Formula One 2012

[MJB]

I'd rather see Lewis at Ferrari with Alonso, that'd be really interesting. it won't happen, obviously but it'd still be fun to see.

Actually, thinking about it, I'd rather he just stay at McLaren. They've won 1 in 4 races ever contested, so he'll always have a shot at the World Championship.

[Katsuya]

More important: Alex Zanardi is a Paralympic gold medalist, which makes everything just seem so wonderful.

[Adam]

More important: Alex Zanardi is a Paralympic gold medalist, which makes everything just seem so wonderful.

That's amazing, what event did he win?

Also, I really hope Hamilton is going to Mercedes. Surely they won't be one of the front-running three teams next season, and that suits me fine as someone who is not a fan of Hamilton. I would be very surprised if he left McLaren though.

[Lineker]

Zanardi!!! Handbiking.

But yeah - will be amazed if Lewis goes to Mercedes. Time will tell.

[Katsuya]

*if* the Hamilton story is true, this is how I see it working out:

Red Bull - Webber & Vettel

McLaren - Button & Raikkonen

Ferrari - Alonso & Perez (they're not going to keep Massa, I'm sure of it)

Mercedes - Hamilton & Rosberg

Lotus - Grosjean & Kovalainen

Sauber - Kobayashi & Massa

Force India - Hulkenburg & Senna

Williams - Maldonado & Bottas

Toro Rosso - Vergne & Ricciardo

Then no idea on the bottom three. Caterham'd probably go for Petrov and then somebody like Sutil.

[Lineker]

*if* the Hamilton story is true, this is how I see it working out:

Red Bull - Webber & Vettel

McLaren - Button & Raikkonen

Ferrari - Alonso & Perez (they're not going to keep Massa, I'm sure of it)

Mercedes - Hamilton & Rosberg

Lotus - Grosjean & Kovalainen

Sauber - Kobayashi & Massa

Force India - Hulkenburg & Senna

Williams - Maldonado & Bottas

Toro Rosso - Vergne & Ricciardo

Then no idea on the bottom three. Caterham'd probably go for Petrov and then somebody like Sutil.

You've missed out di Resta there.

But until one person announces a move then speculating and predicting is pointless.

[Katsuya]

*if* the Hamilton story is true, this is how I see it working out:

Red Bull - Webber & Vettel

McLaren - Button & Raikkonen

Ferrari - Alonso & Perez (they're not going to keep Massa, I'm sure of it)

Mercedes - Hamilton & Rosberg

Lotus - Grosjean & Kovalainen

Sauber - Kobayashi & Massa

Force India - Hulkenburg & Senna

Williams - Maldonado & Bottas

Toro Rosso - Vergne & Ricciardo

Then no idea on the bottom three. Caterham'd probably go for Petrov and then somebody like Sutil.

You've missed out di Resta there.

But until one person announces a move then speculating and predicting is pointless.

Oh yes. di Resta might end up at Ferrari, Perez stays and then Massa leaves altogether. It is all hot air though.

[Lineker]

Lewis Hamilton says he has already put his Spa-Francorchamps woes behind him and is fully focussed on the Italian Grand Prix.

The Briton courted controversy when he released team telemetry data on twitter in what was later labelled "an error of judgement."

On-track his weekend was similarly downbeat as he qualified seventh - almost one second behind team-mate Jenson Button - and then retired in the first corner melee for which Romain Grosjean was subsequently handed a one-race ban.

Hamilton said one virtue of back-to-back weekends was that he was able to instantly forget such troubles and could instead re-focus his energy on his 2012 championship bid.

"Spa was just one of those weekends – but the beauty of these double-header races is that it's already firmly behind me," Hamilton explained.

"And Monza is such a unique and invigorating circuit that it's easy to put my disappointments to one side and just focus on driving as fast as possible this weekend.

"I've never won at Monza before – I'll be doing everything I can to take the victory this weekend."

Hamilton's team-mate Button said he too was happy to be racing against this weekend as it gives him a chance to capitalise on the momentum of his triumph at Spa.

"It'll be great to be back in the car so soon after the victory," Button said. "Monza is one of the greatest circuits in the world and our car seems to be particularly well suited to high-speed circuits, so I'm optimistic that we'll be competitive again this weekend.

"I head to Monza absolutely full of motivation after a fantastic result in Spa. It was the perfect weekend for me – it's not only put me back in contention for the drivers' championship, but it's shown that we have a car that can definitely fight for the constructors' title.

"For some reason, the car we've brought to Monza in the last two seasons has been really well suited to me. I've really been able to work with the balance and enjoyed pushing the car.

"The success we had with a low-downforce configuration at Spa gives us cause for optimism."

Lotus has confirmed that it will not race its double DRS device until Suzuka at the earliest.

The Enstone-based outfit had planned to debut the device at Spa, but was prevented from doing so by the Friday washout.

The team subsequently confirmed that it would not run double DRS at Monza due to the different aero configurations teams choose to run.

Lotus technical director James Allison has now announced that the cars will also appear in standard trim at Singapore.

"Although we would like to have it at Monza - because it is the type of circuit that rewards such a thing - we don't have the DRS device configured to cope with the Monza level of downforce," he said.

"So it is not even on the table. In Singapore you won't see it either, because it's too high a downforce circuit with insufficient straights for it to be worthwhile.

"The earliest you might see it now is Suzuka."

Despite the absence of double DRS Allison said he was confident the team could return to form at Monza, one weekend after it fell short of its victory hopes at Spa.

"Having made predictions about the last race that were not exactly on the mark, it's even harder to do so here," he explained.

"That said, if you took the season as a whole, we've got a fair hit rate of arriving at tracks and performing reasonably.

"In all probability it will be pretty warm and we've tended to go well when it's warm.

"We ought to be able to get our show back on the road in Monza after a slight misfire in Spa."

Team Principal Eric Boullier meanwhile promised that Lotus would continue to push its development of the E20 until the final race of the year.

"Quite a few interesting developments are still in the pipeline and they'll be implemented later in the year," he said.

"At this time of the year, the team usually starts focusing almost only on its next car.

"This is not the case this year, as we'll develop the E20 until the very last race - and that won't compromise the design of the E21."

Ferrari believes the destiny of the world championship is still firmly under its control, despite Fernando Alonso's first lap exit from the Belgian Grand Prix.

Alonso saw his 40-point lead in the title standings reduced to just 24 after Spa, which is far from comfortable considering Ferrari does not have the quickest car.

But team principal Stefano Domenicali is not worried by the situation, and instead thinks the attitude which helped the team lift itself from its pre-season troubles can help it end the campaign on top.

"We left Belgium with the awareness that the championship is still in our hands," he told the official Ferrari website.

"It is in the hands of all the people at Maranello, who have to improve our car, because it is not yet at the level it should be.

"The competition is still very open and Fernando is still leading the championship and that is the basis on which we can look ahead."

Ferrari is heading to its home grand prix at Monza this weekend, where it will be under the spotlight from thousands of its loyal fans.

However, Domenicali is eager to ensure that his team knows it must treat this race like any other by simply maximising its opportunities.

"There is a special feeling for our home race, but the reality is that the number of points on offer are the same as at the other 19 rounds, all around the world," he said.

"To sum it up, I would like to think we can leave Monza having scored very special points at what is a very special race for us.

"This will be a challenging weekend from the technical point of view.

"All the teams, including ourselves, will run cars in a one-off specification to meet the very low downforce requirements that are unique to this track and we know several of our rivals are very competitive at this type of circuit."

Fernando Alonso has ruled out racing for any other team in Formula 1 and says he will finish his career with Ferrari.

The Spaniard said he could also be open to competing beyond 2016, when his current contract, signed in 2011, runs out.

Alonso currently leads the 2012 drivers' championship, although his advantage was eroded to 24 points following his first corner exit at Spa, while Ferrari sit fourth in the constructors' standings.

"I finish my contract for 2017, and at the moment I think it is still too early to be sure what my feelings and my motivation will be then," Alonso said.

"If I am still motivated and hungry still I would love to continue, and if I do it would only be with Ferrari for sure.

"If at that time I feel it is time to stop and have a different life it will be a decision I make that year.

"I have been racing for so many years, it is a very demanding life and sport, but I know that one day the time to stop will arrive. We will see when that day comes."

Alonso said he bore Romain Grosjean no ill feeling for his early exit from the Belgian Grand Prix, explaining that he had accepted the Frenchman's apology.

Asked if he had heard from Grosjean, Alonso said: "Yes. I have a very good relationship with Grosjean, we were team-mates at Renault and after the accident he sent me a SMS.

"He didn't calculate the distance and the problems, it was many factors together and he felt so sorry for the accident.

"I answered 'no problem.' We will see each other again in Singapore, it was all fine.

"My engine is fine, no problem or damage, so now we have another fresh engine compared to [my] main rivals.

"It's not a big performance gain, but it is always nice from a driveability point of view."

Scuderia Toro Rosso has finally confirmed that its technical director Giorgio Ascanelli has left the team.

Ascanelli had looked set to quit the Italian outfit ever since he failed to attend the German Grand Prix in July.

Although the team insisted he was just on holiday, AUTOSPORT understood he had got frustrated with the development path the outfit was taking.

Ahead of the Italian GP, Toro Rosso finally confirmed that Ascanelli had resigned - although it said nothing about his likely successor James Key.

Team principal Franz Tost said: "Over a period of almost five years, Giorgio has contributed positively to the development of our team.

"Especially in the difficult transition period from a simple racing team to a fully-fledged constructor he made an important contribution and his undoubted experience was very valuable to us. We would like to thank him for his efforts and wish him all the best for the future."

Ascanelli added: "It has been a very intense and interesting time, in which we had to manage the transition from a small team to a much larger one, and everybody has put a lot of effort to bring us where we are today.

We have sown the seeds for a successful future and I think the team challenge is now to gain a stable presence in the upper mid-field and I wish all at Toro Rosso the very best for the future."

Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley says his outfit has been 'thrilled' with the performance of Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta this year.

Both drivers have impressed throughout the campaign and at Spa last weekend both raced strongly - with Hulkenberg finishing fourth and di Resta grabbing tenth despite being slowed by a KERS failure.

Fernley says the outfit cannot fault either of its men in the cockpit.

"I think Nico has done a super job, we never had any doubts about him, and with Paul they are just so equal," Fernley told AUTOSPORT.

"There is nothing between them and it is a thrill to have two wonderful drivers pushing the limits all the time."

Fernley hopes that the performance at Spa bodes well for the rest of the campaign, as it suggests the outfit may have made progress in addressing problems it has had carrying its speed throughout the races.

"We probably need a little bit more to get the last qualifying runs in as we have been making the odd mistake here and there," he said.

"But the biggest problem we have had is holding on to it [qualifying position] in the race.

"At Spa we got the balance about right and hopefully we can continue that into Monza and Singapore. We just have to capitalise now on the momentum."

Hulkenberg and di Resta's points from the Belgian Grand Prix helped lift Force India past Williams and into seventh place in the constructors' championship.

Ma Qing Hua will make his official Formula 1 debut at Monza, when he will take over HRT testing duties from regular Narain Karthikeyan.

The 24-year-old Chinese joined HRT's young driver programme at the start of the season, and took over driving duties at the recent young driver test at Silverstone.

His Monza bow will represent the first time a Chinese driver has taken part in a grand prix.

Qing Hua said the opportunity to run at Monza will bring him another step closer to his dream of landing a full-time F1 seat.

