Four McLaren drivers at Monza

Four McLaren drivers at Monza

Montoya at the top of the time sheets



Following the mid-season six week test break, Team McLaren Mercedes began a two day session at the Autodromo Nationale Di Monza in Italy today, with Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya, Alex Wurz and Pedro de la Rosa all at the wheel of two MP4-20s during the course of the day.

With the programme for the week focused on race distances, the team ran Alex and Pedro in the morning, before Kimi and Juan Pablo took over driving duties for the afternoon session.

In addition to the race distances, the schedule for all four drivers today included set-up and Michelin tyre selection work for the Italian Grand Prix, which will take place on the same circuit in ten days time.

The MP4-20's are running with the Monza-specific aero package for the test. As the fastest track on the calendar, this sees the lowest downforce configuration of the season.

The day's running suffered from a number of general red light stoppages; however Alex, Pedro and Juan Pablo completed their programmes positively. On his in-lap at the end of the morning session, Pedro span into a gravel trap. As the team were removing gravel from the car, an issue with the gearbox was identified, which had to be rectified before Kimi could take over driving duties in the afternoon session. Once the car had been readied, red lights prevented Kimi from completing many laps.

Juan Pablo set the fastest lap of the day with a time of 1m19.880 whilst Alex, Pedro and Kimi were fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

Team McLaren Mercedes will continue the test at Monza tomorrow with Juan Pablo and Kimi at the wheel of the two MP4-20s.