Zonta, driving on home territory in his native Brazil, lapped in 1m12.703s, which compared with the 1m11.701s pace-setting time from Team McLaren Mercedes test driver Alexander Wurz.

“Interlagos is a natural bowl and you always get quite a bit of dust on the circuit on the opening day,” Zonta explained. “I was happy with the way the car felt. The bumps are always an issue here but it didn’t feel as bad as in the past. I think I could have got closer to the ultimate pace if I hadn’t had so much traffic on the laps when I had new tyres. Overall though, I think we are in decent shape.”

McLaren Mercedes race driver Juan Pablo Montoya (1m12.694s) was marginally quicker than Zonta, with home hero and 2006 Ferrari driver Felipe Massa delighting the Brazilians with fourth quickest time (1m12.710s). Takuma Sato (1m12.736s) was fifth fastest, ahead of Fernando Alonso (1m12.782s) for whom third place here will be good enough to make him the youngest ever world champion in the sport’s history, at just 24.

Jarno Trulli finished the day in 13th place (1m13.493s) with team mate Ralf Schumacher 15th on 1m13.788s.

“Although some people say that the bumps are too severe here, I like the track because it’s a good technical challenge,” Trulli said, “This is the first track I have been to for the second time with Toyota and I remember we went quite well last year, even with the old car, so I’m quite optimistic.”

Schumacher, meanwhile, added: “I still haven’t got the car dialled in quite as well as I would like, so we’ve still got some work to do tomorrow morning.”

Chief race engineer Dieter Gass concluded: “Overall it was not a bad day and we had no technical problems. The track conditions do change quite a lot here, however, and it can be difficult to make correct tyre assessments. I wouldn’t say that the tyre choice is obvious and we will have to examine the data very closely before 8.00am tomorrow morning.”

The other unknown at Interlagos is the weather. Most team forecasts are predicting that dry conditions are most likely for race day but there remains a chance of rain. And, in Brazil, rain can often mean a deluge. It would not be the first time at Interlagos and, if it happens again, slick team work could prove to be just as important as driver skill.