"This is a very important step towards my dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver. It will be my second time in the car, after the young driver test in Silverstone, and I'm very excited about driving at a circuit like Monza," he said.

"The objective of this session is to continue advancing with my programme, rack up more miles and experience at the wheel of an F1 car and help the team with whatever they need.

"I'm excited but also calm about it because I've been training hard in the past months to be prepared when the opportunity presented itself.

"I've also worked on the simulator to get to know the circuits a bit better and how a Formula 1 car reacts.

"In the last months I've been with the team at grands prix I've also learned a lot from the engineers and my teammates, who have shared information and their experience, which will be very useful.

"It will be the first time that a Chinese driver takes part in a Grand Prix and that, for Chinese motorsport, is another huge stride and a fantastic opportunity.

"I want to thank all the people who have supported and helped me to get here. I won't let them down."

HRT team principal Luis Perez-Sala expressed his confidence in Qing Hua's abilities, adding: "Personally, it fills me with satisfaction to be able to give Ma the opportunity to make his debut at a grand prix. Since we started working with him in March everything has been very quick but he's responded and overcome every phase accordingly.

"He's fulfilled our expectations without making any mistakes and has proven himself as a quick and safe driver with a great capability to adapt.

"Without a doubt, this is a very important step which comes with great responsibility, but we consider that he's prepared to take it on."

Qing Hua will be the second new face in first practice at Monza, following confirmation that Jerome d'Ambrosio will replace the banned Romain Grosjean at Lotus.

Karthikeyan will resume duties at HRT after first practice.

[Lineker]

Lewis Hamilton insists that he has not decided on his Formula 1 future, despite speculation that he has agreed personal terms for a contract at Mercedes.

With talk in the paddock at Monza dominated by claims from former team owner Eddie Jordan that Hamilton is on his way to Mercedes, the McLaren driver was keeping quiet about the situation.

However, when asked whether he knew where he would be racing next year, Hamilton responded simply: "No."

Pressed further for his feelings on his contract negotiations, Hamilton said his priority was simply to get himself in a car capable of fighting for victory.

"I want to win," he said. "You always want to win every year you can compete: that is why us drivers exist and why teams exist. It is just making sure you are in the right place to do so."

Hamilton did not appear too bothered by the frantic talk about his future, and instead said the most important thing for him was to focus on getting himself to the top of the championship table this year.

"I drive for McLaren, we won the last two races and hopefully we will have another great weekend ahead of us. That is what we need to focus on," he said.

"I don't have a deadline [to decide], but obviously before next season would be useful. I am in a great position.

"I just need to focus on the preparations for these races, and there is a long way to go before the end of season. Jenson showed and I showed in the race before that there is great potential in our car and our team, so that is what I need to focus on most."

Jenson Button believes that Lewis Hamilton will stay with McLaren next year, despite speculation that his team-mate is closing in on a deal to join Mercedes.

Hamilton has been at the centre of paddock gossip at Monza ahead of the Italian Grand Prix in the wake of claims from former team boss Eddie Jordan that he has agreed terms to join Mercedes.

Although some senior sources have gone as far as suggesting that Hamilton's move to Mercedes is effectively a 'done deal', neither the driver himself nor Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn say a final decision on their future plans is imminent.

Button believes that Hamilton's future would be best served by staying at McLaren - and he does not think that he will end up with a new team-mate.

When asked if, in the wake of Hamilton speculation, he had considered having a new driver alongside him in 2013, Button said: "No I haven't contemplated it at all. We all read newspapers, we all read magazines and we all go on the Internet, so you hear things.

"I was surprised to see what I read – and I also don't have a clue if there is any truth in it at all. I think I will have the same team-mate next year."

Button thinks that there are very few teams in F1 that can offer what McLaren does: which is the chance to regularly win races.

"This is the best choice for him," he explained. "I think for all of us, if you are in the same place for too long it can get a bit stale: but this is a great team and a team that is always giving us the opportunity to fight for wins.

"Whether we have the chance to fight for the world championship is another matter; but they always give you the possibility to fight for grand prix wins. That is what a driver wants.

"But [then again] a driver wants the excitement and adrenaline of new challenges and that is the reason why I came here in the first place. I don’t think anything will change next year in terms of driver line-up, but I may be wrong."

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button say they have both moved on from the controversy caused by tweeting of confidential McLaren data over the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

McLaren asked Hamilton to remove a photographic image of telemetry data he had put online comparing his and his team-mate's qualifying lap at Spa - which highlighted the time he lost because of a high-downforce wing.

Button said after his victory that he was 'disappointed' Hamilton had released the data because of the value it had to rival teams, but said in Italy on Thursday that the matter was now closed.

"It is in the past," explained Button. "I thought it was important to say how I felt, because it is very easy to not say anything. I think it is also better, because when you say it you can clear it up.

"It was a shame as I didn't get to see Lewis after the race either, as we had a picture together and that was it. But that was the last race and we have moved on from it. We will see how we do this weekend."

Hamilton too played down the situation – insisting that there was no lingering trouble caused by what had happened, and that he had no intention of discussing the issue with Button.

"I haven't spoken to him, and I don't plan to. We have moved on from it. Obviously it wasn't the best thing to do and it won't happen again, so we move forward and focus on this race."

Paul di Resta insists that he will not allow himself to be distracted by speculation about the possibility of joining a top team in 2013.

The Scot has been linked extensively to both McLaren and Mercedes, with both teams known to rate him highly. He has also been talked of as a potential Ferrari driver.

But amid renewed talk about Lewis Hamilton switching to Mercedes next year, he is not wasting time thinking about the possibility of a move to a big team.

"It's speculation," he said. "There has been a lot of noise in the press, but the focus has been on this weekend.

"We're coming to quite an important event. It's the last European race of the season before the flyaways and given the misfortune at Spa, I'm very keen to try and do something good here."

Di Resta believes that it is pointless him devoting time to thinking about the situation for 2013 right now because big-name drivers such as Hamilton are those dictating the possible opportunities for others.

"I don't know because I don't hold the key to it," says di Resta of what chances he might have for next year.

"It's always nice to have speculation. It's always nice to see the interest, but it's something that I can't let my brain run away with.

"I'm in the car tomorrow and expected to do a job. That is going to be the focus. But it obviously has become a year where there are possibly three teams that might be changing."

Di Resta's team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg, has also been linked with several of the same seats as di Resta.

But the Scot insists that this does not affect the intensity of the intra-team battle at Force India.

"There's always a battle," said di Resta. "Nico and my and have been on a fairly level playing field all year.

"When one does beat the other, it's usually by a close margin. It's a good in-house battle and we're both going forward with the team."

Mercedes says it is still 'some way off' deciding on its 2013 driver line-up, despite speculation that Lewis Hamilton has agreed a deal to switch to the team.

Hamilton was linked to a switch from McLaren to Mercedes on Wednesday, when former team boss and current BBC pundit Eddie Jordan suggested that a deal was already in place for Michael Schumacher to step aside to make room for the 2008 world champion.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn spoke to the media in the Monza paddock on Thursday, and when asked if the rumours were true he said: "We don't comment on speculation I am afraid.

"When we make our driver decision, you will be the first to hear about it but it is still some way off.

"Coming to the conclusion on our drivers will take some time still. When it is decided we will be happy to share it with you, but we still have some way to go.

"We have said that we are discussing with Michael and there is no panic on those discussions, so that is what we are focused on at the moment."

McLaren sporting director Sam Michael also addressed the Hamilton situation in a media phone-in on Thursday, suggesting that talks were ongoing between the Briton and his current team.

"I think we are in advanced stages of negotiation with Lewis," said Michael. "And until those negotiations are finished there is nothing definitive to say about it from McLaren.

"The contract negotiations go on for weeks and months anyway so we are focused on the GP and so is Lewis. We are here and prepared for Monza and we want to win."

While Brawn declined to discuss specifics on his line-up, he said that he hopes Mercedes can be considered a desirable team to race for in years to come.

"We want to be a team that every driver wants to drive for," he added. "We have a tremendous history that we want to live up to.

"We haven't quite got there yet, but if we achieve what we want to achieve then we can put ourselves in a position where every driver in F1 would consider driving for us."

Michael Schumacher insists there will be no deviation from plans to finalise his Formula 1 future in October despite speculation suggesting Lewis Hamilton is to replace him next year.

Hamilton's management team have held talks with Mercedes about a contract for 2013, and former team boss Eddie Jordan has gone so far as stating that they have actually agreed terms.

Although such a deal would point to Schumacher retiring from F1 again at the end of the season, the seven-time champion suggested at Monza that his situation was unchanged.

Asked for his response to Jordan's suggestions, Schumacher said: "Yeah I read that or heard that, but obviously I have no comment."

He added: "There is very clearly no further statement. We told you guys October [for a decision] and we will tell you how things are going."

Schumacher was later asked to explain why drivers would choose to move from a race-winning car to less competitive machinery - as Hamilton could potentially do and as he had done himself when he moved from Benetton in 1995 and joined Ferrari for the following season.

"To make my decision in 1996 it was very clear with certain other factors that happened at the time I clearly wanted to change," he said.

"I was looking for the right way for the future for my own perspective, and I think for me it was to do with the personal relationship that I have.

"When, at the time, I met Jean Todt for the first time really, with his ideas and his point of view, there was a very clear correlation. There was that point of view that I was looking for, for my future; which I decided.

"Whether it was a difficult way or not, that was not so much important to me. It certainly was clear it was a challenge and at the time it was no problem to face that challenge."

Nico Hulkenberg says he is enjoying mounting speculation that he is head of the queue to join Ferrari next year - but says he cannot afford to take his eyes off efforts this season.

The German has emerged as favourite to become Fernando Alonso's team-mate in 2013 if Ferrari elects to replace Felipe Massa.

And far from playing down the idea of a switch, he says it can only be good for him if he is at the centre of such speculation.

"Yes, it is good and positive press if you are linked to a team like that, but now we have to race again," he explained.

When asked about the attraction of racing at a team that had a clear number one like Fernando Alonso, he said: "The attraction is that every driver wants to be on the grid in Formula 1 to win races and that is our motivation. So you look at your options and make a decision."

Hulkenberg did his chances of landing a Ferrari seat no harm with a strong fourth placed finish in the Belgian GP, but says that there is little point dreaming about the future.

"There is so much speculation going on and I am committed to Force India," he said. "There are eight races to go and that is a long way; so we will have to focus and try to achieve another performance like that."

When asked if he knew in his head where he would like his future to be, he said: "Pretty much. Not entirely, but I have a good idea what I want."

Lotus stand-in Jerome d'Ambrosio says it is difficult to set any targets for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

The Belgian has been called up to replace the banned Romain Grosjean for this weekend, but he only has one day of running in the Lotus E20 to his name.

That outing came at May's Mugello F1 test, in wet weather conditions. So d'Ambrosio believes that he will have to make the most of the time he has spent on the sidelines with Lotus to get up to speed.

When asked at Monza what his aims are for the weekend, d'Ambrosio said: "It is a difficult question to answer because I don't have much information to set a position target.

"I need to work with the engineers on the car, stay focused on that, and once that work is done we can hope for something good.

"I don't feel I have had plenty of time in the car, one time in Mugello on a fairly wet track, so it will be good to get more time. But I was really involved with the team so far so I will try to capitalise on that."

The former Virgin racer added that being put in a difficult situation like he is this weekend is all part of being a reserve driver in Formula 1.

