Adrian Sutil and Force India finished fastest over all during today’s final practice session for the Italian GP at Monza.

Kimi finished 9th fastest overall.

Free Practice Session One

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps

1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:23.936            26

2.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:24.332  + 0.396   27

3.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:24.471  + 0.535   24

4.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:24.477  + 0.541   21

5.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:24.683  + 0.747   25

6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.703  + 0.767   35

7.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:24.706  + 0.770   21

8.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:24.732  + 0.796   24

9.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:24.759  + 0.823   19

10.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:24.761  + 0.825   26

11.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:24.813  + 0.877   20

12.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:24.826  + 0.890   24

13.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:24.927  + 0.991   29

14.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:25.150  + 1.214   28

15.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:25.612  + 1.676   18

16.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:25.689  + 1.753   29

17.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:25.742  + 1.806   30

18.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:25.951  + 2.015    8

19.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:26.020  + 2.084   23

20.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:26.325  + 2.389   17

Free Practice Session Two

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps

1.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:23.924            28

2.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:24.163  + 0.239   31

3.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:24.297  + 0.373   35

4.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:24.482  + 0.558   41

5.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:24.622  + 0.698   40

6.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:24.634  + 0.710   36

7.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:24.693  + 0.769   34

8.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:24.796  + 0.872   39

9.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:24.799  + 0.875   36

10.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.884  + 0.960   44

11.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:24.902  + 0.978   32

12.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:24.921  + 0.997   39

13.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:24.967  + 1.043   40

14.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:24.979  + 1.055   25

15.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:25.003  + 1.079   34

16.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:25.140  + 1.216   35

17.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:25.215  + 1.291   38

18.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:25.386  + 1.462   27

19.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:25.424  + 1.500   32

20.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:25.543  + 1.619   36

All Timing Unofficial

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Kimi Raikkonen: “Overall, I’m reasonably pleased with the way things went in these three hours of free practice and the initial impressions are good. There is still room to improve the handling of the car, which we hope to do in tomorrow morning’s free practice. The new kerbs don’t allow you to cut them with impunity, which is not a bad thing given the difficulty we have experienced in this area in the past. Our pace on a long run isn’t bad and we will do our best to fight for a place on the podium. As for the tyres, the softer compound is definitely quicker, but it’s also quite consistent in terms of performance.”

Giancarlo Fisichella: “I feel satisfied with this first day, which was particularly tough from a driving point of view. The major difficulties are in adapting to the different positions of the buttons and gaining confidence with the KERS. This morning, braking heavily at Ascari, I flat-spotted the left front tyre and that meant I had to fit the softer tyres earlier than planned: I felt more confident with those and I managed to drive at a strong pace. In both sessions, we didn’t go looking for performance and I had a lot of fuel on board. The potential is there to get onto the front few rows, but I need a bit more time to improve, especially in terms of braking and cutting the kerbs.”

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Session 1

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps

1.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:49.675            13

2.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:50.283  + 0.608   18

3.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:50.368  + 0.693   13

4.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:51.045  + 1.370   20

5.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:51.529  + 1.854   24

6.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:52.321  + 2.646   18

7.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:52.930  + 3.255   16

8.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:53.383  + 3.708   11

9.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:53.650  + 3.975   12

10.  Badoer       Ferrari               (B)  1:55.068  + 5.393   20

11.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  2:03.972  + 14.297  11

12.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  2:04.505  + 14.830  13

13.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  2:05.513  + 15.838  13

14.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  2:05.614  + 15.939  14

15.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  2:05.705  + 16.030  15

16.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  2:05.839  + 16.164  10

17.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  2:06.181  + 16.506   6

18.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  2:06.331  + 16.656  15

19.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)                       1

20.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)                       4

Session 2

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps

1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:47.201           29

2.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:47.217  + 0.016  29

3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:47.285  + 0.084  26

4.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.329  + 0.128  31

5.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:47.333  + 0.132  34

6.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:47.506  + 0.305  27

7.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:47.559  + 0.358  33

8.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:47.578  + 0.377  33

9.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:47.579  + 0.378  36

10.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.602  + 0.401  25

11.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:47.702  + 0.501  38

12.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:47.743  + 0.542  33

13.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:47.790  + 0.589  29

14.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:47.862  + 0.661  30

15.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:47.961  + 0.760  32

16.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:48.017  + 0.816  30

17.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:48.125  + 0.924  34

18.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:48.130  + 0.929  37

19.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:48.360  + 1.159  29

20.  Badoer       Ferrari               (B)  1:49.211  + 2.010  30

All Timing Unofficial

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Once again, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro ran their day on two fronts. On the one hand, there was Kimi Raikkonen setting the third fastest time of the day, on the other, Luca Badoer was again at the tail end of the field.

