Free practice 1: Barrichello fastest from Trulli

The Brazilian set the fastest time 10 minutes before the end of the session and was 0.2s clear of the Jordan of Jarno Trulli. Michael Schumacher finished the session third, despite occupying the top slot for much of the second half of the session.

David Coulthard muscled his McLaren-Mercedes into fourth place and like Alesi, Herbert, Irvine and Heidfeld went straight on at the new, tighter Rettifilo chicane - at least once.

Unlike recent GP Fridays, the first session saw every driver set a time except world champion Mika Hakkinen. Almost half the grid poured out of the pitlane immediately the lights turned green. All the drivers completed an installation lap and promptly returned to the pits.

The Arrows of Jos Verstappen and Pedro de la Rosa set the early pace with both A21s showing impressive straight-line speed on the low downforce Monza track. De la Rosa pipped Verstappen to fifth spot - the two separated by 0.5s.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen joined team mate Trulli in the top ten in seventh place, closely followed by the Benettons of Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz in eighth and 10th. The BAR-Honda of Jacques Villeneuve separated the two Enstone-built cars in ninth.