The complete 2009 Italian GP review

PRACTICE

Practice 1 - Friday AM

Long, KERS-friendly, straights. Plenty of slow chicanes. Few really fast corners. Monza looked like McLaren territory on paper, and as practice began it appeared the predictions would be correct. Lewis Hamilton was quickest throughout the first session and was followed by Heikki Kovalainen in a McLaren one-two.

Force India impressed again - Adrian Sutil narrowly beating Fernando Alonso's Renault to third, with Nick Heidfeld fifth for BMW.

Jenson Button was the best of the title contenders in seventh, and although his Force India replacement Tonio Liuzzi had outpaced him initially, by the end of the morning Giancarlo Fisichella was the best of those in new overalls for this race, as he took eighth. That was two places higher than his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, but the Italian had been given a leg-up by using soft tyres.

Practice 2 - Friday PM

Sutil stepped up the pace in the afternoon and led the way, dominating much of the session and then responding to a late challenge from the two Renaults which took Romain Grosjean up to an eye-catching second ahead of team-mate Alonso.

Kovalainen upheld McLaren honour in fourth, followed by Robert Kubica's BMW and Timo Glock's Toyota.

The championship fighting quartet were nowhere to be seen in the top half of the timesheets, with Mark Webber their leading light in 14th and Button right back in 19th, beating only Fisichella.

Saturday Practice

Following Friday's - and Spa's - showing, it was no surprised that the Force India team continued to look like one of the outfits to beat on Saturday morning, with Sutil again dominating the session. Liuzzi's seventh fastest time completed another superb performance for the Silverstone-based squad, which faced qualifying full of confidence.

This time Sutil was followed closely by the Brawn of championship leader Button, who returned to the sharp end after a low-key Friday. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello also had a good session on his way to the fourth fastest time, a good omen for the Brawn team, which finally looked to have both drivers on the pace.

The first KERS-equipped machine, that of Hamilton, was down in fifth position in a discreet session for the six cars using the energy recovery system.

Final practice was far from incident-free, especially for Fisichella, who managed just ten laps before crashing into the barriers at the Parabolica. Others hitting trouble were Grosjean, who got airbone on the approach to the Ascaris, and Jaime Alguersuari, whose Toro Rosso suffered a gearbox failure.

QUALIFYING

1. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren-Mercedes

Confident from the start of the weekend, there was no doubt that Hamilton was one of the hot favourites for pole, and the Briton did not disappoint. The truth, however, was that Hamilton had the least fuel in the top ten - nearly 10 kilos lighter than Raikkonen and a massive 30 lighter than team-mate Kovalainen.

2. Adrian Sutil - Force India-Mercedes

As expected, the Mercedes-powered team was again a force to be reckon with at Monza, and Sutil was very fast right from the first session. Despite not having KERS, the German forced Hamilton to dig very deep to emerge on top with a car that was also slightly lighter. It was a fantastic effort all round.

3. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari

Another team that was expected to shine, as at Spa, Ferrari was on the pace and Raikkonen continued with his momentum after winning in Belgium. The car did not look as strong as the McLaren or the Force India, however, and so the Finn never looked quite in contention for the top spot.

4. Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren-Mercedes

Fourth place with the amount of fuel he was carrying was a good effort from Kovalainen and set him up perfectly for a strong race. The Finn felt his car was more competitive with a heavy fuel load and so opted to run 30kg heavier than Hamilton, something that should have given him the chance to fight for a podium place.

5. Rubens Barrichello - Brawn-Mercedes

It was easy to miss after having qualified on the third row, but Barrichello's effort was excellent, especially considering he had the heaviest car in the top ten and that he was not running KERS, which most drivers reckoned was around four tenths of a second in qualifying. The Brazilian was delighted, and rightly so.

6. Jenson Button - Brawn-Mercedes

After his struggles in Belgium, Button was smiling again at Monza, feeling his car was working to his liking pretty much since the start of the weekend. In qualifying he did a good job with a car that was only lighter then his team-mate's, although not having KERS for the start put him in a risky position.

7. Tonio Liuzzi - Force India-Mercedes

No matter how you paint it, Liuzzi's return to action was formidable. The Italian went from less to more and culminated with a brilliant effort in qualifying. Liuzzi's performance was only slightly overshadowed by the impeccable effort put on by team-mate Sutil, although the German ran notably lighter.