"Obviously it has been short notice - Monday really - so it has been a bit of a hectic week for me," he said.

"As third driver is it part of the job to be prepared as best as I can, keep fit and keep up to date as much as I could in case something like this happens."

Formula 1's leading drivers have been warned that none of them are above getting a race ban according to former grand prix racer and FIA race steward Derek Warwick.

Warwick suggests that the hard-line action taken against Romain Grosjean for causing a first corner crash in Belgium should act as a stark reminder to all drivers that they will be punished if they drive in a manner that the FIA deems unacceptable

In an exclusive interview with AUTOSPORT, Warwick said: "I think that all drivers have to realise that they are not beyond being disqualified for one, two, three or four races.

"If something happens that is considered dangerous then I think that the stewards should act like they did at Spa, where they got it absolutely spot on.

"Romain is a great driver; a fast driver; and a good race driver when he is clear of the first lap. But we've had 12 races now and I believe he has had seven incidents within the first lap. It [the race ban] was right.

"If I just look at Spa on its own, I think it deserved the penalty it got and if you take everything else into consideration it deserved the penalty it got."

He added: "Let's hope other people learn what can happen to them. I think that all of these drivers, and I don't care who they are - Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel - they are not beyond getting stopped for one or two races."

Jackie Stewart claims that a race ban is a much better way of getting through to a driver about his actions than being imposed with a big fine.

"I think the only thing that really gets home to a racing driver is not being allowed to race," he told AUTOSPORT. "A financial penalty? Quite frankly most of them make enough money to pay for that. It's never comfortable but it doesn't really hurt them.

"The ban really gets to the importance of it and tells them what they must not do. I think it is the correct decision. And in a way he might be lucky not to have a two-race ban because there have been too many incidents in one year."

Although refusing to name names, Warwick has suggested that there are other drivers on the grid who are more under the spotlight.

"We all want to see quick drivers. Anyone can talk to a camera or be fit or the other things you need to do to be a grand prix driver, but to be fast, not everybody can do that. We don't want to take that away from the person.

"That's what makes Lewis Hamilton so exciting to watch because he is fast, committed and controversial: all of the things we want from a grand prix driver. But there are other drivers out there who are equally fast but making mistakes."

Kimi Raikkonen believes that incidents at the start of grands prix are inevitable, even if the FIA clamps down on poor driving in Formula 1.

The 2007 world champion's team-mate Romain Grosjean was banned for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix after he triggered a huge first corner pile-up at Spa last weekend.

Grosjean is the first driver to receive a ban since Jacques Villeneuve at the 1997 Japanese Grand Prix (although the Canadian raced under appeal), and the first to serve a ban for causing an accident since Mika Hakkinen in 1994.

But Raikkonen believes that even if the authorities start using harsher penalties to get drivers to calm down, there will still be accidents at the start of races.

"Accidents happen, that is part of the sport," Raikkonen told reporters at Monza ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

"Sometimes they could be avoided, but it is nothing you can change. Things can go wrong even if you don't go aggressively or [if you] try to avoid it."

Raikkonen added that the difficulty of overtaking in Formula 1 means that drivers will always try to make up as many places as possible at the start.

"People try to improve their position at the start because it is the easiest place to overtake people," he said.

"Unfortunately in the races it is difficult to get past so if you can get a place at the start then it will make your life easier."

The Finn has a new team-mate in Jerome d'Ambrosio for this weekend, and he is confident that the changes on the other side of the Lotus garage will not have an adverse affect on the team.

"He is our test driver and he has done at least one day [in the car]," said Raikkonen. "He knows how the team works."

Scuderia Toro Rosso has announced that James Key is its new technical director.

After months of speculation that the former Sauber technical chief was on his way to the Faenza-outfit, Toro Rosso finally confirmed that the Briton has begun work earlier this week.

Franz Tost, team principal, believed that arrival of Key - who is replacing Giorgio Ascanelli – marks the start of a new era for the Red Bull-owned contender.

"With James Key in the role of technical director, we start a new chapter in the history of Toro Rosso and I hope it's an interesting one," he said.

"James comes to us with a strong reputation and has proved he can help smaller teams punch above their weight.

"We cannot expect miracles in the next few races, but James has joined early enough to have an influence on our car for 2013, when we hope to have a better season than this one, even if last weekend's result in Belgium, with both cars in the points, was encouraging."

Key says his focus will be on not just improving the car but also overhauling the technical structure at the outfit to ensure it can be more competitive in the future.

"It's a great opportunity for me to join a team that strikes me as extremely ambitious with a workforce that is very motivated," he said. "Even after just a few days, I have sensed, from everyone I have dealt with, an enthusiasm to move the team forward.

"There are clear opportunities coming up through regulation changes and we intend to look not only at the long term, but the short term too.

"We will be studying the team's working practices, throughout all the departments, while looking to see which areas need strengthening further."

Red Bull is still puzzled by its lack of qualifying pace, according to world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel failed to make the cut for the Q1 top 10 shootout at Spa last weekend and admitted that the team has not yet had the chance to understand why it lacked speed in qualifying trim.

"No, there's only been three or four days in between," said Vettel when asked if he understood the lack of pace at Spa on Saturday afternoon.

"Qualifying was disappointing, but Sunday afternoon was okay and just before qualifying on Saturday morning was fine.

"Why? There is still not a one hundred per cent bulletproof answer, as there was nothing wrong with our qualifying.

"It didn't feel as if there was an awful lot more in the lap, so there is still a bit of a question mark."

Vettel, who closed the gap to world championship leader Fernando Alonso to 24 points with his second place at Spa, is anticipating another unpredictable weekend at Monza.

The German won the Italian Grand Prix for Red Bull last year, his second win in the classic race, but he is unsure whether a repeat is a possibility.

"It is like every other weekend so far, it's a bit difficult to know now," he said.

"It has been fairly unpredictable and there's no reason why it should change for this weekend.

"We were very competitive here last year, not so much the previous years so, it's a bit difficult at this stage to know what to expect."

Pastor Maldonado has prioritised avoiding further run-ins with the stewards after being hit with a double grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix.

The Williams driver will serve two five-place grid penalties at Monza; one for jumping the start at Spa last weekend and one for hitting Timo Glock's Marussia at the first corner after the restart of the race.

But in the wake of Romain Grosjean being hit with a one-race ban for causing a multi-car accident at Spa, Maldonado is wary of attracting the attention of the stewards again.

"I've been penalised quite a lot and we need to try to do something different to be away from the stewards," said Maldonado when asked if he was worried about getting a race ban in the future.

"I'm doing my best not to go back again to [the stewards] room and get some points.

"Sometimes, I have been involved in small incidents and I have been to the stewards, so I will try to keep away from everything.

"But at the same time, I will try to push and do my best for the team and myself. What we did, we have already done, so we need to think about the future and the next races."

Maldonado, who has been punished for collisions with Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Paul di Resta so far this season, admits that he has occasionally been overly aggressive.

But he is confident that being more cautious to avoid further summons from the stewards will not compromise his driving.

"Sometimes, yes," he said when asked if he is sometimes too aggressive. "This is one of my characteristics, everyone knows that.

"Some like it and some don't. I need to use that when we need to use it, but not always.

"Not all of the penalties are because of that, they are for some other stupid things. But now the solution is in my hands.

"I am competitive, I feel in good form. I showed everyone at Spa that I am quick again after the break.

"This is not the first time that a driver is having a bad moment. You need to try to start again and do some good races and I feel confident of doing that."

HRT driver Ma Qing Hua is confident that he is ready to take part in a live session on a Grand Prix weekend ahead of his debut as a Friday driver at Monza tomorrow.

The Chinese driver, 24, has a very limited record in European single-seaters, including sporadic outings in Superleague Formula, British and Spanish F3, A1GP, Italian F3000 and Formula Renault and was granted a Superlicence as a result of mileage completed during the Silverstone young driver test.

But despite his inexperience, he insists he is ready for the task after testing an F1 car for the first time in July.

"In the past two months we have been training a lot on the physical side and on the driving side," said Ma when asked by AUTOSPORT whether he was confident he would not get in the way of the regular drivers.

"Also, we've done some testing in a World Series by Renault car and also a GP2 car to give myself more experience.

"The team has [prepared me] for lots of different things on the driving side. I've completed all of the challenges that the team gave to me.

"We are quite comfortable with my driving and the team is happy with my performance. That's why I'm here. We have prepared everything well for FP1."

Ma, who will take over Narain Karthikeyan's car, is focusing on building his experience during tomorrow's session.

He will become the first Chinese driver to take part in an official F1 session on a grand prix weekend.

"The main target is for me to gain more kilometres in an F1 car.

"Because of my experience, I want to do as many laps as I can in the car to gain feeling at the different circuit.

"It's a very important step not only for me, but for my country and for Chinese sport."

He added that he is unsure of any further plans to drive the car next year.

"We are focused on doing a good job on this Friday and we will see for the future," he said.

Thursday's press conference:

DRIVERS - Jerome D'AMBROSIO (Lotus), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes), Daniel RICCIARDO (Toro Rosso), Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren), Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari), Felipe MASSA (Ferrari).

PRESS CONFERENCE

Jerome, welcome back. How prepared are you? Have you been able to prepare for your comeback?

Jerome d'AMBROSIO: Well obviously it's been short notice. On Monday really. It's been a bit of a hectic week for me, getting stuff done as much as I could before here to get really prepared as best as I can. As I say, I haven't had time to think about anything really: just really getting things done and that's it.

I guess you've been training though, keeping in shape, waiting for this moment?

Jd'A: Yes, definitely. As a third driver that's part of the job: you have to keep fit and everything. It's not something easy, not a lot of mileage on, but I did everything in the drivers' meetings, with the engineers and everything, trying to keep up to date as much as I could with every tool I had in my hand, to be as prepared as I can if something like this happened.

So, what's your aim in the race itself? What should we expect?

Jd'A: It's a difficult question to answer simply because I don't have much information to set myself a position target – or anything. I really want to stay focussed on what I've got to do, with the job, with the engineers, in the car. Stay focussed on that. Once that is done correctly we can hope for something good on Sunday – but only if I stay focussed on my job, so this is what I will try to do.

Nico, we keep looking at China and wondering what's happened since then. Last weekend again seemed to be difficult.

Nico ROSBERG: Yeah definitely we've had some more difficult times now, lately and a little bit of a drop in performance relative to others – we know that. And we've been looking into it, we understand a lot of the reasons, and we've been pushing very, very hard to turn things around again and I'm sure the next few races are going to be a little bit better for us – how good is difficult to say.

Is the car difficult to drive, does it just not suit you any longer? What's the nature of the car now?

NR: Amongst other things the balance is difficult, yes. Especially the last two races, due to the fact that both tracks had very long corners and especially in those long corners it has been difficult.

So Parabolica could be difficult for you.

NR: Parabolica would be a little bit more difficult for me, yes, but this track, with the low downforce and everything, I think is going to be less of a problem.

Daniel, first of all, last weekend looked as though it was going to be good, and you did manage to get some points. What are your feelings about last weekend and looking at this weekend as well?

Daniel RICCIARDO: It was nice to get some more points on the board – unfortunately longer than I was hoping since Melbourne but good to get a few more. The first stint was looking all-right. Obviously we benefitted from the mayhem at the start and we got as high as fifth, I think. I was hoping to finish up there but unfortunately we dropped back a bit in the end to ninth. But still definitely good for myself and the team to get both cars in the points. Hopefully we can build on some of that momentum and Monza obviously is a nice place for us to come: the team's home grand prix and I've got a little bit of heritage myself – so it's nice to come in with the momentum of Spa and hopefully score some more.

