Teams McLaren and Red Bull racing got off to a strong start at Monza on Friday at the Grand Prix of Italy. And watch for Ferrari perform well on home soil…
It was very bizarre this morning to see the McLaren-Mercedes MP4-25s emerged from the garages with a pretty big rear wing that looked more suited to a high-downforce track. McLaren’s Jenson Button topped the morning timesheets while his teammate Lewis Hamilton was third quickest in the sister car behind Sebastian Vettel in a Red Bull-Renault RB6. Interestingly, those who set the fastest lap times were among the slowest through the speed traps. The fastest driver through the speed trap was Sebastien Buemi in his Toro Rosso-Ferrari at 345 km/h.
After lunch, team McLaren looked untouchable with Hamilton and Button clearly faster than anyone else. But both Ferrari and Red Bull sent their drivers out for low fuel, soft tire runs with half an hour to go, and both teams were able to better McLaren's pace. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa initially went quickest, though Vettel soon beat his time. Then Fernando Alonso leapt to the top only for Vettel to respond again, this time with a 1:22.8 Button continued using the steeper rear wing from first practice to begin with, while Hamilton used a lower rear wing and then tried a version without the F-duct. Button finished the session in 4th place while Hamilton was 5th. Mark Webber ranked sixth but his Red Bull suffered from a loss of water pressure. Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth), Robert Kubica (Renault), Nico Hülkenberg (Williams-Cosworth) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) rounded out the top 10. Lotus Racing was the faster of the new teams in the afternoon, both Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen ahead of the two Virgins that were the quickest in straight-line speed at 345 km/h! It was a day to forget for the Hispania Racing team. Bruno Senna made three attempts to get out on the track, all of which ended with the car breaking down. Sakon Yamamoto only managed five laps in his car. Grand Prix of Italy, Friday morning, free practice session 1: 1 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/25-Mercedes) - 1'23"693 - 28 laps 2 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB6-Renault) - 1'23"790 - 27 3 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/25-Mercedes) - 1'23"967 - 25 4 - Robert Kubica (Renault R30) - 1'24"120 - 25 5 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes MGP W01) - 1'24"129 - 25 6 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB6-Renault) - 1'24"446 - 26 7 - Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India VJM03-Mercedes) - 1'24"512 - 19 8 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F10) - 1'24"543 - 24 9 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F10) - 1'24"648 - 22 10 - Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W01) - 1'24"756 - 26 11 - Nico Hulkenberg (Williams FW32-Cosworth) - 1'24"841 - 28 12 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM03-Mercedes) - 1'24"923 - 23 13 - Vitaly Petrov (Renault R30) - 1'25"292 - 25 14 - Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso STR5-Ferrari) - 1'25"318 - 29 15 - Pedro De La Rosa (Sauber C29-Ferrari) - 1'25"320 - 20 16 - Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C29-Ferrari) - 1'25"334 - 24 17 - Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso STR5-Ferrari) - 1'25"897 - 19 18 - Timo Glock (Virgin VR01-Cosworth) - 1'26"772 - 19 19 - Jarno Trulli (Lotus T127-Cosworth) - 1'26"898 - 12 20 - Lucas Di Grassi (Virgin VR01-Cosworth) - 1'26"956 - 17 21 - Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus T127-Cosworth) - 1'27"374 - 14 22 - Bruno Senna (Hispania F110-Cosworth) - 1'28"256 - 8 23 - Rubens Barrichello (Williams FW32-Cosworth) - 1'28"516 - 4 24 - Sakon Yamamoto (Hispania F110-Cosworth) - 1'29"870 Grand Prix of Italy, Friday afternoon, free practice session 2: 1 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB6-Renault) - 1'22"839 - 27 laps 2 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F10) - 1'22"915 - 32 3 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F10) - 1'23"061 - 20 4 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/25-Mercedes) - 1'23"154 - 22 5 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/25-Mercedes) - 1'23"210 - 38 6 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB6-Renault) - 1'23"415 - 23 7 - Rubens Barrichello (Williams FW32-Cosworth) - 1'23"708 - 31 8 - Robert Kubica (Renault R30) - 1'23"709 - 32 9 - Nico Hulkenberg (Williams FW32-Cosworth) - 1'23"852 - 30 10 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes MGP W01) - 1'23"857 - 29 11 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM03-Mercedes) - 1'24"181 - 35 12 - Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India VJM03-Mercedes) - 1'24"380 - 36 13 - Vitaly Petrov (Renault R30) - 1'24"407 - 21 14 - Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W01) - 1'24"448 - 29 15 - Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso STR5-Ferrari) - 1'24"517 - 35 16 - Pedro De La Rosa (Sauber C29-Ferrari) - 1'24"547 - 32 17 - Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C29-Ferrari) - 1'24"785 - 31 18 - Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso STR5-Ferrari) - 1'25"106 - 24 19 - Jarno Trulli (Lotus T127-Cosworth) - 1'26"204 - 38 20 - Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus T127-Cosworth) - 1'26"306 - 41 21 - Lucas Di Grassi (Virgin VR01-Cosworth) - 1'26"361 - 31 22 - Timo Glock (Virgin VR01-Cosworth) - 1'26"676 - 25 23 - Sakon Yamamoto (Hispania F110-Cosworth) - 1'29"498 - 5 24 - Bruno Senna (Hispania F110-Cosworth) - no time – 3
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