bahrain and team mate Giancarlo Fisichella won the second round in Malaysia. "We seem to be in good shape," Alonso said. "The Renault feels nice to drive and our pace is good. I think we are in a similar position to the other races this season -- aiming for the top position." Schumacher, winner of four of the past six Australian grand prix, survived a brief scare when he slid his Ferrari onto the grass after running wide on a turn. "A gust of wind pushed the car from behind when I had no room to brake," he explained. "Things went pretty well ... there were no other problems." Raikkonen also made an unscheduled off-road excursion in his McLaren but recovered quickly to set the seventh fastest time overall. "That sometimes happens when you try different things," he said. "It was still a good start to the weekend." The were no major casualties in either session although Swiss test driver Neel Jani had to quit the morning session early when he hit a wall in his Scuderia Toro Rosso after locking up his rear brakes. All the teams except for Renault, McLaren, Ferrari and Toyota are allowed to run a test car in Friday's two practice sessions, which no longer count towards qualifying. Qualifying has been a point of contention in recent seasons, with several formats trialled, and is now staged solely on the Saturday under a new 'shootout' format. The new qualifying format involves three sessions with the slower cars being weeded out at each stage but the jury is still out on the value of Friday's session. "We should think more laterally and ask ourselves, do we need a Friday session?" said Renault technical chief Pat Symonds. Villeneuve drops 10 placesMeanwhile, Jacques Villeneuve will lose 10 places on the starting grid after BMW Sauber confirmed his car's engine would be changed for qualifying. The team suffered failures of their new V8 engines in the first two races in Bahrain and Malaysia, and test driver Kubica had to stop in Friday's opening practice after 13 laps - although he still managed to finish third fastest. They have revised components since then, with Nick Heidfeld having a new engine for Sunday without penalty, but Villeneuve was still running the previous version. "Our whole focus is on reliability, but the time for development was too short," said team principal Mario Theissen, explaining the problem. "Over the winter our test engines of identical specification covered the required distances without problem. "However our investigations into the breakages in units after Bahrain and Malaysia revealed that some components have not met their required production tolerances. "Our short-term reaction has been to build new engines with hand-selected components that best meet these rigorous requirements," added Theissen. "We have two of these revised engines here. One is already installed in Nick's car and Jacques will get the second in time for qualifying after Saturday's morning practice. As a result, he will lose 10 positions on the grid." Villeneuve, the 1997 champion with Williams who made a sensational debut in Australia 10 years ago when he started on pole and finished second, scored BMW's first points when he finished seventh in Malaysia. "The balance of the car is very good and I'm really happy with its speed," said the Canadian. 
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