Although David Coulthard is not the man the Italians at the Monza want to see as the one on top, he clocked the fastest time of today's testing session there, 1.2 seconds faster than second best Giancarlo Fisichella.

Michael Schumacher was sixth behind McLaren, Benetton and his brother Ralf. Many others were also preparing for the forthcoming Italian Grand Prix.

Driver                Team        Time         Laps
David Coulthard       McLaren     1:23.597	89
Giancarlo Fisichella  Benetton    1:24.784	93
Mika Hakkinen         McLaren     1:24.820	79
Alexander Wurz        Benetton    1:25.135	76
Ralf Schumacher       Jordan      1:25.240      66
Michael Schumacher    Ferrari     1:25.287	60
Jacques Villeneuve    Williams    1:25.362      57
Jarno Trulli          Prost       1:25.542	45
Juan Pablo Montoya    Williams    1:25.615	79
Eddie Irvine          Ferrari     1:25.772	07
Jos Verstappen        Stewart     1:26.031      52
Olivier Panis         Prost       1:26.032      56
Pedro de la Rosa      Williams    1:26.613	43
Jean Alesi            Sauber      1:26.857	63
Shinji Nakano         Minardi     1:27.421      50
Johnny Herbert        Sauber      1:27.619	53

Ralf Schumacher has denied the reports that he his free to leave Jordan. He stated: "It has not changed since the Belgian Grand Prix. These reports are untrue."

Ralf Schumacher saw a Mugen-Honda go up in smoke today. This Mugen-Honda V10 could normally do about 18.000 rpm.