8. Fernando Alonso - Renault

As is usually the case, the Spaniard extracted the maximum from a car which, despite having KERS back onboard, was still not quick enough to fight for better positions. Alonso was still happy with his effort and, with three non-KERS cars right in front, there were reasons to be optimistic.

9. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull-Renault

Despite Red Bull boss Christian Horner claiming both his drivers were "sensing the championship," there was little to celebrate on Saturday for the Milton Keynes team, who had a very low-key day, even leading to suggestions that Vettel's engine was de-tuned in order to make it more reliable. In any case, ninth was far from what Vettel was hoping for, especially seeing that both Brawn cars were heavier.

10. Mark Webber - Red Bull-Renault

Despite being happy with his job, Webber conceded his car was simply not quick enough. With opportunities to close in on Button running out, tenth position was disappointing for the Australian, although at least he found some consolation in having one of the heavier cars for Sunday.

11. Jarno Trulli - Toyota

Eleventh was nothing to write home about, but that was Toyota's form over the weekend and Trulli at least managed to extract the best from his car. The Italian was pleased with his own performance and at least 11th allowed him the chance to choose his strategy freely.

12. Romain Grosjean - Renault

Despite putting on the best performance of his short F1 career, there was some disappointment in Grosjaen's showing, as he was the only KERS-equipped driver not to make it into the top ten. To his credit, however, the Frenchman was less than three tenths off Alonso's pace in Q2.

13. Robert Kubica - BMW-Sauber

There was little doubt that BMW was hoping for better following its Spa showing and a promising performance in practice. But in the end it was not to be. After a good first session, Kubica suffered an engine problem in Q2, having to park his car at the end of the straight. To make matters worse, it was his seventh engine of the season, and a new one too.

14. Giancarlo Fisichella - Ferrari

There was two ways to judge Fisichella's performance: a lot better than Luca Badoer or a or lot worse than expected following his Spa showing. The Italian did not have an easy weekend, and a crash in final practice did not make it any easier. Nonetheless he was still pleased with his performance considering the circumstances.

15. Nick Heidfeld - BMW-Sauber

Like team-mate Kubica, Heidfeld was hindered by engine woes, which was a significant hit for the German, who had looked strong all weekend. But Heidfeld too was forced to park his car with the exact same engine problem suffered by Kubica, completing a miserable day for BMW.

16. Timo Glock - Toyota

With such a closely-matched field, every run counts, and Glock was unable to have a clean one at the end of the session, hitting traffic after a rival, possibly Buemi, jumped the chicane and forced the Toyota driver to follow. The Japanese squad was far from strong at Monza, but a better result looked possible nonetheless.

17. Kazuki Nakajima - Williams-Toyota

Nakajima was left wondering if, without traffic in his last run, he could have found the extra tenth to move into Q2. At the end of the day, it didn't not matter much, as he was still unlikely to make much more progress, with the Williams clearly not suited to the Monza circuit.

18. Nico Rosberg - Williams-Toyota

Right from the start of the weekend, Rosberg knew he was in for a difficult grand prix, his Williams not suited to the Italian circuit. On Friday he was still hopeful of making it into Q3 with a sensational lap, but the reality was very different in qualifying, the German going out in Q1 for the first time this year.

19. Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso-Ferrari

With Force India having taken a giant leap, Toro Rosso seems to be just trying to escape the final row of the grid, and that was the case again at Monza. Buemi was just two tenths of a second away from making the cut into Q2, but in such a close field, two tenths are making a huge difference at the moment and so the Swiss had to be content with outqualifying his team-mate. He was also unhappy with Hamilton, who ruined one of his runs.

20. Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso-Ferrari

The Spaniard admitted on Friday that, for the first time, he found it very hard to drive his Toro Rosso, now fitted with the low-downforce package. He was not helped by a gearbox failure in final practice, where he only managed ten laps. He got a penalty for it, but it didn't matter as he was already way off Buemi's pace in 20th position.

