Coulthard Fastest in Monza - Day One (Updated)

The Formula One testing ban came to an end today, as seven of the ten Formula One teams began testing at Monza - the first day ending with McLaren's David Coulthard setting the fastest laptime of the day.

However, today's testing was overshadowed by Ralf Schumacher's shunt, minutes before testing was coming to an end, as the Williams driver crashed heavily into the barriers after losing control of his car and sommersaulting at the second Lesmo corner.

"Ralf suffered an accident at the end of the afternoon session, when he spun off the circuit at one of the Lesmo corners, and is currently undergoing precautionary medical checks," said Williams test team manager, Tim Newton. "The cause of the accident is not yet known but is under investigation."

Newton said the team was nevertheless able to run its programme for the day, despite a small fire on Schumacher's car in the morning session. "Our objectives involved set up preparation for the forthcoming race here as well as tyre testing for Michelin and some brake investigation work," Newton said.

Ferrari have brought three drivers to Monza, with World Champion Michael Schumacher running alongside Felipe Massa and Luca Badoer. Ferrari said the day's technical programme covered aerodynamic and tyre testing, as well as working on finding the best set-up on the car.

Sauber in the mean time were testing a new engine spec, ahead of next week's Grand Prix, with Heinz Harald Frentzen at the wheel. "Today we have conducted a race simulation of the latest C specification version of the Petronas V10 engine, which has more horsepower than the B unit we are currently using," said Sauber's Head of Vehicle Engineering, Jacky Eeckelaert.

"The test today went without problems and we will use the upgraded engine the first time at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza next week. We combined this work with long runs with different sets of tyres for the forthcoming Monza race. Tomorrow a revised car body will be tested with regard to Monza."

BAR also showed up at Monza with three drivers, Jacques Villeneuve focusing on tyre assessment, whilst also working on set-up for the Grand Prix. His teammate, Jenson Button spent the day concentrating on tyre evaluation with Bridgestone and aerodynamic developments for the next race. The team's test driver, Takuma Sato, recorded only 30 laps on his first day as he waited for his car to be prepared then spun off the track during the afternoon.

Toyota too were running three cars today, with Ricardo Zonta joining Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta.

Panis, who celebrated his 37th birthday at the track today, was fastest among the three Toyota drivers. "It was a generally positive first day. We concentrated on general set-up work and tyre evaluation, but we need to continue in this way, as we have a lot to do tomorrow and Thursday," Panis said.

Da Matta also stated: "We carried out a lot of work today and completed a respectable number of laps, so all in all, it's a good start to the week." And Zonta added: "We tried many different things today working more towards long-term development, rather than specific to the next Grand Prix. However, we also did some work with sensors and the tyres, trying to monitor the way the tyres work in Monza. Over 84 laps, we could check a lot of different aspects on the car and gather lots of data."

Note: the Monza circuit does not run a timing system for this week's testing session and therefore lap times and number of laps vary between each team's reports.

Times and lap numbers appearing below have been confirmed by each driver's team, except those appearing with an asterisk (McLaren's and Jaguar's), which were supplied by Sauber and have not been confirmed by their respective teams.

Pos Driver Team-Engine Time Laps 1. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:22.065 61 * 2. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:22.424 59 3. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:22.524 30 4. Button BAR-Honda (B) 1:22.610 83 5. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:22.630 73 * 6. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:22.636 83 7. Frentzen Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:22.651 69 8. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:22.744 64 9. Panis Toyota (M) 1:23.150 66 10. Sato BAR-Honda (B) 1:23.151 30 11. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:23.153 45 12. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:23.163 78 13. Wilson Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:23.210 68 * 15. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:24.130 66 14. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:24.193 84 All Timing Unofficial

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