Just days after missing out on second-place in the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix, Juan Pablo Montoya, demonstrated that he is as focussed as ever, posting a new unofficial lap record at the Autodromo Nazionale, Monza.

The Colombian was one of four drivers on duty for McLaren, with Kimi Raikkonen, Alexander 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, Alex and Pedro were in action 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 included set-up and Michelin tyre selection work for the Italian Grand Prix.

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.

Renault completed a busy opening day with Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella completing nearly 200 laps. Both drivers gave the McLarens a run for their money, with Fernando finishing the day second quickest, albeit 0.99s off Montoya's pace, and Giancarlo third.

"We had a very good day's testing, with some encouraging results and excellent reliability," said Chief Test Engineer, Christian Silk. "It is always difficult coming to Monza on the first day, as the drivers need some time to adapt to the low downforce configurations and the circuit is often quite dirty. However, Fernando and Giancarlo both settled in quickly and we were able to complete plenty of set-up work before beginning our evaluation of tyre compounds and constructions for the race weekend."

Due to the 'greenness' of the track, BAR opted not to waste one of its seven remaining test days, and therefore sat out today's session.

Red Bull, fresh from its point-scoring success in Turkey, had David Coulthard and Tonio Liuzzi on duty, the Scot finishing seventh behind the McLarens and Renaults, albeit 2.1s off Montoya's pace.

Toyota had Ralf Schumacher, Olivier Panis and Ricardo Zonta on duty, though the German had a torrid time. Having lost most of the morning as a result of an engine failure, an 'off' in the afternoon brought his day to an early end, having failed to post a time.

Zonta worked on set-ups and tyre evaluations for next week's race, while Panis continued with the Japanese teams evaluation of its V8 engine. The Frenchman had a more productive time than at previous tests, completing 78 laps.

Ferrari had Felipe Massa on duty again, today joined by Luca Badoer. The Italian, the busiest man on track, completing 126 laps, continued with the development programme begun by Rubens Barrichello on Tuesday, while the Brazilian focussed on set-ups and tyre evaluation.

Michael Schumacher joins Badoer tomorrow (Thursday).

WilliamsF1 had Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg on duty, as the British team, in partnership with Michelin, attempts to find the cause of the punctures that blighted its Turkish weekend.

"Following the tyre incidents in Istanbul, the team spent the first day of the Monza test analysing the potential cause of the problem," said Sam Michael. Williams and Michelin have investigated the tyre running parameters, such as pressure & camber, and concluded that the tyres were running within normal operating ranges compared to other cars. It is not thought that the curbs caused the problem.

"Additionally, Williams have set up tyre deflection tests in Grove to verify what parts of the bodywork the tyre could have contacted during the high speed left hander at Istanbul. A number of changes will be made during the test this week to avoid the problem occurring again."

Jacques Villeneuve covered 98 laps for Sauber, the Canadian continuing tomorrow before handing over to Felipe Massa on Friday.

"The focus of our test programme this week will obviously be the preparation for the Italian Grand Prix next week," said test engineer Paul Russell. "Today we have worked a lot on the aerodynamic side but also on the set-up for Monza. The test was going quite well and without technical problems, and we were able to assess all different configurations which we had planned to check.

"Tomorrow we will confirm the aerodynamic configuration for the next race and further work on the set-up for Jacques' car. We have also planned to start the tyre selection for Monza, and by the end of the day we should be able to finalise the race specification for Jacques. On Friday Felipe will continue the tyre programme, and by comparing both drivers' evaluations we will make our tyre choice."