QUALIFYING RESULTS
Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:23.375  1:22.973  1:24.066
 2.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:23.576  1:23.070  1:24.261
 3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:23.349  1:23.426  1:24.523
 4.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:23.515  1:23.528  1:24.845
 5.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:23.483  1:22.976  1:25.015
 6.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:23.403  1:22.955  1:25.030
 7.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:23.578  1:23.207  1:25.043
 8.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:23.708  1:23.497  1:25.072
 9.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:23.558  1:23.545  1:25.180
10.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:23.755  1:23.273  1:25.314
11.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:24.014  1:23.611
12.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:23.975  1:23.728
13.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:24.001  1:23.866
14.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:23.828  1:23.901
15.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:23.584  1:24.275
16.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:24.036
17.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:24.074
18.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:24.121
19.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.220
20.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.951
All Timing Unofficial

THE RACE

It was a classic hare versus tortoise scenario: three two-stopping cars lined up at the front, eager to make a rapid break from the hefty one-stoppers behind. The complication was that one of the three hares went to the grid fully expecting to be both left standing by his fellow lightweight runners, and jumped by at one least tortoise too, thanks to the KERS phenomenom.

But despite Monza's massive straight, for once the start was not decided by KERS. Polesitter Lewis Hamilton's getaway was nothing special, and not only the KERS-equipped Kimi Rakkonen, but also the boost-less Adrian Sutil, got up alongside him off the line. The KERS effect at least kept the Force India at bay though, and Raikkonen ran out of space and had to take to the grass before tucking in between Hamilton and Sutil as they filed into the Rettifilio in one piece.

Fellow KERS-runners Heikki Kovalainen and Fernando Alonso actually made poor getaways, and only a punch of the button got the former back ahead of the two Brawns by the first chicane. Rubens Barrichello stayed alongside him though, and managed to accelerate back in front as they went wheel to wheel through the complex.

Kovalainen tried every possible angle to re-pass the Brawn around the next half-lap, and as he did so he left the door open for Jenson Button, who grabbed fifth with an assertive move that took both Lesmos to complete. Just to emphasise that this was not going to be Kovalainen's afternoon, the incessantly impressive Tonio Liuzzi's Force India blasted past him approaching the Parabolica too.

Also already having a miserable day was Red Bull. Mark Webber's race - and probably his championship campaign - ended at the Roggia as contact with Robert Kubica's BMW spat the Red Bull into the gravel.

"It looked like a racing incident," Webber admitted. "He was inside my left wheel and I couldn't see him, there was contact and it flicked me up in the air a bit."

The tangle deranged Kubica's front wing a little, but that didn't stop him overtaking the other Red Bull with more success two laps later, after Sebastian Vettel had got wide trying in vain to fend off Alonso into the Roggia. Vettel would later lament the time lost behind the BMW before the officials decided its wonky wing merited a black and orange flag, and although his pace did pick up with the Pole out of the way, it was still a long way off the times those fighting for victory were setting.

Up front, Hamilton was on a mission, churning out fastest lap after fastest lap.

"We knew that even though I was on pole position I wasn't on the winning strategy," he said. "Therefore I needed to pull out a 15-20s gap to the one-stoppers in the first stint, so it was flat chat, flat chat, flat chat. The team came on the radio and said 'we need eight qualifying laps', so it was eight qualifying laps I gave."

It seemed to be paying off. When the world champion pitted on lap 15, he was 7s clear of the nose to tail Raikkonen and Sutil, and 17s ahead of leading one-stopper Barrichello, who had pulled out 3.5s over team-mate Button.

Hamilton emerged into the gap between Button and Liuzzi. Now his task was to keep the Brawns in sight during the period when they were lighter, so he could go on another charge once they had fuelled up, and then benefit from his naturally shorter final stop to emerge ahead. But in the event it was not Hamilton's first stint pace that really mattered, it was his times on heavier tanks straight after his first stop - and during the period before the Brawns pitted the gap from Button to Hamilton stretched from 5s to 12s.

That was partly because it was Barrichello and Button who were now delivering qualifying-style laps - as several slides out of the chicanes proved. At first Barrichello - on harder tyres - appeared to have the legs of his soft-shod team-mate, but as the stint wore on, Button started chipping away at the gap. They often matched each other tenth for tenth, but Button still got the margin down to 2s.

The maths still favoured Barrichello though, for he was running one lap further. An in-lap 0.6s quicker than Button's made sure that this was Barrichello's race, and by the time the stops had unfolded they were 4s apart again.

Hamilton was not totally out of contention yet - still capable of splitting the Brawns even if beating them looked unlikely. Any challengers from behind had melted away. Liuzzi's excellent weekend sadly ended in a lap 23 driveshaft failure while running ahead of the still battling Raikkonen and Sutil. This pair had closed on Hamilton by running further before their first stops (a full four laps in Raikkonen's case), but fell away again during the middle stint.