“The results of free practice always have to be looked at with a pinch of salt, as we don’t know what programmes the other teams are running,” said Stefano Domenicali. “For our part, we can be satisfied with the performance of the F60, which showed itself to be competitive both in the dry and in the wet. Kimi was very quick and I think that he can be a major player this weekend. Furthermore, we have seen how close it is, with nineteen drivers all within just over one second of one another: clearly, all you need is to have around ten litres of fuel more or less on board to change the look of the time sheet. In twentieth place, Luca has made a step forward compared to Valencia, showing that what he needs most is to do more kilometres on track. This morning’s rain definitely did not help him, even if he was more competitive in these conditions than in the afternoon. We expect to see him continue to improve throughout the weekend.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “I am pleased with the work we have done today and the overall feeling is a positive one. The car seems to be quick, even though we know it’s only Friday and therefore we cannot be entirely sure where we are compared to the others. We had a few technical problems, although they didn’t have a significant effect on the way we got through our planned programme for the day.”

Chris Dyer: “The changing weather conditions, typical of this Grand Prix, meant we were able to test for a long time in the rain and I have to say that both drivers reckoned they were pleased with the performance of their cars in the wet and were competitive compared to the others. In the afternoon, we had a few niggles with both cars (a failure in the hydraulic system meant Kimi couldn’t get back to the pits at the end of the second session) which did not really affect our programme. Kimi proved to be very quick: now we will analyse the data to decide in which direction we should go with the car in order to improve still further the performance of his F60. Luca continued to gain experience with the car and we hope he can also improve his performance bit by bit, as he gets more mileage under his belt.”

Luca Badoer: “In the wet this morning I was reasonably happy with my performance, even if I would have preferred to have run all the time in the dry, to increase my understanding of the car. In the afternoon, we made some modifications to the set-up, but I still haven’t managed to find the ideal settings for my driving style and so, I didn’t have the right feel for the car to attack all the corners. We still have a session available to us to work on the car tomorrow morning. My aim for qualifying is very simple: to make the cut at the end of Q1.”

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development:

Today was all about track improvement. The surface started very dirty, as we would expect so we heard the usual comments about lack of grip. We saw quite a bit of rear lateral graining which comes from the traction and braking demands on this circuit. We also saw some front lateral graining on some cars too. This is unusual, but comes from the heavy braking on the initially dirty surface.”

“We would expect the super soft to be the superior tyre for lap time, but the soft to be the superior tyre for consistency and therefore the favoured race tyre. The amount of circuit improvement over the weekend will be the key to the race. As the circuit improves, so car balance will change. The team that predicts the track improvement correctly for the race will be best placed to refine their car setup to suit. Even though it was very hot here, the track layout does not put as much force through the tyres as at other circuits so we do not predict problems with tyres overheating.”

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Luca Badoer - 18th: I am happy with the way things went today. I expected a difficult day and so it was. It was vital that I did not make any serious mistakes so that I could get through the programme we had established. Now we can begin to work on the car set-up to try and adapt it to my driving style. The team has not set me any specific goal for this weekend and I am pleased about that consideration because it is important I return to having full confidence in the car and with the world of the grand prix weekend. I am also grateful to Michael who wanted to be here this weekend. It is important for me to be able to count on his support, especially from the human point of view and of course, also in terms of technical matters.

Kimi Raikkonen - 11th: It was a positive day. I am happy with the handling of the car and the performance of both types of tyre we have here from Bridgestone. There’s no point in looking at the time sheet, because as usual on a Friday, it doesn’t tell us much. The first session was rather difficult as the track was very dirty and slippery, but in the second one the situation was much better. I think a podium finish is still a realistic target for us, even if a lot will depend on where we qualify.

