Kovalainen fastest at Silverstone

The Finn, who will partner Giancarlo Fisichella next year, set a best lap of 1:19.116 as he focused on set-up and development work for the final three races of the year - and tyre work aimed specifically at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Kovalainen was joined by Renault's new test driver Nelson Piquet Junior, who was getting his first outing with the team. The Brazilian ended the day fourth overall, less than six tenths off the leading time.

"It was a good first day of testing," said Piquet Jr, whose test was overlooked by his father.

"There are some similarities with the GP2 car in terms of the clutch and electronics, but I still have a lot to learn, so the main thing for today was to do as much running as possible, and to take everything on-board.

"It's important, I think, to learn a lot straight away and to meet the people I am going to work with. It was a busy and interesting day, and I felt comfortable in the car straight away which is quite positive I think."

Future Renault test driver Ricardo Zonta was second quickest for Toyota despite suffering from a mild flu, and the Brazilian was just ahead of Frenchman Franck Montagny - the man who will be replacing him at the Japanese team next season.

Zonta concentrated on tyre testing for Shanghai, and at the end of the day he said the team may have found "a good direction".

Zonta is set to continue testing tomorrow, alongside Ralf Schumacher. However, if his flu gets worse, the team could elect to sideline the Brazilian and recruit Montagny for another day of testing.

Christijan Albers was fifth fastest overall, giving the new look Spyker-Midland its first run out. The Dutchman took over the car from Adrian Valles, who was getting his first run with the team.

Narain Karthikeyan also delivered a first, as he completed the opening laps for the new Williams-Toyota partnership.

The Indian was entrusted with an interim Williams chassis fitted with the Toyota engine and 2007 gearbox, although his running came to an end after seven laps when gearbox problems stopped him.

Lewis Hamilton did not record a time as he completed only installation laps for McLaren. The team decided to delay their test programme by 24 hours because of the late arrival of Mercedes-Benz engines. He will be joined by Pedro de la Rosa for the remainder of the week.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver       Team                   Time      Laps
 1.  Kovalainen   Renault           (M)  1:19.116   90
 2.  Zonta        Toyota            (B)  1:19.374   49
 3.  Montagny     Toyota            (B)  1:19.665   56
 4.  Piquet       Renault           (M)  1:19.710   66
 5.  Albers       MF1-Toyota        (B)  1:21.115   48
 6.  Yamamoto     Super Aguri-Honda (B)  1:24.355   51
 7.  Valles       MF1-Toyota        (B)  1:25.393   29
 8.  Karthikeyan  Williams-Toyota   (B)  1:28.284    7