Unable to pull out a sufficient lead to rejoin ahead of Button following his stop, the undaunted Hamilton was determined to chase down the championship leader and pass him on the road. The McLaren was quicker than the Brawn, but not by much, and Button was confident that his 3s advantage would be sufficient.

"It sounds silly but it is very difficult to overtake, even though they've got KERS," said Button. "If I didn't make a mistake, I don't think he was going to get past me. My engineer was getting quite excited on the radio, but I was pretty much in control. 1.2s/1.5s is the gap. You get to that point and it's very difficult to get any closer."

Sure enough, there was still 1.1s between the Brawn and the McLaren starting the last lap. Hamilton hadn't given up, though and kept pushing. Unfortunately for McLaren, a new fastest first sector was followed by a spin into the barriers at the Lesmos.

"That was the way I was raised, I was never raised to give up," said Hamilton, who apologised for the damage but had no regrets about his approach.

"If we were fighting for the world championship it would be a slightly different scenario and I would have put a lot more thought into just getting the points. But I still wanted to win, to catch them up and overtake. So I gave it my absolute all - I was fastest in the first sector on that last lap.

"I was a little bit wide on the kerb, it spun me round and it was a heavy impact, but these things happen. I'm just a racer - a more hardcore racer than most people anticipate."

It was Raikkonen who inherited the surprise podium spot that Hamilton's departure left open, but it could easily have been a Force India driver. Raikkonen's pace before his second stop would probably have been sufficient to jump Liuzzi even though the one-stopping Italian was in front when he retired, but Force India was still very much in contention, and Sutil was glued to the Ferrari's tail all afternoon.

All Sutil could do was curse KERS and wait for the pitstops - where his chances ended as he arrived too quickly and slid into his crew, who were unscathed.

"It was our chance to overtake Kimi, I couldn't do it on the circuit, so I had to push really hard in the pitlane," said Sutil. "I think I have to apologise a little bit..."

That let Ferrari off the hook, for Raikkonen's stop was none too smooth either.

"I was in a hurry to get out as I knew it was going to be very close," he said. "The lollipop guy just moved a little bit and I was ready to go and he put it back down and I stopped. But luckily enough the fuel rig was out and I could go."

The safety car was deployed for the final half lap after Hamilton's crash, and having slowed for the yellows Raikkonen and Sutil were classified half a minute down on the Brawns - although the gap had already been 20s, to Raikkonen's frustration.

"It is a bit disappointing to drive as well as you can every lap, not really making any mistakes, and still finish quite far away from the first two," he said.

They were still comfortably clear of the rest. Alonso added his name to the list of people who overtook Kovalainen in the first stint, and although the unhappy Finn was slightly faster on soft tyres in the second half of the race, he could do nothing about the Renault, which took fifth.

Liuzzi's retirement looked set to allow Vettel to salvage at least one point from Red Bull's least competitive weekend of 2009. But after the pitstops he found himself behind the impressive Nick Heidfeld, who had made a fine start, showed a KERS car could be overtaken by passing Giancarlo Fisichella on lap three, and then crept towards the Red Bull, which he jumped by virtue of a longer first stint.

Vettel looked unlikely to re-pass the delighted BMW driver even before he made a late trip through the Lesmo gravel. Only Hamilton's shunt elevated him back into the points.

Fisichella completed his maiden race for Ferrari in a low-key and lonely ninth, but felt he had gained valuable experience that would help him impress more in Singapore.

"I was struggling a little bit with the pace at the beginning but then at the end of the race I was doing well," he said. "Hopefully the next race is going to be better."

The race probably didn't provide the anticipated level of thrills and spills, but Kazuki Nakajima, Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock tried to make up for that. Trulli, who had lost a lot of ground on the first lap, banged wheels with Nakajima as he tried to pass the Williams into the first chicane on lap 48, and was then attacked by Glock as he recovered. Half a lap of brilliant side by side racing ended with Trulli veering through the Lesmo gravel and falling to 14th behind Sebastien Buemi, leaving Nakajima to resist Glock and take 10th, despite a fuel pressure problem.

Hamilton was classified 12th and Buemi 13th, the latter accidentally taking the chequered flag in the pitlane after mishearing a radio call about the safety car. With an oil leak halting Kubica and Jaime Alguersuari suffering more gearbox problems, the final finishers were Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg. The Renault driver damaged his car at the first corner, while Rosberg pitting thinking he had a puncture after hitting debris, only to discover the problem was actually broken aero parts.

