Length: 7.004 km
Number of Laps: 44 (308.176 Km)
Best Lap: K. Raikkonen - 1'45''108 (2004, Mclaren)
Record Pole: M. Schumacher - 1'43''726 (2004, Ferrari)
2006 Pole: JP. Montoya - 1'46''391 (Mclaren)
2006 Podium: K. Raikkonen - F. Alonso - J. Button

The Ferrari driver posted a best time of 1:47.339 after spending a long time in the pits before finally kicking off his work.

The Finn completed 16 laps and finished 0.542 seconds ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who led McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso, third fastest.

The session took place under clear skies and the weather is expected to remain dry during the weekend.

Raikkonen's promising start was in contrast with teammate Felipe Massa's poor session, the Brazilian failing to set a time.

Nick Heidfeld was fourth quickest, with Williams driver Nico Rosberg splitting the BMWs, finishing ahead of Robert Kubica.

Alex Wurz completed a strong start to Williams' weekend by finishing in seventh place, in front of Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen. Jenson Button continued to show improved form from his Honda team by rounding up the top ten.

The session saw few incidents, with Massa's exit the highlight of the 90 minutes.

The Ferrari driver's day came to an end after just two laps after he went off at the Rivages corner. His Ferrari seemed to go just go straight off the track at the exit of Les Combes, the Brazilian's car nudging the tyre barriers head-on.

Massa ended at the bottom of the timesheets without a timed lap.

The Ferrari driver finished right behind Sakon Yamamoto, whose session also finished early when he stopped on track with some six minutes to go.

The Spyker driver wound up over a second behind teammate Adrian Sutil, who showed good pace with the B-spec car and finished in 19th position.

Drivers were allowed to practice starts at the end of the session to test the new track surface.