Private testing: Alonso sets pace

Flavio Briatore's Renault squad once again took full advantage of the two-hour session as Alonso, Jarno Trulli and Allan McNish completed 116 laps of the Sepang circuit between them.

The Renault men were 1-2-3 for most of the session but just before the end Giancarlo Fisichella (1m37.815s) put in a lap in the Jordan-Ford just 0.12s slower than Alonso's best. The session was trouble-free for Renault except for quick spins from Trulli at Turn 9 and Alonso in Turn 1. The colour of Allan McNish's (1m38.851s) face when he removed his helmet bore testament to the effort demanded by lapping Sepang in what was already 30 degree heat by 9am!

Ralph Firman (1m40.296s) set the fifth quickest time in the second Jordan, half a second quicker than Antonio Pizzonia (1m40.786s) who got 33 laps under his belt in the Jaguar.

The session started in somewhat embarrassing fashion for Jaguar Racing, however, when Pizzonia pulled off into the entrance to the support race paddock instead of the pit lane at the end of his installation lap. And Mark Webber temporarily followed him! Webber quickly selected reverse while a quick spin-turn from Pizzonia righted his problem.

The Brazilian then had an excursion at Turn 11, while Webber (1m49.907s) spun into the Turn 14 gravel after putting his left rear on the grass under braking. The spare car is assigned to Pizzonia this weekend, so eight laps was the total of the Australian's involvement.

Splitting the Jags were the Minardis of Jos Verstappen (1m40.923s) and Justin Wilson (1m41.929s).