Free practice 4: Schuey fastest...again
Status Quo was maintained at the end of the final free practice session before qualifying begins for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix with McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari occupying the top four slots

Michael Schumacher went fastest and was the only driver to dip into the 1m23s bracket while World Championship leader Mika Hakkinen was a close second, setting his time early in the session leapfrogging from eighth spot. Rubens Barrichello continued with flashes of pace and set the overall fastest first section time so far this weekend, but could not string together a lap and wound up third ahead of David Coulthard in fourth.
Jenson Button's pace of the first session was not replicated in the second and while most of the top ten times markedly improved, Button's did not and as such the young Brit dropped to sixth. Williams-BMW team mate Ralf Schumacher was one such improvement and stayed fifth from the first session but moved ahead of the young Brit.
Giancarlo Fisichella remained just outside the top six in his Benetton, maintaining some desperately-needed momentum for the team. The same could not be said of Alex Wurz whose contract with the team has not been renewed for next year. The Austrian finished the session in last place and only completed a handful of laps throughout the morning as his B200 came to a halt at the side of the track during both sessions.
Jordan-Mugen Honda experienced an equally torrid morning as Jarno Trulli had only completed four laps midway through the second session. Once out on the track the Italian moved up from last to first 17th and then 12th where he remained till the chequered flag. Meanwhile team mate Frentzen had an off in the first session putting his EJ10 into the barrier at Parabolica. The accident destroyed the Jordan's front-left suspension and prevented the German from making it back onto the track in the second session.
The BAR-Hondas ran in formation as Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta finished eighth and ninth with Villeneuve unusually behind his Brazilian team mate. Eddie Irvine's Jaguar looked to be a handful as the Irishman repeatedly missed the all-new Rettifilo chicane. Irvine managed to put the R1 into the top 10 before coasting back to the pits with a mechanical problem a the end of the session.
Depsite the early promise of the Arrows team during Friday's sessions, Pedro de la Rosa and Jos Verstappen could only manage 17th and 18th respectively.
Ferrari have topped every session so far this weekend and look strong going into qualifying. Barrichello and particularly championship contender Schumacher will both be hoping to stay ahead of the McLarens on home soil and in front of the adoring Tifosi.
For full practice session 4 results, click here.

Free practice 3: Schumacher on top as Button flies
Friday press conference

Latest news
Wolff: Mercedes bounced "from depression to exuberance" in "painful" F1 season
Toto Wolff says the ranging emotions through Mercedes’ Formula 1 season so far has been “painful” at times, bouncing from “depression to exuberance” through its 2022 car struggles.
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
Lundgaard: Vettel could expect “tough transition” to IndyCar
Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard said that four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel would face a hard task adapting to the demands of IndyCar if he wished to make the switch.
Binotto exclusive: "Each single day" is difficult in F1 but Ferrari is united
It’s fair to say the 2022 Formula 1 season has delivered both the best of times and the worst of times for Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto.
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
How a bad car creates the ultimate engineering challenge
While creating a car that is woefully off the pace is a nightmare scenario for any team, it inadvertently generates the test any engineering department would relish: to turn it into a winner. As Mercedes takes on that challenge in Formula 1 this season, McLaren’s former head of vehicle engineering reveals how the team pulled of the feat in 2009 with Lewis Hamilton
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid