That put the Spaniard 0.571secs clear of McLaren team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who followed up his victory last time out in Hungary with the fastest lap from any of the 20 race drivers.

Raikkonen, who is 26 points behind world championship leader Fernando Alonso, left it until the last seconds to jump ahead of Williams’ Mark Webber, who was relegated to third.

Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta took fourth with BAR-Honda’s Jenson Button fifth and the other McLaren of Juan Pablo Montoya sixth.

Alonso took his Renault to seventh while world champion Michael Schumacher completed the top eight. Scotsman David Coulthard was 18th for Red Bull.

De la Rosa had the honour of being the first Formula One driver on track at the new Istanbul Otodrom in a full session, although Zonta was the first to set a lap time.

Enrico Toccacelo made his debut as Minardi’s third driver but the Italian found the going tough early on, posting a first lap 18 seconds off the pace.

Toccacelo, who was second in Formula 3000 last season, improved but he was not the only driver to find the new track tricky.

Schumacher suffered a high-speed spin with 20 minutes remaining while soon after Nick Heidfeld ran wide.

De la Rosa set the pace from the start but his session ended with 13 minutes to go when his McLaren suddenly stopped on the track with a mechanical problem.

The stricken car could not be moved quickly so officials brought out the red flags to allow marshals to deal with the problem safely.

Four minutes were lost due to the incident but the track was still busy for the final seven minutes as all drivers attempted to master the new lay-out.

Rubens Barrichello found his limit at turn three when the Ferrari driver spun without suffering any damage.