Button on top on final day at Monza

Briton Jenson Button gave a boost to his Honda team following their disastrous British Grand Prix by setting the quickest time of the week on his final day of work at the Italian track.

The Honda driver, who was joined today by teammate Rubens Barrichello, was also the man with the most laps completed, covering well over two Grand Prix distances on a single session.

Button's time of 1:22.925 was nearly four tenths quickest than BMW's test driver Robert Kubica, second fastest ahead of teammate Jacques Villeneuve, whose team completed a promising test in which they were always close to the top of the times.

Giancarlo Fisichella, boosted by the news that he will stay at the Renault team next year, was fourth quickest as the world champions wrapped up their programme. The Italian worked again alongside test driver Heikki Kovalainen, one of the main candidates to land the second Renault seat next year.

"We had a good final day working on set-ups and an intensive tyre testing programme for the next races," said Renault's chief test engineer Christian Silk. "Heikki worked on the tyres as Giancarlo also evaluated new brake developments for Canada, which a particularly demanding race in this area."

Toyota's Jarno Trulli was eighth fastest as the Japanese squad continued working on the development of the TF106B car, the Italian covering 67 laps. Teammate Ralf Schumacher was also in action, but the German could not complete his programme after being hit by an engine problem.

"We lost a bit of time with an engine electronic problem and had a lot to get through," said Schumacher.

"As well as the tyre and suspension programme, I was also planning to try some different rear wing arrangements before we head across the Atlantic for two races on consecutive weekends in Montreal and Indianapolis but we will have to leave that for a later test.

"The bulk of the set-up work was successful and we hope to have strong races in North America."

Williams driver Mark Webber was joined by teammate Nico Rosberg, the Australian testing some new gearbox parts and alternative brake materials for his car. Rosberg focused on set-up work, engine development and tyre testing, finishing as ninth quickest.

David Coulthard and Robert Doornbos completed Red Bull's programme, the Dutchman returning to action after being forced to skip yesterday afternoon's session due to food poisoning.

Doornbos was replaced yesterday by Toro Rosso's Tonio Liuzzi, who today returned to his usual car to wrap up the test.

"Both the Canadian and US races require similar low levels of downforce and it was the first time this year that we have run our car in its latest low drag configuration," said Toro Rosso's chief engineer Laurent Mekies.

"These have been a useful two days, as the temperatures have been high, which is what we can expect at the next two races.

"Apart from the aero work, we also evaluated tyres for the next two Grands Prix, particularly Indianapolis and the fact that Monza is quite tough on brakes has also been useful, given that Montreal is the hardest track of the year from this perspective."

Today's times:

Pos  Driver       Team                     Time     Laps
 1.  Button       Honda               (M)  1:22.925  135
 2.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:23.318   89
 3.  Villeneuve   BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:23.648  124
 4.  Fisichella   Renault             (M)  1:23.793   57
 5.  Barrichello  Honda               (M)  1:23.877   90
 6.  Webber       Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:23.916   86
 7.  Kovalainen   Renault             (M)  1:23.932  108
 8.  Trulli       Toyota              (B)  1:24.037   67
 9.  Rosberg      Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:24.169   80
10.  R.Schumacher Toyota              (B)  1:24.232   63
11.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:24.416   80
12.  Liuzzi       Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:24.671   96
13.  Doornbos     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:25.074   70

All Timing Unofficial