Giancarlo Fisichella topped the timesheets on the first day of testing at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

To prepare for its American campaign, Renault, along with six other teams is testing at Monza for three days, with Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen representing the French outfit today, the first day of testing.

Giancarlo was responsible for engine development today and his results seemed encouraging as he covered 98 laps without any major problems. The Italian showed a good level of performance on a track he really enjoys and set the fastest lap time of 1:23.647 right at the end of the session.

His teammate Heikki Kovalainen remained focused on tyre testing to prepare for the US Grand Prix. Once again, the results appeared positive and will be confirmed later this week. For his first day of testing, the Finn set the third-fastest lap time in 1:23.739 and covered 110 laps.

"Our first day was really satisfying," said Christian Silk, "and we already completed the first half of our tyre testing. We noticed interesting results of the new package we would like to use for the Canadian GP. The car worked pretty well and the drivers seemed happy with the testing we completed. Giancarlo has a very good experience on this track and Heikki did his first session in F1 in Monza."

While Jacques Villeneuve was giving a demonstration in London's Hyde Park, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica were on duty for BMW in Italy.

The team started with preparation work for the special requirements of Montreal. For both cars this meant checking the downforce level, brakes and general set-up.

In the afternoon Robert focused more on the balance of the car and completed three long runs for tyre testing.

Nick was also doing some tyre testing and set- up work in the afternoon, plus a comparison of different front and rear wings for both purposes, preparation for the forthcoming race, and analysis of aero items. The brake evaluation for the Montreal circuit, which is always very hard on brakes, has been completed.

Tomorrow Heidfeld will continue testing, partnered by Villeneuve who takes over from Robert Kubica, who will be testing again on Thursday.

Both cars will keep their configuration for Canada. Nick's task will be tyre testing, mainly compounds, while Jacques will join the tyre test programme. The evaluation of some aero items will be continued.

WilliamsF1 had Nico Rosberg and Alexander Wurz on duty.

"Nico mainly concentrated on both tyre construction and compound tests," said test team manager, Mike Condliffe, "while Alex started the morning session working on the gearbox before evaluating some aero parts.

"After lunch, Alex moved on to some suspension development work. Both Nico and Alex will continue the team's programme tomorrow."

Toyota has Olivier Panis and Ricardo Zonta on duty, both at the wheel of TF106Ss. The Brazilian was one of several drivers who caused the red flags to be brought out when he suffered a mechanical failure.

Anthony Davidson and James Rossiter were at the wheel for Honda. In the morning, Anthony completed only 19 laps when an engine problem confined him to the garage. James enjoyed a more productive morning gaining his first experience of driving the Monza circuit.

In the afternoon, both drivers conducted a Michelin tyre test, evaluating various options for the forthcoming US Grand Prix. They completed 128 and 117 laps respectively.

Jenson Button will take over from James for the remaining two days of the test, while Anthony will continue for a further day before Rubens Barrichello joins the test on day 3.

Red Bull and Toro Rosso join the test tomorrow.