WilliamsF1 9th & 10th in opening Italian practice

With the weather fine the first practice session for the Italian Grand Prix would get under way. All of the teams tested at this circuit so it should not take them long to get down to quick times. WilliamF1s' Antonio Pizzonia had set the fastest time in testing, with a new unofficial lap record of 1:20.010.

Monza's main straight is the longest on the calendar after Indianapolis. BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen commented on this : "The straight provides 14 full seconds of flat-out racing, with half that time driven in seventh gear."

The first driver out would be Jordan's Giorgio Pantano, followed by drivers going out to do their installation laps. Jordan's Timo Glock would be the first driver to set a time, a lap of 1m:25.498. Jaguar's Bjorn Wirdheim would move into second with a 1m:25.420. Wirdheim would improve with a 1m:24.942, to move into first. Minardi's Bas Leinders would go third with a 1m:25.763.

Another Friday driver Ryan Briscoe would use his Toyota TF104 to good effect by setting the fastest time, a 1m:23.774. But he would be quickly beaten by BAR's Anthony Davidson who set a time of 1m:22.843.

So with thirty minutes left in the session, there were only seven drivers to have set a time. Wirdheim would move into third with a 1m:23.239. Sauber's Felipe Massa would come out for his first run and would set a time of 1:22.266, to be fastest by over half a second. Davidson would come back out and would set out to beat Massa's time, which he does with a 1m:21.488 to go first. Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella would move into third with his first lap of 1m:22.460. Both Ferrari's would come out and they would quickly move to the top of the times, with Michael Schumacher in first with a lap of 1m:20.526 and Rubens Barrichello just behind with a 1m:21.166. Michael would have two moments during the session where he would go off the track.

Now it was the turn of the BMW WilliamsF1 drivers with Antonio Pizzonia moving into fourth with a time of 1m:22.159. Team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya would go sixth fastest with a time of 1m:22.232. But his time would be passed by Renault's Fernando Alonso with a time of 1m:21.801.

Team-mate Jarno Trulli would move into fourth with a 1m:21.778. Davidson would maintain his position in third with a 1m:20.902. Now we would see both McLaren's out on their first flying laps. David Coulthard would go eleventh with a 1m:22.446, while team-mate Raikkonen would move into fourth with a 1m:21.637.

So the first practice would conclude with the Ferrari's dominating the session, well over a second ahead of the majority of their rivals. The only driver coming close to their times was BAR's Anthony Davidson.