De la Rosa on Top in Practice 1

De la Rosa set a time of 1:16.415 to finish 0.169 seconds ahead of Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta with lead McLaren race driver Kimi Raikkonen third fastest just 0.262 seconds off the pace.

High temperatures of 30 degrees, under sunny skies, greeted the drivers when they headed out for the first session but McLaren were always on top with de la Rosa setting the early pace and posting the fastest lap later in the session.

Briton Jenson Button backed up his claims that his BAR-Honda team should secure points this weekend when he finished fourth fastest, just ahead of World Champion Michael Schumacher, who has won the last three races in Montreal.

Juan Pablo Montoya, in the third McLaren, finished sixth fastest with Giancarlo Fisichella the lead Renault driver in seventh. His teammate Fernando Alonso chose not to set a time in the session.

Takuma Sato finished eighth in the second BAR with Ralf Schumacher ninth for Toyota and Rubens Barrichello making it two Ferraris in the top ten while American rookie Scott Speed finished 15th on his debut for Red Bull.

Jacques Villeneuve drew cheers from the crowd when he headed out on track for Sauber but he struggled for pace and could only manage to set the 16th fastest time.

Pos  Driver        Team                  Time                  Laps
 1.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:16.415               26
 2.  Zonta         Toyota            (M)  1:16.584  +    0.169   27
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:16.677  +    0.262   10
 4.  Button        BAR-Honda         (M)  1:16.710  +    0.295   11
 5.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:16.872  +    0.457   12
 6.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:16.945  +    0.530   10
 7.  Fisichella    Renault           (M)  1:17.281  +    0.866    6
 8.  Sato          BAR-Honda         (M)  1:17.458  +    1.043   10
 9.  R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  1:17.497  +    1.082   10
10.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:17.541  +    1.126   11
11.  Heidfeld      Williams-BMW      (M)  1:17.739  +    1.324    5
12.  Trulli        Toyota            (M)  1:18.049  +    1.634    6
13.  Webber        Williams-BMW      (M)  1:18.138  +    1.723    6
14.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:18.252  +    1.837    8
15.  Speed         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:18.499  +    2.084   22
16.  Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:18.732  +    2.317    7
17.  Klien         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:19.212  +    2.797   10
18.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:19.694  +    3.279   10
19.  Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:19.791  +    3.376   21
20.  Friesacher    Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:21.990  +    5.575   12
21.  Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:22.452  +    6.037   18
22.  Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:23.152  +    6.737    5
23.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  No Time                 2

All timing unofficial