Schumacher quickest in practice 1 - Imola

German Schumacher - a six-time winner of the event, lapped the Imola circuit in 1:24.751, despite only completing two timed laps to beat his nearest rival by nearly four tenths of a second.

Williams' Austrian test driver Alex Wurz was second quickest behind the seven-time World Champion but ahead of BMW Sauber's Polish test driver Robert Kubica and Honda reserve Anthony Davidson.

Briton Davidson, who turned 27 on Tuesday, was the first driver to take to the track and the only one to complete a flying lap inside the first 10 minutes of the session.

But during his second run, he was forced to take to the grass through the second part of the reprofiled Variante Alta chicane after hitting the kerbs heavily at the entry to the corner.

He repeated the indiscretion late in the session when he missed his braking point at the entry to the Variante Bassa chicane at the end of the lap. He did not suffer damage in either incident.

As expected, the big names only ventured on to the circuit in the final ten minutes, with Schumacher, Toyota's Italian driver Jarno Trulli, and Ferrari's Felipe Massa the top race drivers in the session.

However, World Champion Fernando Alonso and his Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella - who will entertain his home crowd this weekend, remained in the garages for most of the one-hour session. Neither completed a flying lap.

Williams race drivers Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg did not leave the pitlane at all. Neither did Honda's British driver Jenson Button.

Super Aguri's Japanese pair Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide were the only race drivers to take to the track during the first half of the session, with Ide, in particular, taking time to learn the 4.959-kilometre Imola circuit.

A largely incident-free session was almost marred when Red Bull's Dutch test driver Robert Doornbos outbraked Ide and then himself at Variante Alta. Quick thinking from Ide prevented a heavy impact between the two as Doornbos took to the grass without damage.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  1:24.751            4
 2.  Wurz          Williams-Cosworth   (B)  1:25.132 + 0.381   19
 3.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber          (M)  1:25.942 + 1.191   24
 4.  Davidson      Honda               (M)  1:26.012 + 1.261   27
 5.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:26.417 + 1.666    7
 6.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:26.498 + 1.747   18
 7.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:26.596 + 1.845    4
 8.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:26.678 + 1.927    7
 9.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  1:26.938 + 2.187    5
10.  Albers        MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:28.048 + 3.297   13
11.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:28.498 + 3.747    6
12.  Mondini       MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:28.969 + 4.218   20
13.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  1:29.106 + 4.355    6
14.  Jani          Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:29.695 + 4.944   13
15.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)  1:29.697 + 4.946   13
16.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  1:30.348 + 5.597    6
17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:31.217 + 6.466   17
18.  Ide           Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:31.482 + 6.731   17
19.  Alonso        Renault             (M)   no time            3
20.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)   no time            1
21.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)   no time            2
22.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes    (M)   no time            1
23.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)   no time            1
24.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber          (M)   no time            1
25.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)   no time            1
26.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)   no time           
27.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B)   no time
28.  Button        Honda               (M)   no time

All Timing Unofficial