The Finn took his McLaren around the challenging circuit in a time of 1:26.797s, two tenths ahead of the Renault pair Giancarlo Fisichella (1:27.039s) and Fernando Alonso (1:27.050s) in second and third places.

Fourth place went to Juan Pablo Montoya in the second McLaren, the Colombian running early in the session to set an excellent 1:27.352s.

Things could have been different, however.

Jenson Button, on form all weekend in the BAR, had driven a superb lap until running wide at turn eight, a corner that seemed to catch a lot of people out.

Button looked to be comfortably quicker than everyone up to that point, but will have to settle for a lowly 13th starting position (1:30.063s) after his off-track excursion.

Team-mate Takuma Sato also fell victim to the tracks challenging nature and set the 14th best time, but may have that time removed after obstructing Mark Webber when the Australian was on his qualifying lap.

Williams-BMW look to be in better shape than had been expected, with Nick Heidfeld sixth (1:27.929s) and Mark Webber seventh (1:27.944s). Webber, however, should have been somewhat quicker but for the incident with Sato.

Toyota one-lap specialist Jarno Trulli will start fifth (1:27.501s), while team-mate Ralf Schumacher was yet another to suffer an off, this time at turn ten after running wide in the turn before, and will start 9th (1:28.594s).

Ferrari's weekend goes from bad to worse.

Rubens Barrichello could not get his car to perform and starts a poor 11th (1:29.369s).

Michael Schumacher gave his usual 100% and was running well until spinning at the same place as his brother, and will start in 17th place behind a Jordan and a Minardi!

Both Red Bull drivers performed creditably, Christian Klien setting an excellent 1: 28.693s for tenth place and David Coulthard 1:29.764 for 12th despite having to run first.

New Ferrari signing Felipe Massa drove his usual committed effort in the Sauber, a 1:28.419s netting eighth position in the grid, while Jacques Villeneuve also spun at the now notorious turn eight and set no time. The Canadian ex-Champion will start 18th.

With two big names failing to set times Tiago Monteiro (Jordan) and Cristijan Albers (Minardi) find themselves elevated to 15th and 16th places, while Robert Doornbos and Narain Karthikeyan both failed to set times and will occupy the back row of the grid.

The scene is set for a McLaren-Renault showdown, with Raikkonen clearly relishing the challenges of the new circuit, and the threat of Button's BAR-Honda assault diminished by his qualifying mistake.