The tifosi didn't have a Ferrari win to cheer, but they could celebrate a third Monza success for a driver they had grown fond of during his long Ferrari stint. Barrichello's second win in three races proved that he now had the pace to be a true title rival to his team-mate - something that was in doubt as Button dominated the opening rounds - but with the Briton still 14 points clear, could it be too late?

"I think it is a winning year whatever happens," Barrichello smiled. "We have got to remember that it is not long ago we had no jobs. We did not know what was going to happen. So it just feels great. I am going to give my very best. It is going to be a good and a healthy fight and I am looking forward to that."

Button was very upbeat too - defeated by his team-mate, but back on the podium after three months of pretty relentless misery.

"The talk of pressure never came out of my mouth," he said. "I know I'm in a very good situation, I've driving the best car on the grid at the moment. Why shouldn't I be positive? I've got a 14-point lead with four races to go."

The fight appears to be between the two men in white now, but while Webber conceded things now looked bleak for him title-wise ("I am going to struggle if I'm not scoring points - but I've had a good little run at the championship"), Vettel was not ready to surrender yet.

"The championship isn't over," he said as he contemplated the now 26-point gap. "Our target is to do our best, we're here to win races and the championship, so we have to focus on that; all the rest is out of our hands."

RACE RESULTS

The Italian Grand Prix
Autodromo di Monza, Italy;
53 laps; 306.720km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1h16:21.706
 2.  Button        Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  +     2.866
 3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +    30.664
 4.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +    31.131
 5.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +    59.182
 6.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +  1:00.693
 7.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:22.412
 8.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +  1:25.427
 9.  Fisichella    Ferrari               (B)  +  1:26.856
10.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +  2:00.000
11.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +  2:43.925
12.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Grosjean      Renault               (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Sutil, 1:24.739

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes  (B)    23
Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    20
Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)    16
Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 13:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Button        80        1.  Brawn-Mercedes        146
 2.  Barrichello   66        2.  Red Bull-Renault      105.5
 3.  Vettel        54        3.  Ferrari                62
 4.  Webber        51.5      4.  McLaren-Mercedes       47
 5.  Raikkonen     40        5.  Toyota                 38.5
 6.  Rosberg       30.5      6.  Williams-Toyota        30.5
 7.  Hamilton      27        7.  BMW Sauber             20
 8.  Trulli        22.5      8.  Renault                20
 9.  Massa         22        9.  Force India-Mercedes   13
10.  Alonso        20       10.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      5
11.  Kovalainen    20       
12.  Glock         16       
13.  Heidfeld      12       
14.  Kubica         8       
15.  Fisichella     8       
16.  Sutil          5       
17.  Buemi          3       
18.  Bourdais       2       
       
All timing unofficial

Lap-by-lap as it happened on AUTOSPORT Live

TEAM BY TEAM

Ferrari

Raikkonen doesn't make any headlines in practice but does qualify third, lining up directly behind Hamilton on the grid. He makes a better start but has to take to the grass as the McLaren defends, so slots into second.

His two stop strategy allows the Brawns to get ahead and he cannot keep up with Hamilton, but the latter's crash allows him to beat race-long pursuer Sutil to the final podium spot.

Fisichella fares much better than predecessor Badoer in the second car, but not well enough to make the tifosi's dreams of an Italian starring at home in a Ferrari come true. Eighth place (on soft tyres) in opening practice is his high point as he is slowest in practice two and crashes on Saturday morning. He gains confidence steadily, converting 14th on the grid to ninth in the race.

McLaren-Mercedes

Hamilton and Kovalainen take a commanding one-two in opening practice and are on top again in qualifying, where the Briton using a two-stop fuel load to take pole and his team-mate is the quickest one-stopper (and fastest on fuel-adjusted times) in fourth.

An early charge on light tanks sees Hamilton in a class of his own at first. But his pace after his first stop isn't good enough to beat the one-stopping Brawns. By the final stint he is on course for third and pushing to catch Button for second, only to spin into the Lesmo barriers on the last lap while continuing to push to catch the points leader.

Kovalainen under-performs in the race again. He makes a bad start and is overtaken by a variety of rivals while struggling to make his hard tyres work in the opening stint. He finishes sixth behind Alonso.

BMW Sauber

Quick times in practice suggest a repeat of Spa is possible - but then identical engine failures within minutes of each other leave Kubica and Heidfeld only 13th and 15th on the grid.

