Hamilton ends Monza testing on top

The Formula One teams gathered in Italy have now completed their three-day test session at the Monza circuit, thereby capping off several programmes aimed at preparing the upcoming Belgian and Italian races. Of the ten drivers on track, eight set times within the same second.

Following Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld, it was Lewis Hamilton's turn to top the timesheets at the end of a test day. His McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 accomplished today's fastest lap of the circuit with a time of 1:22.967, a run which did not improve that of Heidfeld's recorded yesterday.

Second-fastest on this Friday was title rival Kimi Raikkonen, whose Ferrari F2008 displayed a 0.404 gap on Hamilton. There was a surprise today as Giancarlo Fisichella signed the third-quickest time, his Force India VJM01 coming in two thirds of a second off Raikkonen's time but merely two thousandths of a second ahead of Kazuki Nakajima aboard the Williams FW30.

The Red Bull racer handled by David Coulthard led another Renault-powered car, Fernando Alonso's Renault R28. Sebastien Bourdais set the seventh-best lap at the controls of the Toro Rosso STR3, with Timo Glock's Toyota coming next.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica did not get as much time on the track as he wished for after a slight off caused time-costly repairs, which were followed by electrical issues later on. The Pole completed the timesheet roster ahead of Jenson Button and his Honda, last on the list with a time 1.354 seconds off today's best.

The session was disrupted often due to the appearance of five red flag periods, which did not prevent David Coulthard from having a busy day indeed with 120 laps to his name.

Overall, the three best lap times recorded at Monza during the entire group test session belong to Nick Heidfeld (1:22.621), Nico Rosberg (1:22.879), and Lewis Hamilton (1:22.967).

The teams will now pack up their equipment and move to Belgium for next week's much-anticipated Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Extract to: f1-live.com