Jarno Trulli, currently fifth in the drivers’ championship with five races remaining, set the sixth quickest time, lapping the 5.793km Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in 1m21.640s.

“The top two teams, Renault and McLaren, again have an advantage,” Trulli said, “but I was only 0.3s away from a car that will start on the front row, so that’s a bit closer than I expected following the testing last week. I have nothing to prove in qualifying and we do have a conservative strategy aimed at the race, so hopefully I can have a strong home grand prix and boost my points tally even further.”

While Trulli has been happy with the set-up of his Toyota TF105 all weekend, team mate Ralf Schumacher made some changes after Saturday morning free practice in pursuit of a better handling balance.

“My lap was pretty tidy and incident-free,” Schumacher said, “and given our relatively strong starting positions and the pace we have shown so far, it’s realistic to aim for more points tomorrow.” Ralf lapped in 1m22.266s and will line up 9th on the grid for tomorrow’s 53-lap race.

Championship challenger Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest lap (1m20.878s) but suffered an engine problem in free practice that obliges him to go back 10 places on tomorrow’s grid for the third time this season. Pole position will therefore be taken by his Team McLaren Mercedes team mate Juan Pablo Montoya (1m21.054s).

Championship leader Fernando Alonso (1m21.319s) joins Montoya on the front row, ahead of the BAR Hondas of Jenson Button (1m21.369s) and Takuma Sato (1m21.477s).

Team Technical Director, Chassis, Mike Gascoyne, summarised: “I’m very satisfied. It’s always good to have both cars in the top 10. Jarno did his usual fine job in qualifying and Ralf achieved his time after some changes we made in the break before the session. I am confident that our race strategy should allow us to certainly challenge for points and maybe even a podium.”