Friday test: Trulli tops despite spin

Early on in the session, Fernando Alonso suffered a big spin at the exit of the Ascari, the fastest of Monza's three chicanes, but just stayed out of the barriers. Trulli chose the second chicane, the Roggia, for his spin, and just evaded the clutches of the gravel trap.

Trulli lapped in 1m22.083s, four-tenths faster than Hungarian GP winner Fernando Alonso and test driver Allan McNish. Mark Webber was best of the rest for Jaguar, ahead of team-mate Justin Wilson.

Most eyes, of course, were on the war between tyre suppliers Bridgestone and Michelin. Results were hard to gauge this morning, as the only Bridgestone-shod cars present were from Jordan and Minardi. Giancarlo Fisichella was 2.3secs off the pace in last week's test at Monza, but was 1.9secs slower than Trulli this morning. The fastest time overall in last week's test was Michael Schumacher's 1m20.730s for Bridgestone-shod Ferrari.

Ralph Firman's replacement at Jordan, Zsolt Baumgartner, looked ragged all session and took a lengthy trip through the gravel trap at Parabolica, one of the fastest corners on the circuit. He ended the session down in ninth, slower even than Minardi's tester Gianmaria Bruni.

Beside's Bruni's impressive performance, Jos Verstappen outpaced Fisichella to set the sixth fastest time and take the mantle of top Bridgestone runner.