Length: 3.340 km
Number of Laps: 78 (260.520 Km)
Best Lap: M. Schumacher - 1'14''439 (2004, Ferrari)
Record Pole: J. Tarno - 1'13''985 (2004, Renault)
2005 Pole: F. Alonso - 1'16''281 (Renault)
2005 Podium: K. Raikkonen - N. Heidfeld - M. Webber

The first stoppage came just fifteen minutes into the hour when Davidson clipped a bollard which had to be recovered from the track. The second followed ten minutes later when the Englishman, having just set the then fastest time – by far – of 1:16.075 promptly hit the barriers at the notorious Ste Devote corner, wiping off the front wing and a wheel of his RA106. A measure of his commanding pace at that point is that his time would only be bettered by one man, and then not for a long while.

The man who holds that honour is Alex Wurz, the Austrian again displaying the inherent pace of the Williams FW28 with a shattering lap of 1:15.907 set late in the session. Fastest of the ‘race’ drivers, however, is an honour that goes to Juan Pablo Montoya, the McLaren showing good speed around the tight and twisty circuit, and McLaren will be pleased with the Colombians third position and that of Kimi Raikkonen, who brought the second MP4-21 home in sixth place.

Renault continues to inspire confidence with Fernando Alonso looking at home here, his time of 1:16.221 just shy if Montoya, and Giancarlo Fisichella not far behind in seventh position.

One of the deserving stars of the session was Robert Doornbos, living up to the legend ‘Superman’ being promoted, in typical Red Bull style, on the cars this weekend with a superb 1:16.292, good for fifth place and only three tenths away from the fastest time, while the two race drivers, David Coulthard and Christian Klien, placed eighth and 21st respectively.

Jenson Button again emerged fastest of the Honda race pair, with ninth place compared to Rubens Barrichellos 14th, albeit with only half a second between them, and rounding out the top ten is Felipe Massa, the fastest Ferrari driver in a session that left the red cars searching for pace. Michael Schumacher, in the second F248, wound up 15th.

Jarno Trulli found some improvement in the ‘b’ spec Toyota, and although the car is reportedly suffering from understeer, he managed 11th place, just over a second off the pace, and half a second up on team mate Ralf Schumacher who finished 18th.

Surprise of the session has to go to the 12th and 14th fastest runners, Tiago Monteiro and the impressive Giorgio Mondini finding great improvement in the Midland-Toyota, mixing with the ‘works’ cars and eclipsing a Ferrari and two Williams, plus others, in the process. Christijan Albers, in the third MF1 Racing car, had a troubled session on his way to 24th position.

The Toro Rosso’s predicted V10 torque advantage amounted to little, although Tonio Liuzzi ran encouragingly to 16th and Scott Speed to 23rd, and the Williams race drivers seemed happy to let Wurz do the running, Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg recording steady 17th and 19th positions in a tightly packed mid-field.

BMW-Sauber had a lacklustre session, with Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld in 20th and 22nd places and unable to get into the 1:17’s, and Robert Kubica the cause of the third red flag on his way to 26th.

Finally, the two Super Aguris managed 25th for Franck Montagny, who impressed with a time within three seconds of the fastest time and 28th for Takuma Sato.