Jarno Trulli, who lies second in the drivers’ championship after the first three rounds and who celebrated his return to Europe by becoming a father, pulled out another tremendous qualifying lap (1m20.492s) in the empty-tank first qualifying session at Imola, but this time it was good enough only for sixth in an amazingly competitive session. Team mate Ralf Schumacher recorded 1m20.994s and is 12th quickest ahead of tomorrow’s second session with race levels of fuel.

Trulli said: “This is a different type of circuit to what we have seen so far this season and although it has not been too kind to Toyota in the team’s short history, we performed at a good level. My lap was a clean one and it’s easy to make a mistake here. There are a couple of points which demand really heavy braking and if you get too greedy you can lock up a wheel and cost yourself a lot of time. I was only a couple of tenths away from third fastest time and 10th place was only three tenths behind me, so tomorrow’s second session is going to be interesting.”

Schumacher added: “My lap was pretty straightforward, without any mistakes, just not quick enough. After the last couple of races I took it a little easy in the first sector to make sure, but the times are very close. The TF105 feels good with a heavy fuel load, so tomorrow’s second qualifying session and the race could be different, although it is hard to overtake here.”

Illustrating the drivers’ point about the current competitiveness of Formula 1, it was amazing to see that the first seven positions were occupied by seven different makes of car! Journalists went scurrying to their reference books to check the last time that happened – and as yet, haven’t come up with any answers!

Provisional pole position fell to Kimi Raikkonen’s West McLaren Mercedes (1m19.886s) which was just three thousandths of a second quicker than world championship leader Fernando Alonso in the first of the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team cars. Michael Schumacher (1m20.260s) was third quickest for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, ahead of Mark Webber’s BMW Williams F1 Team entry (1m20.442s) and the Lucky Strike BAR Honda of Jenson Button. Behind Trulli, Felipe Massa’s Sauber Petronas completed those seven different marques.

Panasonic Toyota Racing team principal John Howett explained: “I think that was a great qualifying performance from Jarno, he really pulled something out of the bag. Imola, historically, has been pretty tough for us, but the weather tomorrow could also change -- it’s predicted to rain -- so we will have to wait and see. If we come away with more points we will be happy.”