The Ferrari engine seemed to be pretty good in a straight line – how's that going to affect here as well:

DR: Yeah, hopefully it helps us. Hopefully that remains. We'll see, I guess, once we're out on track tomorrow but as always, all teams bring a Monza downforce setting for this race and we'll soon find out if ours is going to be competitive enough. Looking forward to it, to say the least.

And what are the aims for rest of the season? What are your intentions?

DR: Would love to get points more regularly. Would love to improve on my ninth position. I would love to get a top five – I think that would be a good achievement for myself and the team. But we'll take it step by step for now: as I said, it's a nice grand prix for us and obviously the team's only victory came here so it would be nice to keep a story going for this grand prix.

Lewis, I'm sure you're aware the paddock is full of comment about the rumours that came out yesterday. Do you have a comment to make yourself?

Lewis HAMILTON: Not really.

So, do you know where you're driving next year?

LH: No.

And in terms of this race, what about last weekend's performance from Jenson Button. How does that affect your feelings about the upcoming Italian Grand Prix?

LH: Jenson, he drove fantastically well in the last race and he showed that the car is very, very competitive – and we generally should have very similar performance here, hopefully. On our side of the garage we hope it's a better weekend for us. It can't really get worse.

So, how do you approach this weekend? Just looking for victory, as ever?

LH: Ah no, just to pick up the pieces and get back to racing. It'll be nice too... we've done a lot of work analysing and a lot of preparation for this weekend. It'll be nice to get into the race, when you're doing so much preparation and so much waiting the most important thing is to see your way to the race.

Fernando, first of all, just to confirm, are you perfectly OK physically?

Fernando ALONSO: Yes.

Because you were complaining of some whiplash in your shoulder?

FA: Yeah it was after the race, two hours after the Spa race there was still some pain in the back, but then on Monday morning I woke up absolutely fine, feeling 100%, so it was good news, because you never know, the day after the crash anything can happen. So it was good news on Monday morning to do a completely normal day.

You're a two-time winner here, what do you feel your chances are here in the race on Sunday?

FA: Well, for sure it's not going to easy. In terms of performance we've been not so quick in the last two or three grand prix. It was eight tenths from pole position in Hungary and eight tenths also in Spa. It's five days from that qualifying so I don't think we will recover eight tenths by magic button. But I think what we need to do is to maximise our performance, to extract from the car the maximum and hopefully that will give us some chance to be on the podium or if everything goes well, for sure a victory here is very special for all the Ferrari tifosi that will support us here, so we will try to do our best.

Felipe, were you pleased with the performance in Spa and how do you feel about this race?

Felipe MASSA: Well, very pleased with the performance in the race (at Spa). I think our car was more competitive in the race than in qualifying. In qualifying we were struggling a lot, especially in sector two. In the race the car was better. The car was a little bit stronger. We were able to fight and able to overtake quick cars as well. Due to the problem on the first corner at the start… I did a very, very good start, I overtook three or four cars straight away but because of this problem in the first corner I had to go completely outside of the track and I lost the positions and even more so I had to start again, my race, after the safety car. So if I had been able to be in the same position I had got to at the start, it would have even been possible to maybe fight for the podium.

Do you think the car is good in low downforce trim?

FM: I think so. The problem is that Spa is much different than this track. In Spa you do need good downforce, especially in sector two and everything. Here it's a different track and we'll see how the car behaves on this different track. So we hope we can have a great weekend, both of us, for our incredible fans here.

What about your own future? Is there any news on that? Do you have a deadline?

FM: Not yet. Just concentrate on the races and on the results. I hope it will not take very long but let's concentrate on the races, try to do the best, having a good result and that's the most important thing.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, could you explain to us what happened with you and the team after you showed the telemetry on Twitter? How do you explain this fact?

LH: Nothing happened. I had the head of the PR department ask me to take the picture off and I did.

Q: (Adrian Huber – Agencia EFE) Question for Fernando. Okay, it's always 25 points but to win here, it's Monza, it's a Ferrari place and after last Sunday it looks like fate owes you one as you couldn't build your lead and you lost points, you couldn't match Schumacher on 24 races scoring, so what a sensation this would be winning here.

FA: Well, I think Monza is a special win, because for any Ferrari driver it's a lot of support that you feel from the tifosi from today until Sunday and you want to give something back to them and the best thing is obviously a race win, but from a championship point of view it doesn't change too much. Even if you're not fighting for the championship, winning in Monza will be special anyway, because the podium celebration with all the people on the main straight etc is nice for anyone, not only fighting for the championship. So we will try to do a good race and see how many points we can make and have clear in our minds what is the priority this weekend.

Q: (Ralf Bach – R&B) A question to Nico. Do you have any idea who will be your team-mate next year?

NR: No.

Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Good afternoon Lewis. Just in general terms from your personal perspective, what would be the attraction, the positives in joining a team like Mercedes?

LH: I have no idea. I've not really thought about it.

Q: OK, could I turn it round to you Nico? From your perspective, what would be the attraction for Lewis to join a team like Mercedes?

NR: I can say from my perspective. My perspective is that Mercedes and Ferrari are on one level in terms of the history in F1 and the standing. It's very, very special to drive for the Silver Arrow, and especially to win with a Silver Arrow.

Q: Lewis, does that resonate with you?

LH: (laughs)

Q: So, looking at it in general terms: McLaren have won the last two races and Mercedes have only won one race in the past three years, does that put it into perspective for you as to where your priorities might lie?

LH: I don't think I'm really looking for anything to be put into perspective. I drive for McLaren, we've won the last two races, we've got another great weekend, hopefully, ahead of us and that's what we've got to focus on.

Q: (Frederic Ferret - L'Equipe) Jerome, in what way has Romain Grosjean helped you prepare if indeed he has done so?

Jd'A: Honestly, we haven't had much contact with Romain since then. We generally do have a good relationship at the track and normally at the track. We don't keep in touch so much otherwise. So that hasn't changed between Spa and here. I think it's been only two or three days and the real hard work was with the engineers. I've been provided with a lot of information from both drivers from the engineers and then that's it. If something happens during the weekend, I have a very good relationship with Romain. We've worked together in lower classes, so for sure he's going to be there, and the same with Kimi. If I have something I want to ask then I will and I'm sure I will get an answer. This was not the time to speak with them, between the two races.

Q: (Vincent Marre – Sport Zeitung ) Felipe, do you think you will be able to beat Fernando again before the end of the season?

FM: Yes

Q: ( Vincent Marre – Sport Zeitung)Here in Monza?

FM: Well, I'm trying everywhere.

Q: So how important is qualifying for you on Saturday?

FM: Very important. I think qualifying is definitely important for us, just to have an easier race. I think maybe qualifying was not so great for me this year but I always had good direction, good pace in the races, not counting the first few races but afterwards, yes. I think qualifying is very very important so we focus on that and try to have an easier direction in the race, especially from the beginning to the end.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, you said you want to stay concentrated on this race, but in your eyes, when do you want to decide to have a clearer idea of next year?

LH: I don't have a deadline - obviously before next season I think would be useful. I'm in a great position, and I just need to focus on preparations for these races. We've got a long way to go before the end of the season and Jenson and I have showed in the previous race that there's great potential in the car and in the team, so that's really what I need to try and focus on most.

Q: (Kate Walker - Girl Racer) Lewis, in the last few races we've seen strong performances from McLaren amidst some pretty chaotic weather: hot, cold, wet, dry and so on. We're now hitting the really really hot stretch of the season, from here on in. Are you concerned that with the tyres there might be a dip in form as we're getting back into the hotter climes or have you guys cracked the rubber at last?

LH: I don't know if we've cracked it, but we definitely have been improving quite a lot. Jenson proved, at the last race... he did a one stop, one of the few people to do a one stop race so there's something going well with the car. Here will be very tough, I think, but everyone's in the same boat but we are definitely working very very hard to make sure that we're on top of things when it comes to these hot circuits, because tyre degradation is going to be key, I think, particularly in some of these hotter climates. But we went pretty well in Hungary so it wasn't a disaster there but it could have been better so we need to improve on that.

Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazetta delllo Sport) Fernando, your car was completely rebuilt after the crash. Are you worried about that or are you confident that you will have a Ferrari in perfect shape?

FA: No, not worried. Obviously we make some changes and we went back to some parts of the car that we've been using three or four races ago and then for Monza, specially, there is a very unique aero package here so the car is a little bit different to any other track. Even with the Spa car it had changed. It was planned to change nearly completely for this race, so I don't think it's making a big difference.

Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, when the championship is so close and the cars are so close, do you really think it could be possible to win the championship with no more victories, only podiums?

FA: Who knows? I think that depends on your opponents and also what they do. If they keep sharing victories, it's possible to win without any more wins but at the moment, we see McLaren very strong in Germany, nearly won the race there, won the race in Hungary, won the race in Spa so they can win three or four consecutive races and your gap disappears. As we said, already from the last six or seven Grands Prix, we need to focus on which one is second in the championship at the moment which, today, is Vettel so this weekend we try to finish in front of Vettel, like at the other weekends we try to finish in front of Webber.

Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters) Lewis, on the twitter subject, I know everyone is playing it down, but Jenson said after the race that he was disappointed that you had tweeted the details of the wings and everything else. Have you spoken to Jenson, have you cleared the air with him about it? It seemed to us that Jenson was seeing more in that tweet than maybe you did.

LH: I haven't spoken to him, don't plan to, moved on from it. Obviously it wasn't the best thing to do and it won't happen again, so move forward and focus on this race.

Q: (David Croft - Sky Sports) Lewis, when you look at a contract or renegotiation or look to move, at your stage of your career, what is it you are looking at? Is it purely money or are there other factors?

LH: I want to win.

Q: (David Croft - Sky Sports) Pure and simple you want to win.

LH: Yes.

Q: (David Croft - Sky Sports) And is that win 2013 or win 2014, which is a big season, things change quite drastically in 2014, don't they?

LH: Yeah, I always want to win, every year you compete, that's why us drivers exist and that's why the teams exist. It's just making sure you're in the right place to do so.

Q: (David Croft - Sky Sports) Being in the right place, does that mean that it might pay to be in a team that manufactures their own engine and their own energy recovery systems rather than being with a customer which McLaren will be?

LH: It doesn't mean anything.

Q: (Patricia Sanchez - La Gaceta) Jerome, so you say you've got plenty of information from your team. Do you think there would be room for more testing days in the calendar from your experience?

Jd'A: I have no idea yet.

Q: (Patricia Sanchez - La Gaceta) Do you feel that you've had plenty of time in the car?

Jd'A: You mean so far?

Q: (Patricia Sanchez - La Gaceta) Yes

Jd'A: Obviously so far, I don't feel like I've had plenty of time in the car. I had one time in Mugello on a fairly wet track. No, for sure I think it's good to get more time in the car and I can get much time in the car but I've got other things... I was really involved with the team all season so far, back at the factory as well, so I will try to capitalise on that.

Q: (Vincent Marre – Sport Zeitung) Jerome, are you going to change your attitude of driving now you're coming back, having already had some experience in Formula One?

