Montoya quickest at Silverstone

The Colombian used three sets of new tyres in the final 15-minutes of the day to knock Jenson Button off the top spot.

His running had been generally limited by the wet weather in the morning, with the circuit only drying up after 2pm.

Button, who had been at the Honda Racing factory on Monday to try and lift spirits after another disappointing outing for the team at Imola, spent the day focusing on general set-up work to try and help the team improve their tyre situation.

Renault's Heikki Kovalainen was third quickest as he conducted a Michelin tyre test with fourth fastest teammate Fernando Alonso, who brought out the red flags at 2.55pm when his car stopped on the track with a suspected mechanical problem.

Red Bull Racing duo David Coulthard and Christian Klien also brought out a red flag each, as their cars stopped in the final complex with mechanical problems.

The other red flag was brought out by BMW's Robert Kubica, whose car stopped at 2.30pm with a technical issue.

As had been expected before the test, the latest generation of tyres have led to a dramatic leap in cornering speeds at Silverstone - which looks set to make this year's British Grand Prix one of the most physical races of the year.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time      Laps
 1.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:21.087   41
 2.  Button        Honda                (M)  1:21.118   59
 3.  Kovalainen    Renault              (M)  1:21.232   86
 4.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  1:21.309   32
 5.  Davidson      Honda                (M)  1:22.085   68
 6.  Wurz          Williams-Cosworth    (B)  1:22.216   91
 7.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  1:22.228   36
 8.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth    (B)  1:22.256  108
 9.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber           (M)  1:22.258   58
10.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber           (M)  1:22.712   58
11.  Jani          Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  1:23.350   84
12.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:23.358   38
13.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  1:23.770   15
14.  Mondini       MF1-Toyota           (B)  1:24.471   25

All Timing Unofficial