Button fastest as practice starts at Monza
Jenson Button was fastest for McLaren in the first practice session of the weekend at Monza.
He was a tenth of a second faster than Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull with Lewis Hamilton setting third fastest time in the other McLaren.
Both MP4-25s ran with very steep rear wings in practice as they tested how well their F-duct works on the high-speed Monza track.
Robert Kubica was fourth fastest for Renault, nine-thousandths of a second faster than Nico Rosberg.
Rubens Barrichello and Bruno Senna stopped on the track during the session, the former appearing to stop with a transmission problem on his Williams.
Several drivers had problems with the first chicane, locking their brakes and running across the run-off. Mark Webber, sixth fastest, ran wide there and Kamui Kobayashi knocked over one of the marker boards.
Vitantonio Liuzzi was another driver to take a trip down the run-off. He ended the session 0.4 seconds faster than team mate Paul di Resta, who was driving Adrian Sutil’s car. Sutil will be back in the car for second practice – when he was fastest at this circuit last year.
The two Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were eighth and ninth, and Nico Hülkenberg’s Williams completed the top ten.
| Pos. | Car | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’23.693 | 28 | |
| 2 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’23.790 | 0.097 | 27 |
| 3 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’23.967 | 0.274 | 25 |
| 4 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1’24.120 | 0.427 | 25 |
| 5 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’24.129 | 0.436 | 30 |
| 6 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’24.446 | 0.753 | 26 |
| 7 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’24.512 | 0.819 | 19 |
| 8 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’24.543 | 0.850 | 24 |
| 9 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’24.648 | 0.955 | 22 |
| 10 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’24.756 | 1.063 | 26 |
| 11 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1’24.841 | 1.148 | 28 |
| 12 | 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’24.923 | 1.230 | 23 |
| 13 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’25.292 | 1.599 | 25 |
| 14 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’25.318 | 1.625 | 29 |
| 15 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’25.320 | 1.627 | 20 |
| 16 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’25.334 | 1.641 | 24 |
| 17 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’25.897 | 2.204 | 19 |
| 18 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’26.772 | 3.079 | 19 |
| 19 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’26.898 | 3.205 | 12 |
| 20 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’26.956 | 3.263 | 17 |
| 21 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’27.374 | 3.681 | 14 |
| 22 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1’28.256 | 4.563 | 8 |
| 23 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’28.516 | 4.823 | 4 |
| 24 | 20 | Sakon Yamamoto | HRT-Cosworth | 1’29.870 | 6.177 | 17 |
2010 Italian Grand Prix
- Technical review: Italian Grand Prix
- Jamey Price watches the Italian Grand Prix at Monza
- Hamilton: “I could have done some passing”
- Sutil: “I was in the wrong place everywhere”
- Hülkenberg’s drive “his best to date”
- 2010 Italian Grand Prix – the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
- Who was the best driver of the Italian Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)
- Late scare with de la Rosa can’t keep Alonso from victory (Ferrari race review)
- Set-up gamble pays off for Button as Hamilton crashes (McLaren race review)
- Vettel recovers to surprise fourth after mid-race drama (Red Bull race review)
Image © Force India F1 Team
Gilvan said on 10th September 2010, 12:11
I think Mclaren is tinkering with the idea of running more wing than Red Bull,to gain time on the Variante Ascari, Parabolica and the Lesmo corners, given that their F duct works well and offset the extra wing on the straights.
wasiF1 (@wasif1) said on 10th September 2010, 13:25
Button & Vettel do need some strong result this weekend in order to fight for the championship.