Pedro de la Rosa, the team’s reserve driver, had recorded the fastest time in both of Friday’s runs and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen followed on with a repeat performance in Saturday’s opener.

In the fourth and final session it was again Raikkonen who proved triumphant with the benchmark time of 1:33.212.

Juan Pablo Montoya similarly repeated his performance with the second fastest time of 1:33.554 to wrap up another McLaren one-two.

Renault had provided fierce competition through most of the 45-minute run.

However when Kimi kicked the French squad were found wanting and Fernando Alonso (1:33.793) finished the morning over half a second off the ultimate pace in third.

The Spaniard’s teammate Giancarlo Fisichella (1:34.392) was fourth but a further half second down on the leader.

Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, and Williams battled it out for the remaining top 10 places in a tightly fought contest.

Ferrari and Williams had the numbers but it was Red Bull Racing that had the pace with David Coulthard (1:34.453) finishing fifth.

Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), Jenson Button (BAR), Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Antonio Pizzonia (Williams), and Mark Webber (Williams) rounded out the timesheets’s top half.