Zoom Massa P1 on home soil for the Ferrari team

It was a relatively short pause for the Formula One circus following the European Grand Prix last weekend as the three day test at Monza kicked off today with the ten teams taking part.

The Valencia event was tough on brakes and saw the team run in relatively low levels of downforce for a street circuit, but Monza is all about straight-line speed as the teams prepare for the forthcoming Belgian and Italian Grand Prix.

Valencia winner Felipe Massa set the pace for Ferrari around the 5.793km circuit with a best time of 1:23.428s. That compares to last year’s pole position time recorded by Fernando Alonso in the McLaren Mercedes of 1:21.997s and shows that the teams are yet to take all of the drag from the cars in a quest for an all-out lap time at this circuit.

Like Valencia however, the time were incredibly close. Some claim that close lap times are good for the sport, while others argues it makes any passing all but impossible. Today just over three-hundredth of a second covered the top three runners.

While Massa set the pace, Heikki Kovalainen found himself second fastest on the day, just 0.011s off the ultimate pace in his McLaren, while Nico Rosberg was just 0.022s shy in third place in his Williams Toyota.

Sebastian Vettel continued to show well in the Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso with the fourth best time at just under three-tenths of a second adrift while Rubens Barrichello seemed much more comfortable at this circuit than he in Valencia where he struggled terribly in the Honda.

Mark Webber, so disappointed with the pace of his Red Bull at the weekend, was sixth best today in the leading Renault-powered car at just over half a second behind Massa. Nick Heidfeld set the seventh best time for BMW Sauber ahead of Tonio Liuzzi who was on test duty today with the Force India Ferrari team.

Jarno Trulli and Nelson Piquet brought up the rear for Toyota and Honda with just 1.1 seconds covering the nine runners.

Testing continues Thursday.

Monza - 27/08/2008
1 . F. Massa - Ferrari F2008 - 1:23.428 (+ 0.000 ) - 101 laps
2 . H. Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 - 1:23.439 (+ 0.011 ) - 78 laps
3 . N. Rosberg - Williams Toyota FW30 - 1:23.461 (+ 0.033 ) - 60 laps
4 . S. Vettel - Toro Rosso Ferrari STR3 - 1:23.691 (+ 0.263 ) - 99 laps
5 . R. Barrichello - Honda RA108 - 1:23.827 (+ 0.399 ) - 85 laps
6 . M. Webber - Red Bull Renault RB4 - 1:24.005 (+ 0.577 ) - 96 laps
7 . N. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber F1.08 - 1:24.075 (+ 0.647 ) - 77 laps
8 . V. Liuzzi - Force India Ferrari VJM01 - 1:24.239 (+ 0.811 ) - 99 laps
9 . J. Trulli - Toyota TF108 - 1:24.510 (+ 1.082 ) - 92 laps
10 . N. Piquet - Renault R28 - 1:24.540 (+ 1.112 ) - 117 laps.

Earl ALEXANDER
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