Brazilian Massa, 25, who took his first Formula One win in Turkey at the weekend, set the pace in 1:21.114 after completing 86 laps of the circuit in northern Italy.

Massa was eight tenths of a second faster than world champion Fernando Alonso ¨C giving a clear indication that Ferrari and their Bridgestone tyres will have an advantage in next weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

To underline that fact, Massa's seven-time world champion team-mate Michael Schumacher, was fourth fastest ¨C surprisingly behind Austrian Christian Klien in a Red Bull.

Renault's next highest driver, by contrast, was Finnish test driver Heikki Kovalainen in 11th.

Honda, who were running their 2007-specification engine for the first time, suffered a terrible day.

First, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello's engine then let go in a big way ¨C forcing him to switch back to a current unit.

Then, Hungarian Grand Prix winner Jenson Button had a heavy crash at the ultra-fast Parabolica corner, leaving the Briton with a sore neck.

German Ralf Schumacher was the slowest runner of the day for Toyota.