Jerez 4: First blood to Kimi

Amid huge media interest caused by the first head-to-head day of testing between Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya at McLaren, the duo did not disappoint as they spent almost every moment of their running trying to better each other.

At one point during the day they were separated by just eight thousandths of a second, before Raikkonen managed to open up the slimmest of advantages to end his running just more than one tenth clear of his Colombian team-mate. With the Finn jetting out of Jerez this evening, he will take some satisfaction from having made his point.

With the duo's first public appearance obviously bringing more questions about their relationship, Raikkonen again played down any suggestions of hostilities between the two men - despite the intensity of their day.

"We get on fine and over the past couple of years have talked quite a lot and I think he's a good guy," said Raikkonen. "It's annoying to read that we'll be at each other's throats, because we never had a problem with each other and do get on.

"Up to the start of the season there's no reason to be any tension. I'm doing my work, he's doing his work and we're both doing our best to improve the car and the team. Only when competition will start we will see how things will develop, but I cannot see any problem developing between the two of us."

Montoya, though, was far from unhappy with his day's effort - and similarly played down talks of a simmering rivalry between the pair.

"The car is exactly the same as it was in December but I feel much more comfortable in it now," he told autosport.com. "I am pleased with what I have done today, but there is always room for improvement.

"I like working with Kimi. One good thing about him is that he will focus on one aspect of the car, I will focus on another and we get the information together to get the job done. It really doesn't matter who is faster or slower."

Right behind the battling McLaren duo, there was further attention being paid to the fight at Williams between Nick Heidfeld and Antonio Pizzonia. Heidfeld won the battle on the timesheets as the duo fight it out for the second seat at Williams - but Pizzonia was again robbed of an equal chance to impress when his running was limited by mechanical problems.

Jarno Trulli continues to show progress with the new Toyota, as he began playing with the set-up of the TF105, to end the day less than two seconds adrift of the best time but quicker than the BARs that are running 2005 levels of downforce.

BAR concentrated on tyre and electronic work with Jenson Button and Enrique Bernoldi - while at Silverstone Takuma Sato successfully shook-down the team's new BAR007 prior to its launch at Barcelona on Sunday.



Ricardo Zonta (Toyota) 1m16.672s, 101 laps
Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) 1m16.814s, 124 laps
Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren) 1m16.946s, 89 laps
Nick Heidfeld (Williams) 1m17.036s, 144 laps
Antonio Pizzonia (Williams) 1m17.165s, 92 laps
Franck Montagny (Renault) 1m18.055s, 118 laps
Jarno Trulli (Toyota*) 1m18.423s, 93 laps
Enrique Bernoldi (BAR) 1m18.589s, 72 laps
Jenson Button (BAR) 1m18.897s, 108 laps
Marc Gene (Ferrari) 1m19.044s, 106 laps

* - denotes 2005 car