De la Rosa Fastest in Practice 1

After a season beset by car failures Raikkonen's patience was tested once again when his car suffered an apparent engine problem that forced him out of the session with 25 minutes to go.

The team could not confirm whether it was an engine problem but it is understood that they will be forced to replace the unit and hand Raikkonen his fourth ten grid position penalty of the season.

De la Rosa finished with a time of 1:30.532 with test driver Ricardo Zonta second for Toyota, 0.543 seconds back, despite stopping at the side of the track with a problem himself.

Briton Jenson Button was third fastest for BAR-Honda with compatriot David Coulthard fourth for Red Bull Racing and Juan Pablo Montoya, in the second McLaren, finishing fifth.

Renault pair Fernando Alonso, the new World Champion, and Giancarlo Fisichella finished sixth and seventh with Takuma Sato eighth in front of his home fans in the second BAR-Honda.

Mark Webber finished ninth fastest for Williams and Christian Klien completed the top ten finishers in the second Red Bull machine with all 24 cars completing a timed lap during the session.

With half the session gone de la Rosa was on top ahead of the BAR duo of Button and Sato but disaster hit McLaren just minutes later when Raikkonen parked on the grass with an apparent blown engine.

The two Renaults of Alonso and Fisichella then went faster to slot into second and third respectively and push the two BARs down to fourth and fifth but de la Rosa stayed firm at the top.

Pos  Driver         Team                  Time                  Laps
 1.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:30.532               23
 2.  Zonta         Toyota            (M)  1:31.075  +    0.543   16
 3.  Button        BAR-Honda         (M)  1:32.043  +    1.511   18
 4.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:32.229  +    1.697   23
 5.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:32.321  +    1.789    9
 6.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  1:32.370  +    1.838   22
 7.  Fisichella    Renault           (M)  1:32.470  +    1.938   19
 8.  Sato          BAR-Honda         (M)  1:32.791  +    2.259   20
 9.  Webber        Williams-BMW      (M)  1:33.098  +    2.566   13
10.  Klien         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:33.139  +    2.607   19
11.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:33.257  +    2.725   16
12.  Liuzzi        Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:33.441  +    2.909   22
13.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:33.486  +    2.954    8
14.  Pizzonia      Williams-BMW      (M)  1:33.528  +    2.996   22
15.  Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:33.645  +    3.113   15
16.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:33.700  +    3.168    9
17.  R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  1:33.735  +    3.203   10
18.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:33.886  +    3.354    9
19.  Trulli        Toyota            (M)  1:34.535  +    4.003   11
20.  Yamamoto      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:36.295  +    5.763   23
21.  Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:37.153  +    6.621   16
22.  Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:37.154  +    6.622   13
23.  Doornbos      Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:37.816  +    7.284   17
24.  Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:38.250  +    7.718   17

All timing unofficial