Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have topped the times in the opening practice sessions for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
McLaren’s Hamilton scored the fastest time of the day, stopping the clocks at 1m23.865s in the first session.
While most runners went fastest in Practice 2 compared to Practice 1, nobody could get near Hamilton’s P1 benchmark.
Championship leader Vettel was on top in the second session, edging Hamilton.
Vettel’s time of 1m24.010s was just good enough to beat Hamilton by 0.036s, and while Hamilton did attempt to oust the German, traffic on his final flying lap kept him in second place.
A promising day transpired for Mercedes hero Michael Schumacher who ended the day in third fastest. In an ever-improving car, Schumacher’s solid P2 time was considerably faster than his 11th place in P1.
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Schumacher ended the day ahead of the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. Both the home-town favourites languished in the first session but turned it around for fourth and fifth respectively.
Vettel’s Australian team-mate Mark Webber finished the second faster session in sixth place. He was fourth in the first session.
McLaren’s Jenson Button was seventh in the second session after being second in the first.
Daniel Ricciardo, the other Aussie in the field, suffered from electrical problems in his Hispania Racing machine. He was only able to set seven laps, ending up in last place.
Ricciardo’s efforts were better in the first session, beating team-mate and Gold Coast 600 driver Vitantonio Liuzzi by the barest of margins.
In the damage department, Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Buemi collected the wall at Parabolica in the second session. He emerged uninjured, but could not compete in the rest of the day.
PRACTICE 1
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time/Retired | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:23.865 | 18 | |
| 2 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:24.786 | 0.921 | 19 |
| 3 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:25.231 | 1.366 | 25 |
| 4 | 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:25.459 | 1.594 | 24 |
| 5 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:26.550 | 2.685 | 23 |
| 6 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:26.625 | 2.760 | 20 |
| 7 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:26.647 | 2.782 | 20 |
| 8 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:26.676 | 2.811 | 24 |
| 9 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:26.694 | 2.829 | 28 |
| 10 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:26.696 | 2.831 | 15 |
| 11 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:26.699 | 2.834 | 21 |
| 12 | 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:26.826 | 2.961 | 21 |
| 13 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:26.836 | 2.971 | 25 |
| 14 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:26.996 | 3.131 | 29 |
| 15 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1:27.365 | 3.500 | 25 |
| 16 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1:27.385 | 3.520 | 23 |
| 17 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:27.433 | 3.568 | 25 |
| 18 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:27.492 | 3.627 | 24 |
| 19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1:29.539 | 5.674 | 10 |
| 20 | 21 | Karun Chandhok | Lotus-Renault | 1:30.148 | 6.283 | 19 |
| 21 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 1:30.609 | 6.744 | 27 |
| 22 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1:30.619 | 6.754 | 24 |
| 23 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:31.052 | 7.187 | 12 |
| 24 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:31.899 | 8.034 | 22 |
PRACTICE 2
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time/Retired | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:24.010 | 37 | |
| 2 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:24.046 | 0.036 | 21 |
| 3 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:24.347 | 0.337 | 39 |
| 4 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:24.366 | 0.356 | 33 |
| 5 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:24.433 | 0.423 | 31 |
| 6 | 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:24.468 | 0.458 | 32 |
| 7 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:24.508 | 0.498 | 30 |
| 8 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:25.097 | 1.087 | 39 |
| 9 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:25.182 | 1.172 | 37 |
| 10 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1:25.325 | 1.315 | 38 |
| 11 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:25.450 | 1.440 | 31 |
| 12 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:25.496 | 1.486 | 39 |
| 13 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:25.683 | 1.673 | 37 |
| 14 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:25.758 | 1.748 | 29 |
| 15 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:26.202 | 2.192 | 36 |
| 16 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1:26.353 | 2.343 | 40 |
| 17 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:28.347 | 4.337 | 5 |
| 18 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1:28.559 | 4.549 | 32 |
| 19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1:28.605 | 4.595 | 32 |
| 20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:28.804 | 4.794 | 25 |
| 21 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1:29.162 | 5.152 | 34 |
| 22 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:29.184 | 5.174 | 29 |
| 23 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:29.622 | 5.612 | 34 |
| 24 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 1:29.841 | 5.831 | 7 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Race Guides for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix and Rally Australia events
