Montoya Fastest in First Qualifying at Monza

Williams-BMW driver Juan Pablo Montoya set the pace in Friday's first qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza after narrowly outpacing Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello.

Montoya, who set the fastest ever Formula One lap at Monza last year, produced the fastest lap of the session of 1:20.656 with Barrichello the only man to get close as he ended little more than one-tenth behind.

World Champion Michael Schumacher completed a positive day for Ferrari in front of the 'tifosi' as he took third place ahead of the impressive Cristiano da Matta, who had gone quickest in the first sector for Toyota before losing time.

Mark Webber, of Jaguar, and McLaren-Mercedes' Kimi Raikkonen both set the same time of 1:21.966 to go sixth and fifth quickest respectively, with Renault's Jarno Trulli seventh in the timesheets.

Trulli's teammate Fernando Alonso, the winner in Hungary three weeks ago, was eighth quickest with Sauber's Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Toyota driver Olivier Panis completing the top ten. McLaren-Mercedes' David Coulthard ended a disappointing 14th while Williams-BMW driver Ralf Schumacher's time was cancelled after he went straight over the first chicane.

Michael Schumacher was the first man to take to the track and he set a benchmark time of 1:21.268 which was immediately beaten by Montoya, who went six-tenths of a second quicker in his Williams-BMW. Raikkonen was unable to trouble his title rivals as he ended 1.3 seconds down, and Ralf Schumacher's lap time was cancelled after he went straight on at the chicane at the start of his lap.

Renault driver Alonso briefly ran over the gravel in sector two of his run and was marginally slower than Raikkonen, while Barrichello produced a solid run to finish one-tenth down on Montoya. David Coulthard endured another disappointing qualifying run after a mistake at the first chicane cost him time and he could only post a time 2.5 seconds slower than Montoya. Trulli then went quicker than teammate Alonso.

Jaguar's Webber set the same time as Raikkonen to move into fifth place, but Jenson Button was unable to repeat the exploits in his BAR-Honda as he slotted into eighth. Da Matta had threatened to take top spot after going quickest in the first second, but the Brazilian was forced to settle for fourth behind Michael Schumacher.

Jos Verstappen failed to leave his garage after Minardi were unable to start the engine of his Ford-powered car, while Zsolt Baumgartner, in for the injured Ralph Firman, went 17th in the times.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. (2) Montoya Williams BMW (M) 26.152 53.841 1:20.656 2. (6) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 26.172 53.774 1:20.784 + 0.128 3. (1) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 26.271 54.100 1:21.268 + 0.612 4. (12) da Matta Toyota (M) 26.144 54.376 1:21.829 + 1.173 5. (3) Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 26.322 54.585 1:21.966 + 1.310 6. (9) Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 26.687 54.755 1:21.966 + 1.310 7. (8) Trulli Renault (M) 26.557 54.622 1:22.034 + 1.378 8. (5) Alonso Renault (M) 26.439 54.561 1:22.103 + 1.447 9. (13) Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 26.294 54.402 1:22.203 + 1.547 10. (14) Panis Toyota (M) 26.516 54.744 1:22.372 + 1.716 11. (10) Button BAR Honda (B) 26.552 54.796 1:22.495 + 1.839 12. (16) Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 26.557 54.902 1:22.547 + 1.891 13. (15) Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 26.778 55.070 1:22.858 + 2.202 14. (7) Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 26.395 55.609 1:23.154 + 2.498 15. (18) Wilson Jaguar Cosworth (M) 27.079 55.789 1:23.609 + 2.953 16. (11) Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 26.922 55.698 1:24.179 + 3.523 17. (20) Baumgartner Jordan Ford (B) 26.990 56.200 1:24.872 + 4.216 18. (19) Kiesa Minardi Cosworth (B) 27.144 56.953 1:26.299 + 5.643 19. (4) R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 26.229 54.769 1:21.965 * 20. (17) Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) - - No Time * Laptime disqualified Pos ----- Sector 1 ----- ----- Sector 2 ----- ----- Sector 3 ----- 1. da Matta 26.144 Barrichello 27.602 Montoya 26.815 2. Montoya 26.152 Montoya 27.689 Barrichello 27.010 3. Barrichello 26.172 M.Schumacher 27.829 M.Schumacher 27.168 4. M.Schumacher 26.271 Trulli 28.065 Webber 27.211 5. Frentzen 26.294 Webber 28.068 Raikkonen 27.381 6. Raikkonen 26.322 Frentzen 28.108 Trulli 27.412 7. Coulthard 26.395 Alonso 28.122 da Matta 27.453 8. Alonso 26.439 Panis 28.228 Alonso 27.542 9. Panis 26.516 da Matta 28.232 Coulthard 27.545 10. Button 26.552 Button 28.244 Panis 27.628 11. Trulli 26.557 Raikkonen 28.263 Heidfeld 27.645 12. Heidfeld 26.557 Villeneuve 28.292 Button 27.699 13. Webber 26.687 Heidfeld 28.345 Villeneuve 27.788 14. Villeneuve 26.778 Wilson 28.710 Frentzen 27.801 15. Fisichella 26.922 Fisichella 28.776 Wilson 27.820 16. Baumgartner 26.990 Baumgartner 29.210 Fisichella 28.481 17. Wilson 27.079 Coulthard 29.214 Baumgartner 28.672 18. Kiesa 27.144 Kiesa 29.809 Kiesa 29.346 Top Speed: 355.7 km/h (Barrichello, Ferrari) All Timing Unofficial