Jd'A: No, there's no reason to change myself, change who I am and the driver that I am, stepping in for the weekend, I think that's the worse thing you can ever do. I will approach the weekend as I have approached all the racing weekends I have been to so far. Of course, it's a special one, we are in Monza. I'm part Italian, it's a bit of a home race for me so I'm really cheered up for that and really going to give - as you always do - 100 percent that I have, but I'm not going to change the way I am and the way I drive.

Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters) Felipe, Lewis is quite relaxed about not knowing where he's racing next year, but I guess in your case you're pretty frustrated. Could you just explain how frustrated you are, and also what percentage chance you think there is of you staying at Ferrari next year?

FM: For sure, I expect to be in a different position in the championship to what I am but I'm just concentrated on my job which is driving the car, driving the quickest speed that I can. As I said, I am frustrated with my qualifying, not with my races and I'm sure that if I can improve the qualifying, I can be very strong in the races and completely change the results. As I said, I didn't sign anything for next year yet but I think we have the possibility to sign and let's wait and see. I don't know when but I just need to concentrate on the results of the races. I think that's the main important thing for my future as well.

Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazetta dello Sport) Fernando, was Monza also a special race for you before becoming a Ferrari driver and what is your special memory of this race? If you have one special memory.

FA: It has always been special, because of the speed that you reach on this circuit, so for us drivers we love to drive fast cars, we love the speed so when you come here and especially with the V10 engines, we reached 370/375 kph so Monza has always been special. As I said, I think the podium ceremony here is a little bit more emotional than any other place. But obviously when I joined Ferrari it was a different level and the enthusiasm and support that you feel is probably the best race of the calendar for us in terms of emotions.

Best memory here would be 2010 when we won here, so first time driving for Ferrari. It was a special weekend so hopefully we can repeat this moment soon, this year or the following years.

Q: (Thierry Wilmotte – le Soir) Question to all of you, but not Jerome: do you have any concerns about the fact that there is a newcomer - of course, he's not a rookie - but a newcomer coming into the field at the wheel of a good car? Do you have some concerns about that, especially for the start of the race?

FM: For sure not.

FA: No, I don't think so.

NR: No concern, because he's had experience last year so he's not a rookie.

Q: (Livio Oricchio - O Estado de Sao Paulo) Fernando, Felipe, in Barcelona and in Montreal, you had great changes to your car and Ferrari made a great step forward. You have regularly said you are now eight tenths slower than the fastest car. Is there room for a new package from Ferrari to make it similar to McLaren, for example?

FA: I think so. I think there are still three months of competition. There are still eight races to go, so all the teams bring some updates to every race. We just need to make ours work a little bit better than the others. In February or March we were more than a second behind the front runners, and then around Barcelona or Canada we were two or three tenths. In two or three months you can make a lot of progress. We just need to be clear on that and make some good steps which I'm sure and confident will arrive sooner or later.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Jerome, you just mentioned that this is your second home Grand Prix. Could you remind us if you have some relatives here in Italy; do you come to Italy sometimes, and which part of Italy do they come from?

Jd'A: OK, so a bit of funny background here. I have grandparents from Naples in Italy, Monte Casino and one from Naples. Italy is a bit of a second home race for every racing driver in the sense that when you're involved in go-karts you are involved in Italy most of the time, with Italian teams and for me, personally, I've grown up in the racing scene in junior formulae in Italy in Formula Renault, in F3000, Formula Masters, Italian teams and so on. I've spent a lot of my life and definitely, yeah, this is why I consider this personally as a second home race.

And finally - the weather forecast!

[Katsuya]

Kubica is racing tomorrow (in rallying, but, still!!!)

[Lineker]

Is that a confirmed thing now?

Amazed Lotus have agreed to let him race elsewhere, especially after what happened last time round.

[Lineker]

Michael Schumacher set the fastest time for Mercedes in the first free practice session for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

With speculation surrounding the German's future beyond 2012 continuing in the paddock, Schumacher came out firing with a 1m25.422s lap that no one could get within 0.3 seconds of.

Closest to him was Belgian GP winner Jenson Button (McLaren), who was sandwiched by the other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg in third position.

Fernando Alonso was fourth quickest, having stopped his Ferrari at the first chicane with five minutes to go after suffering a suspected engine failure.

Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa was fifth ahead of Lewis Hamilton in sixth, Kimi Raikkonen seventh. Sergio Perez, Mark Webber and Pastor Maldonado completed the top 10.

The Williams man also stopped out on the circuit just prior to the first Lesmo in the final moments.

After the usual exploratory tracks early in the session to assess grip levels, it was Schumacher that remained fastest for much of the morning in the rapid-down-the-straights Mercedes once the session swung into action properly.

First Massa, and then Raikkonen, posted early fliers before Hamilton emerged from the pits to set what was probably the first leaf-free lap on a track that cleaned up through the first half of the session.

Hamilton's time was a 1m26.346s, and the McLaren man set it just after the halfway mark.

It was not long after that Schumacher posted his best time, and that would stand for the rest of the 90 minutes.

A lap later though and he was bouncing over the bumps at the Rettifilio. He was not the only man to do so during the session, with Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel, Webber, Massa and F1 rookie Ma Qing Hua among others to smash over the kerbs at the first and second chicanes.

Hua - the first Chinese-born driver to take part in an official F1 session as he stepped in for Narian Karthikeyan at HRT for this session - did a reasonable job. He shaved five seconds from his early times to get within two of team-mate Pedro de la Rosa by the end.

World champion Vettel could not quite break into the top 10, just four thousandths slower than Maldonado, while Lotus sub Jerome D'Ambrosio was 15th, just over a second slower than Raikkonen.

FP1


Pos  Driver              Car                   Time       Gap       Laps

 1.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m25.422s            26

 2.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.723s  + 0.301s  29

 3.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m25.762s  + 0.340s  26

 4.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m25.800s  + 0.378s  22

 5.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m25.861s  + 0.439s  27

 6.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.944s  + 0.522s  30

 7.  Kimi Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault         1m26.046s  + 0.624s  25

 8.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.323s  + 0.901s  26

 9.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m26.390s  + 0.968s  24

10.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Renault      1m26.504s  + 1.082s  19

11.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m26.508s  + 1.086s  18

12.  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes  1m26.518s  + 1.096s  21

13.  Valtteri Bottas     Williams-Renault      1m26.641s  + 1.219s  26

14.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.746s  + 1.324s  23

15.  Jerome d-Ambrosio   Lotus-Renault         1m27.180s  + 1.758s  29

16.  Jules Bianchi       Force India-Mercedes  1m27.192s  + 1.770s  22

17.  Daniel Ricciardo    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m27.373s  + 1.951s  25

18.  Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m27.789s  + 2.367s  24

19.  Heikki Kovalainen   Caterham-Renault      1m27.855s  + 2.433s  27

20.  Vitaly Petrov       Caterham-Renault      1m28.578s  + 3.156s  20

21.  Charles Pic         Marussia-Cosworth     1m28.751s  + 3.329s  26

22.  Timo Glock          Marussia-Cosworth     1m29.207s  + 3.785s  21

23.  Pedro de la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth          1m29.331s  + 3.909s  21

24.  Ma Qing Hua         HRT-Cosworth          1m31.239s  + 5.817s  26


All timing unofficial[/code]




Lewis Hamilton led a McLaren one-two in the second Friday practice session for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.



As speculation over his future continued to dominate paddock conversation, Hamilton set the pace with a 1m25.290s lap.



That time was achieved on the softer of this weekend's Pirelli tyres, as was Spa winner Jenson Button's 1m25.328s lap in second place in the sister McLaren.



The Woking squad's move to the front was at the expense of home favourite Ferrari, which had led the way through the middle part of the session.



But despite the speed that saw him on top for a long spell with a 1m25.348s on hard tyres, championship leader Fernando Alonso had a number of problems.



First a brake issue required attention, then a gearbox issue curtailed his session.



Alonso's time still held up for third, just 0.058 seconds off the pace.



His team-mate Felipe Massa was next up. The Brazilian's only glitch was a vent flying off the top of his helmet at speed.



Nico Rosberg completed the top five for Mercedes. His morning practice pace-setting team-mate Michael Schumacher suffered DRS gremlins throughout the afternoon, and was back in 10th.



Kimi Raikkonen was fastest for a while early on and ended up sixth in the lead Lotus.



His one-off team-mate Jerome d'Ambrosio - standing in for the banned Romain Grosjean - was 0.6s slower in 12th.



Force India continued its strong Spa form to take seventh and eighth, Nico Hulkenberg ahead of Paul di Resta. Sauber's Sergio Perez was next up.



It was a quiet session for champion team Red Bull. Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were back in 11th and 13th.



[code]FP2


Pos  Driver              Car                   Time       Gap       Laps

 1.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.290s            32

 2.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.328s  + 0.038s  35

 3.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m25.348s  + 0.058s  17

 4.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m25.430s  + 0.140s  43

 5.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m25.446s  + 0.156s  41

 6.  Kimi Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault         1m25.504s  + 0.214s  42

 7.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m25.546s  + 0.256s  40

 8.  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes  1m25.547s  + 0.257s  36

 9.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.068s  + 0.778s  32

10.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m26.094s  + 0.804s  38

11.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m26.104s  + 0.814s  35

12.  Jerome d-Ambrosio   Lotus-Renault         1m26.157s  + 0.867s  36

13.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m26.394s  + 1.104s  31

14.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Renault      1m26.404s  + 1.114s  42

15.  Daniel Ricciardo    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m26.724s  + 1.434s  33

16.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.730s  + 1.440s  17

17.  Bruno Senna         Williams-Renault      1m26.783s  + 1.493s  39

18.  Heikki Kovalainen   Caterham-Renault      1m26.841s  + 1.551s  39

19.  Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m26.864s  + 1.574s  36

20.  Vitaly Petrov       Caterham-Renault      1m27.222s  + 1.932s  36

21.  Timo Glock          Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.944s  + 2.654s  36

22.  Charles Pic         Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.968s  + 2.678s  36

23.  Pedro de la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth          1m28.575s  + 3.285s  34

24.  Narain Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth          1m28.779s  + 3.489s  21


All timing unofficial

Sergio Perez wants the FIA to be more consistent in handing out penalties for bad conduct in Formula 1 because he thinks some drivers are getting away with too much.

In the wake of Romain Grosjean's race ban for the Italian Grand Prix for causing a multi-car pile-up in Belgium last weekend, Perez thinks there should be a fresh push to ensure a better code of conduct.

"The penalty the FIA and stewards decided to give to Grosjean, is a good sign for all of us to respect each other more, because in the past there has been too much disrespect," said the Sauber driver.

"I'm not saying it's all the drivers, but there are a few out there that you cannot really fight for position. There are always some drivers that are out of control out there, but I think this will help to prevent the drivers from doing crazy things.

"Spa was a big crash, but there are some drivers who have so many penalties during the year, and every race they are crashing in to someone. They ruin the race of other people and they just get a fine or grid position [penalty] so I think we have to do a procedure to be more consistent with the penalties.

"I think this is the most important thing for us to try and do: a system that can bring us into a much more consistent rule that if you do something really wrong, you really pay. But in a consistent way."

Perez believes that the only penalty that will make a driver stop and think about his behaviour is a race ban.

"When they give you a fine it always helps, but at the end you don't lose position for the next race or you don't get a race ban. But I think it is now time to try and do a system where if you do something wrong, you pay in a consistent way.

"Maybe you do one race where you get lucky and get fined, but at the other race you will not get so lucky and have a very big penalty. So I think we need a consistent penalty and that is something that we have to work for."

