Button sets early pace

Jenson Button set the fastest time in the opening practice session for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Friday morning.

World champion edges Vettel in session one at Monza

Jenson Button set the fastest time in the opening practice session for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Friday morning. The McLaren driver is attempting to breathe life into his title defence this weekend after team-mate Lewis Hamilton moved 35 points ahead of him with his victory in the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks ago. Button, who retired at Spa after being hit by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, was 0.097seconds clear of the German at the 5.793-km track after lapping in one minute 23.693secs, with Hamilton third a further 0.274secs adrift. Like Button, Vettel has fallen behind team-mate Mark Webber in the championship race but was seven-tenths of a second quicker than the Australian in first practice. Behind Hamilton and ahead of sixth-placed Webber were Renault's Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes, with Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi seventh overall. On home soil, and having escaped further punishment by the FIA this week following the team orders controversy which followed their one-two finish in July's German Grand Prix, Ferrari duo Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were down in eighth and ninth, 0.850secs and 0.955secs adrift of Button respectively.

Difficult

Michael Schumacher, who has already said he is expecting a difficult weekend, rounded out the top 10 for Mercedes GP. Behind a top 10 covered by a second, the next 13 were far more widely spread, with 3.8secs the difference between Williams' Nico Hulkenberg in 11th and team-mate Rubens Barrichello in 23rd. The veteran Brazilian's session was hampered, however, by a technical issue that saw him complete only four laps. Meanwhile, Paul di Resta again stepped into the Force India for the session, this time replacing Adrian Sutil, and again performed admirably. The Scot was 12th quickest, 1.230secs behind Button and 0.4secs down on team-mate Liuzzi. Sakon Yamamoto was again bottom of the pile for Hispania Racing, the Japanese driver six seconds behind Button, but more crucially a full 1.5secs off team-mate Bruno Senna.

Times

1. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1min 23.693secs
2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull-Renault 1:23.790
3. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:23.967
4. Robert Kubica (Poland) Renault 1:24.120
5. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:24.129
6. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull-Renault 1:24.446
7. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Force India-Mercedes 1:24.512
8. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1:24.543
9. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:24.648
10. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 1:24.756
11. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) Williams-Cosworth 1:24.841
12. Paul di Resta (Britain) Force India-Mercedes 1:24.923
13. Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 1:25.292
14. Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:25.318
15. Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) BMW Sauber - Ferrari 1:25.320
16. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) BMW Sauber - Ferrari 1:25.334
17. Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1:25.897
18. Timo Glock (Germany) Virgin - Cosworth 1:26.772
19. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Lotus - Cosworth 1:26.898
20. Lucas Di Grassi (Brazil) Virgin - Cosworth 1:26.956
21. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Lotus - Cosworth 1:27.374
22. Bruno Senna (Brazil) HRT - Cosworth 1:28.256
23. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Williams - Cosworth 1:28.516
24. Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) HRT - Cosworth 1:29.870