Jenson Button made a much-needed strong start to the Italian Grand Prix as he set the pace for pre-weekend favourite McLaren in first practice at Monza.
The world champion, who needs a big haul of points this weekend to get his title defence back on track after failing to score in Belgium, posted a best lap of 1m23.693s on a crisp Friday morning at the high-speed venue, outpacing by 0.274s team-mate and points leader Lewis Hamilton who went third.
Main rival Red Bull has played down its hopes of challenging the Woking outfit this weekend but Sebastian Vettel made a highly encouraging start in the RB6, splitting the two McLarens in a time that was just 0.097s shy of Button’s.
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Formula 1: Italian Grand Prix - First Practice Results
F1 Standings Ahead of Italian Grand Prix
Robert Kubica suggested Renault’s Spa step forward is set to continue here as he went fourth fastest, while Nico Rosberg took fifth for Mercedes – this despite both he and team-mate Michael Schumacher (10th) being far from happy with the rear of the W01 as the team seemed to run a particularly skinny rear wing.
Mark Webber was sixth in the second Red Bull ahead of Italy’s best driver hope for the weekend Tonio Liuzzi in the rapid Force India. ITV
Ferrari had a solid if unspectacular first session, lining up eighth and ninth at its home circuit. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were just behind Tonio Liuzzi in the Force India, who is banking on a good weekend as the track should suit his car. Another star performer from the first session was Nico Rosberg, who hauled his Mercedes up to fifth fastest after experimenting with different brake materials early in the session.
Not everybody found the running so easy. Rubens Barrichello was forced to pull over at the first Lesmo with an apparent transmission failure and Bruno Senna stopped at the first chicane towards the end of the session. The HRT driver spent most of the morning in the garage with a brake problem, while his neighbours at Lotus also struggled with hydraulic issues.
Others, including Schumacher, Jaime Alguersuari and Kamui Kobayashi suffered minor off-track excursions. ESPN F1
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