Pastor Maldonado is confident of being able to make up for his 10-place grid penalty in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

The Venezuelan was slapped with a brace of five-place grid penalties after the Belgian Grand Prix, one for jumping the start and one for hitting Timo Glock at the first corner after the safety car came in.

But Maldonado believes that the characteristics of the Monza circuit will allow him to recover ground despite the scale of the challenge he faces.

"It's difficult," said Maldonado. "I'm not happy with that, but there's nothing I can do but race.

"Fortunately, this track is quite quick and we can recover in the straights. We're looking to have a good top speed and a different approach for this race.

"We'll try to do the best we can in qualifying and recover during the race. It's one of the tracks where you can overtake more easily than the others."

Maldonado blamed the clutch level slipping out of his hand for the jump start at Spa. He said the collision with Glock was due to a mistake on cold tyres after a safety-car pitstop rather than a botched pass.

"The clutch lever slid out of my hand and that's why I started before the lights went off," he said.

"After I missed it, I decided to go as far as possible and then to take the penalty.

"At the restart, I locked the fronts when I was far away from Timo and not trying to do anything against him.

"He was starting to turn in and I touched him in the rear right. There was nothing I could do. I tried to go up the inside, but he was turning at the same time."

Toro Rosso technical director James Key believes that the 2014 season's 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 Formula 1 rules present a big opportunity for his new team.

Key, who has replaced Giorgio Ascanelli, stopped short of suggesting that the team would write off 2013 and is also targeting a step forward then.

"With 2014 coming in after the next car we're doing, it's a completely different development direction so there is not an awful lot of carryover," said Key.

"Toro Rosso is still a small team, so you have to be careful to compromise between next year, where we really want to make a step forwards, and not compromise 2014.

"There's a lot of opportunity for 2014, as we saw when the 2009 regulations came in, so we're going to have to play a very careful balancing act."

Key, who started work at Toro Rosso this week, believes that he needs to take some time to analyse the workings of the team before finalising restructuring plans.

Although work on the 2013 car is already well underway, the ex-Sauber technical chief hopes to have an influence on its competitiveness.

"It is early days and I need to observe for a little longer," Key said. "Like in my previous teams, there is an endgame and we know where we want to go with it and what to do to get there.

"Although the endgame is the same it depends on whatever team you are in, so I think there is some restructuring required in areas which I think are most important for performance.

"We need to take another good look at where the current car is and where the concept of next year's car is going.

"There are a few things that we can fix next year, or even for this year with the time that we have, perhaps on the mechanical side and how we balance the car.

"The aero numbers are needing a bit of work but they are not far off. The strengths of the car are that it is well put together and its efficiency is quote good aerodynamically."

Key is certain that the necessary investment will be available for STR to grow.

But admitted that he was surprised by the facilities and resources already at his disposal.

"I've certainly had the discussions," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT what assurances he has had about investment.

"I've been impressed with the sort of investment that has gone into Faenza over the last three years as this team grew from something that was very small to a genuine constructor.

"A lot of money has already gone into that happening. There are things I would like to bring in over a certain period of time and there's a desire in the team to do that, but you've also got to tune yourself to the budge.

"I'm putting together plans over what to do over the next few years and we'll do whatever we can within the budget we have."

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn believes top-line drivers like Lewis Hamilton cannot ignore the benefits of working with a manufacturer team when Formula 1 switches to new regulations in 2014.

Amid growing suggestions that Hamilton is closing in on a switch to Mercedes for next year, Brawn thinks that those outfits aligned with carmakers could have the edge in getting the most out of the new 1.6-litre turbo power-units.

"I think it is a consideration," explained Brawn. "We [Mercedes] will probably have two customers, and those customers will be given parity with the engines that we use at the works team. So I don't think teams are going to have a worse engine because they are not a works team.

"But, inevitably, there is a closer involvement with how the engine is created and developed, so that is a fact."

Brawn is adamant that the 2014 regulations will lead to a dramatic overhaul of F1, which means those drivers plotting future plans now need to think carefully about how their interests will be best served.

"I am very excited about this 2014 engine programme - I think it is quite a game changer in F1," he said.

Brawn also said that Mercedes was close to guaranteeing its long term commitment to F1, which should ensure the team has the funding in place to gun for the title.

"There is no doubt," he said about Mercedes being committed to F1. "We have had, as you know, tough discussions. I am optimistic that we will be able to close those discussions soon and that is obviously a high level of commitment. Mercedes are very committed to F1."

Ross Brawn has not ruled out the possibility of Michael Schumacher moving into a management role at Mercedes if he elects to retire from driving.

Schumacher's Formula 1 future has been the subject of much speculation at the Italian Grand Prix amid claims from former team boss Eddie Jordan that Lewis Hamilton is to replace him next year.

The seven-time champion insists that his plans to sort his future out in October are unchanged - while Mercedes has also insisted that it has not finalised its 2013 line-up.

However, speaking about Schumacher's future in Italy, Mercedes team principal Brawn said a management switch was not out of the question, while underlining it was not yet on the agenda.

"It is possible," he said. "In terms of what role Michael would play in the future, we are not discussing that in detail because that is not a consideration at the moment, but Michael's experience of motor racing, and his judgement and so on, would be an asset to any team.

"I am not sure he wants a day-to-day commitment that some of us do, but he would like to stay involved. He loves the sport, he loves racing, and he loves developing the cars, and seeing how the team works.

"I can full well see in the future that he would retain a strong interest and that will come one day, and I do hope it will be with us."

Brawn said a final decision on Schumacher's future did not rest solely with the driver.

"I don't think it [the decision] is his alone," he said. "We have to go to find a solution together. I can't honestly go into details, but it is not Michael's decision to stay, it is not our decision for him to stay. It is a joint decision."

He added: "I think Michael has a huge amount of offer. When you saw his driving in Spa, it was a great performance in Spa but perhaps not with as strong a car as we wanted.

"He has had lots of performances like that this year, so I am very happy with Michael's performance, and with these technical challenges we are going to face, particularly in 2014, someone of Michael's experience and calibre will be a great asset to any team, particularly our team."

Mercedes is confident that practice pacesetter Michael Schumacher will not need a new gearbox at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, despite the problems he suffered in Belgium.

Schumacher had challenged for a podium finish at Spa but his chances were ruined when he lost sixth gear towards the end of the race.

Although that issue could have forced a new unit for Monza, and with it a five-place penalty, team principal Ross Brawn thinks the matter is under control.

"We went to a composite box in Monaco, which initially went very well and there were no problems at all," he said. "But then we had a structural problem inside the box with Nico [Rosberg] and that culminated in a penalty in Hockenheim.

"That problem was fixed and resolved, but we had an issue at Spa because of the very long usage of sixth gear there. It is a circuit where you use sixth gear more than any other circuit in F1, and we discovered we had a glitch with the box that affected Nico in practice and affected Michael in the race.

"But the difficulty is that with the boxes having to be used for five races there is nothing you can do; so we knew we had an issue.

"We have done what we can within the rules to improve that - but we don't think that is an issue here because it is more normal usage. So we are not overly concerned about it and we don't think we will have a penalty here.

"It just caused a gear to get a bit sticky in the change, and that damaged the dogs. Having looked at that box it looks OK."

Formula 1 needs to reduce its costs by one-third by the end of 2015 if the sport is not to lose a number of teams.

That is the view of FIA president Jean Todt, who thinks that a drive to reduce expenditure that was begun by his predecessor Max Mosley needs to continue.

"Costs are my main objective, because they must be lowered by a further 30 per cent in the next three years, otherwise we'll lose several teams," Todt said in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Formula 1 must be a business for everyone with balances in the black for the teams. Nowadays [that is] so for only two or three teams perhaps.

"But we are getting to a conclusion with the Concorde Agreement, after tense discussions and common objectives.

"From 2014, with the new regulations and the turbo engine, we'll take a step forward towards the world we predict we'll live in.

"And maybe I'll manage to convince several engine manufacturers who are now in endurance racing or elsewhere into building engines for F1 too: Audi, Toyota, Porsche, the Koreans..."

Todt believes that fears that Mercedes could leave the sport have now been eased, with its team principal Ross Brawn also saying at Monza that he expected a deal to commit the German car manufacturer to F1 to now be imminent.

When asked about the possibility of Mercedes quitting, Todt said: "I don't think so. But we must do everything to keep it. Besides, it's just at the beginnings with being a global constructor."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh says he remains relaxed about sorting out a new contract with Lewis Hamilton - despite speculation linking his driver with Mercedes.

Hamilton and McLaren are in an advanced stage of negotiations for a deal for next year, but the British driver is also believed to be weighing up a serious offer that has been made to him by Mercedes.

Former team boss Eddie Jordan has suggested that a Hamilton/Mercedes tie-up will happen, and that a deal could be announced imminently.

Whitmarsh, however, is sanguine about his team's chances of keeping Hamilton – and says the contractual situation is not a pressing matter for his outfit.

"It will get resolved when it is, but I don't think it is as big an issue in this team as it possibly is in the media room," he told Sky.

Whitmarsh said there is no chance of the contractual situation causing turmoil at his outfit, as it focuses its efforts on trying to win the Italian Grand Prix.

"I don't think it's unsettled the team actually, we are here trying to go motor racing," he explained.

"The media like that sort of speculation, but Lewis and his management have assured me of their intentions. We're focused on working together at the moment.

"This weekend is important for Lewis. He needs to ensure that he gets his championship hunt back on track, and I think that's what he wants as well.

"There's going to be all sorts of speculation, but we are really focused on making sure we do a good job here in Monza."

Whitmarsh added that one of the stipulations it wanted from Hamilton was his total commitment to the outfit if he was going to sort out a deal.

"Ultimately a driver has to drive where he is happy to drive, so the team and I don't want anyone who is not 100 per cent committed to it. You can't work like that. I've made that clear from the outset."

He added: "Lots of very positive things have been said to me, but then again, I've learned over the years that until people support that by inking the paper then you don't get too excited about it."

Jenson Button believes that the unpredictable formbook of 2012 means he still has a chance of winning the world championship.

The McLaren driver is currently 63 points adrift of points leader Fernando Alonso but, heading to a stage of the season where he has been so strong in the past, he says there is reason to keep his ambitions high.

"I really enjoy these races from now on," explained Button. "Hopefully we will have the same sort of result as last year; scoring lots of points and consistently on the podium.

"There was only one race [from here on 2011] where I wasn't on podium until the end of the year, so if you can do it this year in F1, then it is a massive haul of points compared to others.

"You look at the standings and I know I haven't had the best points so far, because I have 101 points this year, and last year I ended it with 270 points and I was miles behind the championship winner. So it is really spreading the points out between everyone at the moment.

"But that shows if you have a good few back-to-back races you have a great chance of really leapfrogging a lot of people and fighting for the championship. The last few races have not gone to plan but I have more points than anyone else.

"It is a very slim chance that we can fight for the championship but it is still a chance. And if there was any season there was a chance with that points gap then it is this year."

McLaren heads to the Italian GP buoyed by Button's victory in Belgium, which was the first time one outfit has won consecutive races this year.

Technical director Paddy Lowe says that provides encouragement about the competitiveness of the team's car, but admits gaining ground in the championship is a far more pressing concern.

"It is nice and particularly for circuits that were quite different with downforce levels," explained Lowe.

"I am happier about what that says about the underlying car performance in terms of the rest of the season and getting competitive, but actually it hasn't been fantastic for our championship points situation in giving us points in the right place, relative to the championship leader.

