Monza day 1: Schuey fastest shock

Heavy rain at lunchtime broke up the teams' test programmes, meaning that the best times were reserved for the morning session.

Schumacher headed Anthony Davidson, who was getting back to his job as British American Racing test driver after his two races at the wheel of a Minardi.

In the afternoon session there were still spits of rain until it finally stopped around 3pm BST. By the end of the session at 5pm BST, a slight dry line was beginning to appear.

Three red flags halted proceedings during the day, two of them to retrieve Ralf Schumacher's Williams. The German suffered a problem in the morning and an engine failure in the afternoon. Jenson Button's stricken Renault caused the other red flag at 3.05pm BST.

One driver of note to make an appearance was Formula 3000 racer David Saelens, who drove for Minardi. He only began running in the afternoon, so did not get a chance to drive in the dry.

Ferrari also tested today at Paul Ricard in the south of France, with Luca Badoer at the wheel. He completed 64 laps and managed a best time of 1m40.098s.

Michael Schumacher Ferrari B 1m24.584 57
Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda B 1m25.186s 78
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m25.227s 55
Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas B 1m25.376s 50
Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m26.071s 45
Jarno Trulli Renault M 1m26.356s 35
Jenson Button Renault M 1m26.384s 38
Patrick Lemarie BAR-Honda B 1m26.487s 33
Ryan Briscoe Toyota M 1m27.454s 36
Stephane Sarrazin Toyota M 1m28.472s 43
David Saelens Minardi-Asiatech M 1m35.156s 20

B=Bridgestone
M=Michelin