AUGUST 26, 2005

Montoya tops at Monza

It was a busy week of testing at Monza where all the Formula 1 teams were in action in preparation for the Italian Grand Prix. Juan Pablo Montoya set the fastest time with a best lap of 1m19.813s after two days of running, during which he completed 170 laps of the track. World Championship challenger Kimi Raikkonen did only one full day (completing just five laps on his first day) but quickly got down to 1m20.082s after just 80 laps.

World Championship leader Fernando Alonso ran on all three days of the test and clocked up an impressive 333 laps with a best lap of 1m20.251s, while his Renault team mate Giancarlo Fisichella was next quickest, setting a 1m20.767s after 331 laps.

The BMW Williams team ran Mark Webber, Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg, with the Australian fastest after his two days (and 168 laps) with a lap of 1m20.972s.

Ferrari ran Michael Schumacher, Luca Badoer and new signing Felipe Massa. Schumacher was quickest, racking up 176 laps for a best of 1m21.071s ahead of Jenson Button, who did one day and 113 laps, to record a best of 1m21.222s. BAR also ran Takuma Sato (who was a tenth slower than Button) and test drivers Anthony Davidson and Adam Carroll.

Also in action were the two McLaren test drivers Alexander Wurz and Pedro de la Rosa; Toyota ran Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, Ricardo Zonta and Olivier Panis; Red Bull had David Coulthard, Christian Klien and Tonio Liuzzi; Sauber ran only Jacques Villeneuve; Jordan ran Narain Karthikeyan, Tiago Monteiro and Nicky Pastorelli and Minardi ran Christijan Albers and Robert Doornbos.