Both charge forward in the race, although Kubica does not get far. A tangle with Webber at the Roggia on the first lap bends his front wing and he is eventually called in to replace it (not that the damage stops him passing Vettel for 9th). He retires with an oil leak soon after.

Heidfeld has a superb race, cruising up behind Vettel during an assertive first stint and then getting ahead of the Red Bull in the pits. That puts him in line for seventh once Liuzzi and Hamilton are out.

The Singapore Grand Prix furore and imminent FIA hearing dominates Renault's weekend. Alonso keeps his head down and qualifies eighth, with Grosjean (who had been second on Friday practice) disappointed to be 12th.

The team reintroduces KERS for this weekend hoping it will be a major startline advantage - yet both drivers make bad starts. Grosjean then sustains damage at the first chicane and struggles to a distant 15th with a hobbled car thereafter.

But Alonso recovers well, passing Vettel and Kovalainen in the first stint and eventually beating the latter to fifth.

Glock has a violent spin over the Rettifilio kerbs in opening practice, then takes sixth in the second session - which is about as good as it gets for Toyota all weekend.

Given the team's lack of pace, Trulli is thrilled to qualify 11th - five places clear of Glock, who has traffic frustrations. But Trulli loses a lot of ground off the line, and soon they are queued up together behind Nakajima.

Trulli's bid to pass the Williams ends in contact at the first chicane, which allows Glock to attack his team-mate. An entertaining (for both the spectators and the hitherto bored drivers) scrap follows until Trulli slides off at the Lesmo. He finishes 14th, Glock chases Nakajima home in 11th.

Toro Rosso won its home race last year. Twelve months on, the team was slowest pretty much all weekend.

Buemi admitted that being baulked by Hamilton made little difference to his 19th place on the grid, while Alguersuari lost practice mileage to a gearbox failure and picked up a five place grid penalty for changing the unit, although it proved irrelevant as he was slowest in qualifying anyway.

Further gearbox strife accounted for Alguersuari early in the race, while Buemi pitted by accident at the end when the safety car appeared but was still credited with 13th.

Vettel's lack of engines severely limit his practice mileage, and an electrical problem reduces Webber's Friday running too. Both struggle for pace throughout practice, but they manage to reach Q3 - with Vettel beating his team-mate to ninth.

Webber's race ends very early thanks to first lap contact with Kubica. Vettel lacks the speed to get near the top six and loses a few places in the first stint. He drops behind Heidfeld in the pits and is on course for ninth until Hamilton's crash lets him salvage eighth.

Toyota's customer engine team is also off the pace at straightline speed specialist venue Monza, which raises questions about the Toyota V8's prowess. Nakajima escapes a high speed visit to the Parabolica gravel on Friday without damage and outqualifies Rosberg - although they start only 17th and 18th.

Nakajima has a pretty good race in the circumstances, shrugging off a power-sapping fuel pressure problem and race-long (sometimes physical) pressure from the Toyotas to take 10th. Rosberg pits early, fearing a puncture after hitting debris, and finds he has aero damage, which leaves him struggling to 16th and last.

Another brilliant weekend for the team after its Spa breakthrough. Sutil tops second and third practice and comes close to beating Hamilton to pole. But returnee Liuzzi impresses even more - qualifying seventh on heavy fuel despite nearly two years on the sidelines.

Sutil fears a KERS ambush at the start but does well to only lose out to Raikkonen. He follows the Ferrari throughout the race, looking slightly quicker but unable to pass. A messy second pitstop costs him one chance to pass Raikkonen for what becomes third - the Brawns having jumped them thanks to their one stop strategy, before Hamilton hands them back a place each by crashing.

Liuzzi is running ahead of Raikkonen, both with a stop to make although the Ferrari's would be shorter, when a driveshaft failure ends his race before half-distance.

A very low key Friday afternoon aside, practice and the first segments of qualifying suggest that Brawn is very much on the pace in Italy. Barrichello and Button prove it with fifth and sixth on the grid with the heaviest cars in the top ten.

They are quick enough to stop the two-stopping Hamilton, Raikkonen and Sutil from getting too far ahead in the first half of the race, and as those ahead all pit, the Brawn duo emerge in first and second.

Barrichello edges away from Button early on, holds off his team-mate's mid-race resurgence, and extends his lead in the pit sequence. He duly takes a third Monza win and narrows the championship gap to 14 points. Hamilton closes on Button near the end of the race, but the points leader looks safe in second even before the McLaren crashes.