"Scoring good points on both sides of the garage is a very important objective, but the more important thing for me is a car performing well, and with which both drivers can win.

"We would like to have both drivers on the podium this weekend and, if one of them wins as well, that will be great."

Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel admitted that they are struggling for single-lap pace at Monza after disappointing results in Friday's free practice sessions.

Webber's ninth place in the morning was the team's only top-10 result of the day.

The team also struggled for qualifying pace at Spa.

Although Vettel and Webber were happier with the car's performance on heavy fuel, they are hoping for improvements in qualifying trim.

"We are working hard, but not quite there yet," said Webber.

"We were a little bit more competive on the long run when we have got a bit of fuel in but we have got a bit of work to do with the fuel out.

"We are not normally Friday world champions but we have a bit of work to do tomorrow."

Vettel added: "I think overall we are not as quick as we would like to be, still some work to do I would guess."

The reigning champion was less certain about the car's race pace.

"I don't know what [Webber] did or the others did, but I think we are probably more competitive in race trim," said Vettel.

"But for sure today wasn't as good as we wanted our true pace to be, so you can see there is a lot to do.

"So far we ran through our programme and didn't have any problems. There is a lot to go through and learn from."

Michael Schumacher is optimistic that Mercedes will show stronger form in the Italian Grand Prix after an encouraging Friday practice performance.

The seven-time Formula 1 champion was quickest in the morning session.

"We were able to do good work with the car all day long," said Schumacher. "It looks reasonably promising considering the last two races."

Mercedes has not had a podium finish since Schumacher's third place in Valencia in June, but the German thinks the car is well-suited to Monza.

"The package we have developed for here seems to be more in harmony with the track so we can hope for a better position," he said.

Although Schumacher had some DRS problems in afternoon practice, when he was 10th fastest, he did not think this held him back.

"It does help the speed and make you go quicker in laptime, but we focused on long runs," he said.

Schumacher added: "[DRS is] not important today. The main focus was on the long runs.

"The long runs were reasonably good. Straight away the car felt good in my hands and I felt confident."

Sauber drivers Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi say their car's performance is falling short of expectations at Monza after a troubled Friday practice.

After the team's stunning qualifying performance in Belgium, Sauber fell back on day one in Italy.

Both cars encountered unspecified technical problems in practice, and Kobayashi said he encountered some unusual handling characteristics.

"It was a bit of a difficult day," he said. "I didn't do enough running to decide on the settings and the downforce level.

"In the morning it was business as usual and also my first run in the second session was OK.

"But then, after we had made some changes, the car was bouncing an awful lot. I nearly spun on the straight.

"However, we identified the problem but could not fix it during the session. I think we have quite a lot of work to do tomorrow."

Perez still believes another top-10 qualifying performance is possible, but agreed it had been a tough Friday.

"Overall so far I have the feeling we are a bit behind expectations here," he said.

"We lose quite some time on the straights and now have to find a good aero and set-up compromise.

"We definitely want to fight for the top 10 in qualifying tomorrow."

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso shrugged off any concerns over the reliability problems that affected his two Italian Grand Prix free practice sessions and says he does not expect them to re-occur over the weekend.

The world championship leader was forced to stop at the Variante Rettifilio five minutes before the end of the first session with an engine problem.

He then missed a chunk of practice two with first braking issues and then a gearbox that expired beyond its life date.

"It was just a little bit of a strange Friday because of mechanical failures," said Alonso, who was delighted with the balance of his car nonetheless having ended the day third fastest overall.

"Sometimes we push some parts to the limit to work some experimental things on Friday that you need to get some mileage on it and some experience.

"We need to take care and this was a good reminder again how important is the driveability of the car and how important it is to take care about any detail of the car because small problems stop the car immediately.

"Sometimes when something happens on Friday it will never happen anymore on Saturday and Sunday. So we will make sure that what happened today won't happen anymore.

Alonso, who stated earlier in the week that he would not race for any other team in the future, added that striking a good balance with the car so early in the weekend was a huge boost for his chances at Monza.

"I think we are more-or-less happy with the performance and we don't need to change the balance of the car for tomorrow, like we did [before] because we were not happy at all [with it]," he said.

"It's good. More than the performance it's just the balance of the car. Sometimes on Friday we find that we need to change the car completely for FP2 and then completely again for FP3 and then you can be in the middle of making decisions at the last moment before quali.

"So far in FP1 and FP2 we have found a car that was consistent to drive and we have seen both Ferraris in the top seven all the time, which it is not always like that.

"So that is the best news in terms of performance."

Kimi Raikkonen is predicting a tight battle for victory at the Italian Grand Prix - and concedes that his Lotus team does not appear to be the fastest.

McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari were impressive during Friday practice and, although Raikkonen's long-run form looked strong, he is under no impressions about the task he is facing over the rest of the Monza weekend.

"We are not the fastest for sure," said Raikkonen, when asked by AUTOSPORT if he was worried by the early pace of McLaren.

"We didn't expect to be fastest; and I think after the last race it was a bit tricky. It wasn't too bad a Friday, but it will be very difficult to be at the top in qualifying.

"We have to do the best we can though, so I think it will be close. There are not many corners, so there will not be a big difference between cars; it will be very tight here I think, but we will see in qualifying tomorrow."

The battle for pole position could be further complicated by the fact that the quicker medium compound tyre appears to be delivering its best performance on the second lap.

That makes tactics for qualifying hard because of the need to deploy KERS on the run to the start of the lap for a straightline speed boost - which drivers cannot do on consecutive laps.

"It is not easy to make the first lap work," Raikkonen said. "If you do one lap you cannot really do the fastest lap because you cannot have KERS to get the benefit on the main straight; and if you mess it up on first lap you have to do one lap and stop using KERS, which is a bit tricky."

Lotus stand-in Jerome d'Ambrosio declared himself satisfied with his first day in the cockpit after finishing Friday practice at Monza within 0.6 seconds of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Reserve driver d'Ambrosio is deputising for Romain Grosjean in Italy this weekend due to the Frenchman's one-race ban for causing the dramatic Belgian Grand Prix start accident.

"It's definitely a challenge," said d'Ambrosio when asked by AUTOSPORT how he rated his Friday progress.

"I'd say 'so far, so good'. We made steady progress between FP1 and FP2.

"It's important for me to stay relaxed and do the best that I can. We all know it's not an easy one. But there's no point in focusing on that.

"I'll just stay concentrated, stay focused, stay with the engineers and try to make progress tomorrow."

D'Ambrosio was adamant it would not be helpful to set performance targets for himself this weekend.

"I had a good first day and I'm going to approach the second day in the same way," he said.

"There's no point in me starting to think 'oh I'm going to make it to Q3 or I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that'. It's the best way to lose myself.

"We know the situation, there are lots of things for me to take in and I'll focus on taking things in to be as well prepared as I can be for qualifying.

"Once that is done, we will see what the result is."

Asked if he could feel the difference between the Lotus E20 and the Virgin he raced in 2011, d'Ambrosio replied: "It's a very low downforce track, but I probably still feel as much downforce as I maybe had last year in Monaco..."

McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton are adamant that the storm of speculation about Hamilton's 2013 plans is not distracting them from their world championship bid.

The possibility of Hamilton ending his career-long relationship with McLaren to join Mercedes next season has dominated paddock conversation at Monza this weekend.

After going first and second fastest in Friday practice in Italy, Button and Hamilton underlined that off-track talk was at the back of their minds.

"Morale in the team is good, we just want to race," said Button.

"I think I've shown that whatever is going on off the circuit you have to focus on the job in hand."

Pacesetter Hamilton said he was prioritising his 2012 title bid with McLaren over thoughts of what the future might hold.

"Other people deal with that," he said. "Occasionally it pops into your mind but then you have to keep your eye on the ball."

He believes McLaren is in good shape ahead of what both drivers predict will be a very close battle in Italy.

"We have a great car and the guys have done a great job back at the factory to tune the aerodynamic set-up," said Hamilton.

"Obviously it's is still very close between us and Ferrari and Lotus and Mercedes. We are in a good position but we need to find more time."

Button added: "[Ferrari's] pace is very good on both cars and both tyres, especially on the prime. The Mercedes is quick, as is the Lotus so it'll be interesting.

"There won't be a stand-out team or an easy qualifying session."

Friday's press conference:

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES - Franz TOST (Toro Rosso), Pat FRY (Ferrari), Eric BOULLIER (Lotus), Christian HORNER (Red Bull Racing), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber)

Franz, a new technical director. One has departed and a new one has arrived. First of all, can you explain what happened with Giorgio?

Franz TOST: First of all I want to thank Giorgio Ascanelli. He did a very good job over the last six years, when he was with us because we must not forget that he had to build up infrastructure at Toro Rosso. When he started there were around 20 engineers and today there are around five times the number. He did a really great job. We were quite successful. As you know in 2008 we won the first grand prix with Sebastian Vettel, therefore thank you very much for this. Now times have changed, we are looking forward to a new challenge and therefore James Key is on board with us.

So, what can you hope for from James in the short term with this year's car and in the longer term with next year's car, which presumably has already been started?

FT: First of all, this year's car, we've arrived into September where we can't expect so many changes. I think we will come up with some upgrades for the rest of the season, but there were planned and in project already before James joined us. But he is now very much involved in the design of the new car, which already started around two months. But nevertheless he will have hopefully a lot of influence over next year's car.

Presumably you're very encouraged to see what's happening with Sauber, which was James' last car?

FT: Sauber is doing very well. The car is very fast and hopefully he will do a similar good job, as he did at Sauber.

And the same engine of course?

FT: Exactly.

Pat, first of all, tell us about Alonso's problems today?

Pat FRY: Well, this morning, obviously, he had an issue, which stopped us running a little bit early. This afternoon has been a bit of a messy afternoon for us. We had a problem with a brake system and finally a gearbox problem stopped us running right at the end. Fortunately, we managed to do all the long-run work with Felipe. We didn't get the entire programme done with Fernando, but we answered the questions we needed to ask.

Was that quite a high mileage engine? And what about the gearbox, do you get a penalty for that?

PF: Gearboxes are free on Friday obviously and the engine was obviously a Friday engine at high mileage.

In terms of the performance this year, you've turned round a car that was not particularly competitive at the beginning of the season, particularly around Barcelona and the Mugello test. What did you do then and what can you do now? Was it modifications or was it set-up changes.

PF: Mainly modifications to the aero package. I think we made a reasonable step forward in Barcelona and we made another reasonable step forward in Canada. I mean, every race we bring new parts but I think those are the two steps that I suppose stand out when you look at the performance of all the teams. But I think we've still got a long way to go to be happy with our performance level.

And the aero package here: how is that working?

PF: Yeah, everything seems to be behaving sensibly. It's a little bit of an extreme circuit here and I'm sure there will be different downforce level choices with people and it should make for an entertaining race anyway.

Eric, we've seen Romain Grosjean here. Presumably you've had quite a chat with him. What has he said and what have you said to him since last weekend?

EB: Nothing much to add to what had been said in the media here. Just to his clear understanding that is was a severe penalty he got and talking about the reason why and how we can change things to make his weekend a little bit easier to handle for him. Basically this kind of discussion.

Last weekend, Kimi at one point was complaining about lack of power on the radio.

EB: He was asking 'can I have more'. During the race we have different strategies. We knew that Sebastian was too far in front of us to catch up and so we went into a fuel saving mode and obviously that's changing a little bit the mapping and the performance of the engine. He was just hoping to be back to the normal fuel system.

