Practice 1 Report - Montoya fastest at Indianapolis

Juan Pablo Montoya is obviously keen to make up for his indiscretion in Montreal and was fastest in the first session in preparation for the United States Grand Prix. The McLaren driver was a tiny margin ahead of Ricardo Zonta's Toyota and Fernando Alonso's Renault. Fourth quickest was Nick Heidfeld in his Williams-BMW ahead of Jenson Button's BAR-Honda and McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa, who did not do many laps because of a mechanical problem which left him parked beside the track. Behind the Spaniard were Takuma Sato (BAR-Honda), Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault), Mark Webber (Williams-BMW) and Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. Although the session times may not be very significant it is clear that the fight for pole position is going to be a close one although this will obviously be disrupted if anyone decides to go for an unusual strategy. With overtaking much easier at Indianapolis than at some other circuits, the speed of the cars rather than the strategy will be more important on race day. But the tyre choice and the weather conditions will still be critical factors.

Canadian race winner Kimi Raikkonen was last in practice because of an off early in the session but the Finn seems to be happy enough that he can match Montoya's pace.