With just 0.06s between Montoya and Schumacher the battle for pole will be a tight affair this afternoon. In fact the top seven were all within a second of the 1m31.305s lead time.

David Coulthard thumped his way over the kerbs in the McLaren on his way to fourth, with Kimi Raikkonen hot on his heels. Cristiano da Matta got a dose of whatever has infected Panis and rounded out the top six. The Brazilian driver kicked the session off, keen to get as many laps under his rookie belt as possible.

While Schumacher Jnr and Montoya were locked together at the top of the times, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello struggled to feature in the top ten. Michael could be seen early in the session donating handfuls of opposite lock to charity, but Strategy and guile may have more to do with this than any lack of performance.

Nonetheless, Ferrari's technical director Ross Brawn could be seen on the pitwall in deep debate with one of the team's Bridgestone tyre representatives. All will become clear at two o'clock this afternoon!

Ahead of the Ferrari's were the Renaults of Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso.

Jaguar Racing's Mark Webber spun and lost drive on the entrance to the pit straight - just eight laps into the session. He had been pinging all the apexes in fine style but was nonetheless running ninth fastest when he retired. Team-mate Pizzonia finished behind Barrichello in 11th.

Justin Wilson's miserable weekend faltered further with a retirement halway into the session.