Montoya surprised by Ferrari, Renault pace

World champion Fernando Alonso emerged on top of the times at the end of the afternoon session, while Ferrari's Michael Schumacher was second quickest after setting the pace in the morning.

Montoya finished down in ninth place, over 1.2 seconds behind Alonso, and although the Colombian was happy with his day, he admitted he was surprised by his rivals' pace.

"I am pretty happy. The car is working quite well and I am surprised a bit by the pace of the Ferrari and a little bit the Renault at the end, but I think we are quite close," admitted Montoya. "We are not that far behind.

"I think we are good. We did two runs to see if the balance was okay and then a long run to see the tyres how the tyres would behave and the tyres are working quite well and I think at the beginning of the session our pace was quite good and then at the end we just had traffic all the time which was a bit frustrating, but we are okay.

"The car is definitely working better, my car we changed a lot the way we are running it. I think it is quite good and we are making progress to cure the understeer."

Ferrari have introduced several upgrades for the Imola race, and although Schumacher's pace suggested the Italian team had made a step forward, Montoya said it was still to early to judge.

"They did a lot of work and this track, even last year where they struggled all year they were quick here, so we have to wait and see if it is the car or just a one race thing," said Montoya.

Montoya's teammate Kimi Raikkonen finished the day in 12th position.