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Hamilton tops first practice at Monza

McLaren enjoyed a perfect start to the Italian Grand Prix weekend, with Lewis Hamilton topping the times in the opening practice session on Friday

The Briton's best time of 1m23.865s put him nearly a second clear of team-mate Jenson Button, second today in the other McLaren.

Championship leader Red Bull, which has never won at this track, had a low-key session, with Sebastian Vettel finishing in third place but over a full second behind Hamilton.

Team-mate Mark Webber was fourth.

Adrian Sutil completed the top five in the Force India car.

Fan favourites Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa also had a slow start to the weekend in the Ferraris, the Spaniard finishing down in seventh with the Brazilian right behind.

On a sunny and hot day at the Italian circuit, Jerome D'Ambrosio was the first man to set a time with some 15 minutes gone, as the rest of the drivers spent the initial part of the session completing installation laps, with very little action on track in the first half hour.

Only at the 30-minute mark D'Ambrosio's time was bettered, by some nine seconds, after HRT's Daniel Ricciardo completed his first timed lap, the Australian then going some three seconds quicker on the following lap. He stayed on top until he was outpaced by Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari at the 33-minute mark.

The Spanish driver improved his time to a 1m27.224s moments later, leaving him over half a second clear of the field as more drivers began to set times.

World champion Vettel shot to the top of the times with 40 minutes of the session gone, the Red Bull driver stopping the clock at 1m26.381s and then at a 1m25.914s, with team-mate Webber moving into second place at the same time.

Hamilton then took the top spot with some 40 minutes of the session left, the Briton the first man to lap in the 1m24s in the McLaren.

The Briton's time stayed as the best until the final three minutes of the session, when Hamilton himself went quicker, posting a 1m24.127s and then a 1m23.865s to end on top.

Michael Schumacher was the protagonist of one of the few incidents of the session when he went off at Parabolica nearing the one-hour mark, the German lucky to avoid contact with the wall.

Nearly at the same time, Lotus's Heikki Kovalainen's session came to an end after the Finn was forced to park his car due to a technical problem. Kovalainen managed just 10 laps before his stoppage.

D'Ambrosio also stopped on track with some sort of problem with around 15 minutes left, the Belgian having to leave his Virgin parked on track.

Team-mate Timo Glock did not have a very productive session either, the German managing few laps as the team carried out a lot of checks to the new parts introduced.


Pos  Driver                Team                  Time               Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.865s            18
 2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.786s  + 0.921   19
 3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m25.231s  + 1.366   25
 4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m25.459s  + 1.594   24
 5.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m26.550s  + 2.685   23
 6.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault               1m26.625s  + 2.760   20
 7.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m26.647s  + 2.782   20
 8.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m26.676s  + 2.811   24
 9.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.694s  + 2.829   28
10.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m26.696s  + 2.831   15
11.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m26.699s  + 2.834   21
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m26.826s  + 2.961   21
13.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1m26.836s  + 2.971   25
14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.996s  + 3.131   29
15.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth     1m27.365s  + 3.500   25
16.  Bruno Senna           Renault               1m27.385s  + 3.520   23
17.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m27.433s  + 3.568   25
18.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m27.492s  + 3.627   24
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault         1m29.539s  + 5.674   10
20.  Karun Chandhok        Lotus-Renault         1m30.148s  + 6.283   19
21.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth          1m30.609s  + 6.744   27
22.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth          1m30.619s  + 6.754   24
23.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth       1m31.052s  + 7.187   12
24.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth       1m31.899s  + 8.034   22
All Timing Unofficial

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