Stefano Domenicali - team principal: My first thoughts today are with Felipe and once again, on behalf of the entire team I want to wish him a speedy recovery. From today, his seat in car #3 is occupied by Luca Badoer, who faces a difficult task, but he can count on the support of everyone in the knowledge that Ferrari has every confidence in him. Given his situation - a long time away from racing, an unknown circuit - the first day can be considered a positive experience for Luca. Clearly this weekend is something of a test session for him and that is how it must be judged. At this grand prix, it falls to Kimi more than usual to bring home a useful result to defend our third place in the constructors’ classification which, at this point of the season remains our realistic target.

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Fernando Alonso gave his supporters what they came to see by topping today’s final practice session during the closing stages. He almost went quicker on the next lap but spun during the final sector.

This wasn’t the only excitement for the Spainard today, who had an incident with Heldfeld, taking off his own front wing and putting the German out of the remainder of the session. Nick’s time radio said it all but we aren’t sure if he was labeling Alonso or just his move “plain stupid”!

Not a great first day results wise for Kimi or Ferrari with Raikkonen in 11th and Luca Badoer finishing 18th overall. Raikkonen seemed to be putting in a lot of long runs which means he must have been focusing on race pace but sadly his long stint on the super softs had to end early due to bad graining. Lets hope this afternoon’s press release brings some positives from today.

Brawn seemed to have the advantage over the Red Bull’s in the title battle, with Vettel finishing 9th and Webber having a fairly quiet day ending up 14th, in comparison to Button’s 2nd and Barrichello’s 3rd overall. The hotter temperatures must be helping the Brawns’ with their tyre management. Again we’ll just have to wait to hear from the drivers and see how things shape up for the rest of the weekend.

The only other notable incident from today’s action was Lewis Hamilton putting himself out of FP2 with a spin. He was taking his turn with the new nose cone (which McLaren only have one of this weekend) and lost the back end. This spin and light touch with the barrier, caused some front end damage to the ‘hanger’ which is used to connect the nose to the car. So with the new revised nose luckily unharmed but the hanger damaged, Lewis had to sit out today’s final session after only 3 laps as it wasn’t fixable in time for him to take part in FP2.

All in all it looks like it will be an exciting qualifying session tomorrow, even if the race proves to be boring like last years well hyped event!

Jemela Coventry

Free Practice One

Pos Driver        Team                      Time             Laps

 1. Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:42.460           19

 2. Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:42.636  +0.176   16

 3. Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:42.654  +0.194   18

 4. Button        Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:43.074  +0.614   19

 5. Vettel        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:43.088  +0.628   17

 6. Sutil         Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:43.209  +0.749   13

 7. Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:43.225  +0.765   25

 8. Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:43.243  +0.783   19

 9. Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:43.345  +0.885   18

10. Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:43.384  +0.924   23

11. Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:43.389  +0.929   30

12. Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:43.419  +0.959   20

13. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:43.637  +1.177   30

14. Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:43.746  +1.286   22

15. Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:44.040  +1.580   23

16. Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:44.126  +1.666   17

17. Grosjean      Renault              (B)  1:44.356  +1.896   23

18. Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:44.638  +2.178   26

19. Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:44.732  +2.272   28

20. Badoer        Ferrari              (B)  1:45.840  +3.380   25

All timing unofficial

Free Practice Two

Pos Driver        Team                      Time             Laps

 1. Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:39.404           33

 2. Button        Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:40.178  +0.774   33

 3. Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:40.209  +0.805   34

 4. Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:40.385  +0.981   39

 5. Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:40.503  +1.099   35

 6. Sutil         Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:40.596  +1.192   23

 7. Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:40.643  +1.239   34

 8. Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:40.681  +1.277   31

 9. Vettel        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:40.723  +1.319   33

10. Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:40.738  +1.334   31

11. Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:40.739  +1.335   39

12. Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:40.770  +1.366   32

13. Grosjean      Renault              (B)  1:40.787  +1.383   35

14. Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:40.956  +1.552   37

15. Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:40.985  +1.581   30

16. Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:41.156  +1.752   34

17. Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:41.350  +1.946   29

18. Badoer        Ferrari              (B)  1:42.017  +2.613   37

19. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:42.089  +2.685   34

20. Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:43.214  +3.810    3

All timing unofficial

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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