Fisichella Leads the Way at Monza - Day Three

Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella went quickest on the third consecutive day of testing at the Monza circuit in Italy.

The Italian driver took over from Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa to complete the third of four days of work at Monza. Fisichella finished the session at the top of the times despite his day being cut short following a tyre burst.

Sauber decided to finish their work earlier for safety reasons after Massa had also crashed on Wednesday.

"Today we followed our programme and tested some new aerodynamic parts as well as brakes," said Sauber's race engineer Giampaolo Dall'Ara. "We have also done some Bridgestone tyre work. "Unfortunately in the late afternoon Giancarlo's rear left tyre burst when he entered the start/finish lane.

"For safety reasons we decided to stop the test for today and will check the car thoroughly. However, we will be able to continue as scheduled tomorrow."

Ferraris' test driver Luca Badoer was second quickest in the F2004 car, with German Ralf Schumacher following in third with the Williams.

Toyota's Ricardo Zonta was forced to finish the test a day earlier than expected after a massive accident in the morning. The Brazilian crashed heavily at the Parabolica corner, his TF104 car resulting heavily damaged.

Although Zonta escaped injury, the car needed to much repairing for him to continue testing tomorrow. McLaren's David Coulthard and Toyota's second tester Ryan Briscoe finished at the bottom of the times.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:20.701 97 2. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:20.757 73 3. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:21.230 95 4. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:21.457 22 5. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:21.788 55 6. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:22.063 65 7. Briscoe Toyota (M) 1:22.416 78 All Timing Unofficial