Jerome D'Ambrosio steps in having done a few laps earlier on this year at Mugello, but only that. In retrospect would you perhaps give a reserve driver more laps, or maybe even a Friday for example?

EB: The plan was to give him a couple of Fridays and more over the whole season. But because of the performance we had to reconsider a little bit the strategy and ambition of the team maybe for this year. It's always when something happens that you say 'I should have done this differently'. Obviously I am happy with what he did bring. We gave him also a couple of runs with an old car, a three years old car in different demos and that helped him as well to keep a little bit some feeling with a Formula 1. But yeah, if he would have a more mileage he would have fit a little bit better even if he did a good job today.

Christian, last weekend there seemed to an issue again about power. I'd like you clarify what it was all about - was it set-up or gearing or what the problem was last weekend for the Red Bull team?

Christian HORNER: The problem you're referring to was?

At the top of the hill.

CH: Basically with the lack of running on Friday because it was obviously raining your gear ratio choice is made on Friday night and we elected to go quite aggressive with our top gear. With 20/20 hindsight we would not repeat that decision in a similar situation and we would go a bit longer. What was happening was once our drivers were getting in the DRS zone and opening their wing they were getting into the limiter and weren't able to capitalise on the DRS. Therefore, with Sebastian, the progress that he made was coming back up the hill through Blanchimont into the chicane. He did a great job passing quite a lot of cars around the outside and inside in that last chicane.

That must have been very satisfying to get the result you did get given the problem in the traditional overtaking area.

CH: Yes, I think it was actually one of the best races I've seen Seb drive to be honest. His performance last week was very strong. It was great for the team to score points on a day when our main rivals weren't on track because of the incident on the first corner from which everybody, thankfully, emerged unscathed. It was a strong race, particularly by Sebastian. Our pace on Saturday we didn't quite understand in qualifying over a single lap because we looked quick in the morning and then that performance eluded us in the afternoon. Our race pace on the Sunday was actually very strong. We were flexible with our strategy, we managed to make a one-stop work well, particularly for Sebastian. Mark's strategy was a little bit more conventional but overall it was positive points for the team.

And you've got some good tracks coming up, some tracks where you've excelled in the past. What are your feelings about those?

CH: I think the one thing we've seen in 2012 is that past form is irrelevant this year. It's impossible to predict what your form is going to be like from circuit to circuit. Obviously we arrive at each grand prix and we try to maximise the car and the package we have. This weekend is no different to that. Singapore is another challenge in itself, a bumpy, twisty street circuit compared to the long straights and flowing corners here at Monza. That's the big challenge of Formula 1 is to try to be consistent across all 20 venues, of which we've got eight to go.

Monisha, last weekend you went from Heaven to Hell in a very short space of time. What sort of impact did it have on the team?

Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, we are used to these kind of situations where you think it's looking good and it doesn't quite work out. Until the formation lap it was really looking good for the team. We had a fantastic race weekend until then. One of the best qualifying positions so far for the team, and it all looked really good. Then suddenly on the formation lap, we see how things are billowing out and it ends up really badly. So, what we did then is analyse what happened on Kamui's car and see where we can still improve. Because that's important for us. We see quite often that if qualifying works out well, we have good race pace and then we can really get a lot of points home. That's what's we did. We took a lot of positives home from that weekend, that the car is very competitive, and we need to make sure that we don't make mistakes during the race weekend.

Were you particularly looking at what happened on Kamui's car? Sergio obviously got involved in the incident.

MK: Sergio really couldn't do anything, he was just terribly affected by that incident. On Kamui's car we had to find out why there was that smoke and why the start was not that good.

Any conclusion to that?

MK: We know now what happened, we analysed that. And whatever the team can do, we'll definitely do.

In terms of your technical team, tell us how it's working these days. It's been like this since the start of the season, but you don't actually have a technical director, do you?

MK: No, we don't have a technical director, that was my choice. We have three main areas which we consider to be critical for the development of the car - which is the aero, the design and what we call the vehicle performance. Their heads are in this committee. They sit together and decide on a technical direction. If there are any other issues then we four, with me in there, sit in there and try to find the best solution. It seems to be working and it's a bit of a history at Sauber that we've always had very strong heads of department and the people under them. It's always been the backbone of the team and it works well.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

(Barna Zsoldos - Nemzeti Sport) Franz, I would like to ask you to recall some memories of the 2008 Grand Prix - the whole emotion, the whole weekend. Was it a confirmation for you, and for Christian, that Seb is going to be a future champion?

FT: Let me say it in this way. We started already on Friday, if I remember right, to prepare the cars for Sunday under wet conditions because the weather forecast was quite clear: it said there was a high risk of rain. And I remember that we said to the drivers, 'stay out, do as many laps as possible', because here in Monza under wet conditions it's a little bit different than on other tracks because their are not so many possibilities that the water can runoff and therefore you have exactly to know where to drive. Sebastian Vettel and Bourdais did a lot of laps and we found a good setup in those days. And then I was quite happy on Saturday during the qualifying when the rain didn't stop. And then, of course, on Sunday, when it rained when the race was started under the safety car. Once Sebastian was in front I was quite convinced that he could at least finish the race within the first five positions. I didn't think that he could win the race but then he did a fantastic job. And then the team also during the pitstops made a good job and then at the end fortunately we won this race. But we must not forget there were very special circumstances. We clearly could see in those days that Sebastian Vettel's learning curve and his performance improved from race to race. And I was convinced that he could do a really good job at Red Bull Racing. That he won then the championship already in 2010 you couldn't know in 2008. But that he will have a good future, this was quite clear for me.

(Dan Knutson - Honorary) Pat, looking ahead to Suzuka, what do you need to have a fast car there and how will your car go there?

PF: Well, I suppose it's dominated by efficiency and aerodynamics. It's just that we need to keep up the constant drive we've been doing all year, as everyone is, just to improve the efficiency of the car.

(Dieter Rencken - The Citizen) To the four team principal, 2014 obviously there's a major change in engines. The four of you are customers of engines - in other words you don't have teams producing your own - what sort of progress has been made on the costing issues and what are your expectations in this regard?

CH: I think 2014 is going to be an interesting year. The engine is radically different. I think that it's important that the engine doesn't become the crucial, single performance differentiator - I think that would be particularly unhealthy for Formula 1 and for the engine manufacturers involved. I terms of cost of supply I think the difficulty with introducing new technology and advanced technology such as the 2014 engine, it comes at a price. And I think all of the independent teams are very eager to know what that price is and what the impact of that price will be. I don't think it's the right market for Formula 1 to see an increase in costs. I don't think that's ultimately sustainable. But hopefully it won't have an impact on the fiscal side.

MK: We have been very clear about our position. At the moment a lot of details are unclear on the technical side and also the price. We've also very clearly said that we don't want to go down to those times many years ago where engines were so horrendously expensive. I think in the last year, in this whole movement with cost-cutting and the engine freeze which took place. Now costs have really gone down a lot and we don't want to take three steps back again with this new engine and end up at a point which was there many years ago.

FT: It's quite clear that this new powertrain in 2014 will increase the costs. It's not possible to make it cheaper, as we get it now, because there's a new engine, we have the new ERS system, there's the new batteries and everything will for sure increase the costs. And 2014 will become an expensive year. Now the question, how is the depreciation in the following years? Just maybe to level the costs, on an acceptable amount. This we will see and I hope that we can negotiate this with the manufacturers, I hope the manufacturers will be as fair as they were in the past. And then I'm convinced that we will find a solution.

EB: I do share the same position. It's a concern, the costs of the new powertrain. We expect either though the engine RRA or different discussions we can have with the engine manufacturers. you know it's going to be reasonable. we don't see new technologies is going to be difficult to bring the price down, cheaper than now - but if there is an increase we just expect a reasonable increase.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Pat, yesterday Michael Schumacher said that covered cockpits were necessary, they will be introduced in the future for sure. Do you agree with that or are there other options on the table from the Technical Working Group?

PF: Looking back at the start of last weekend's race, it was a lucky situation. It could have gone very badly, so I think the whole of Formula 1 was very lucky. A flying car or a large piece of car flying in the air is still the one thing that we struggle to protect the drivers against. There's obviously been quite a lot of research by the FIA which is still continuing. They've looked at the covered cockpits and then different roll cages as well, so I think that research just needs to continue really, as quickly as it can.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) What is your opinion of the projected increase in fees paid to the FIA for next year?

EB: Well, as you said, it's a potential increase. We have not been officially informed yet about this change by the FIA. If that's the case, we obviously will need to understand why and what will be the justification for such an increase, because there is a massive difference, as you can understand, between the current level (and the future one).

CH: I think it's important to understand what's involved in the increase, what's included within it, what we pay that's external from the current entry, for example. There's only been a brief discussion about it at the moment. I'm sure there'll be further talks in the coming weeks.

MK: As Eric said, we've only been learning about this from the media. The FIA has not really got in touch with us so we have to wait and see what they really propose and what their intentions are but apart from that, I think the FIA is fully aware that there are many teams out there which are already in a financially challenging situation and if you put further burden on them like this - depending on the package - you should be careful about the situation.

FT: It doesn't match so much with the cost reduction but we have to find out what is the reason behind this and we have to know more details and then we will sit together with the FIA and then we will see where we end up.

Q: (Naoise Holohan - Manipe F1) Given the successes of Fernando Alonso during the course of his career and how he's driving this year, can I get the opinion of everybody on the question of him being the greatest driver of his generation?

CH: I think it's always very difficult to compare drivers across generations. You have to look at the equipment at their disposal, who their competitors were at that time. Fernando, for sure, is one of the all-time great drivers in Formula 1 but I personally find it very hard to judge where and how you compare different generations. There are generations which we didn't even see which only people as old as Bob (Constanduros, moderator) would remember and I think it's very difficult to judge drivers from different generations.

EB: I do share what my colleague next to me has said. It's clear that it's difficult to judge and compare different generations. What we can say today is that in the career of a driver you have different phases and I would say that Fernando is at the top of his form today.

PF: He's obviously an outstanding driver, isn't he? I had the pleasure of working with him in 2007 and again now. I think I would agree that it's hard to actually compare even drivers in different cars. What is the actual performance of the car? The only driver you can really compare to is your teammate because you have like-for-like tools. He's certainly at the top of his game this year.

FT: From the arithmetical point of view it's Michael Schumacher because he won seven titles and then Fangio, Prost, Senna and because these drivers have done the best job or did the best job during their career and to compare drivers within different periods of time is simply not possible.

MK: As it has been said, each time was so different that it is indeed so difficult to compare, but I think it's highly impressive in a season that despite all the different winners and things like that, Fernando has been so consistent, always just bringing the car home and getting all those points. It's extremely impressive, the way he's doing it.

Q: (Kate Walker - Girl Racer) Going back to the 2014 engines, in addition to the actual spec change, we're going to see a reduction in the number of engines available to each driver from eight down to five, that at a time with no real track testing. Are you concerned that the 2014 championship may be determined by engine reliability rather than driver skill?

EB: Yeah. The concern is when you have a big change in the regulations is that you don't want an engine reliability issue, especially when you are limited to five engines per driver. You don't want to have an engine powertrain dominating compared with the others so there's a lot of question marks which I think have been raised by the Technical Working Group and even different groups working with the FIA. We have to rely if possible on the regulator in the governing body to make sure that everything will be in place, to make sure that reliability of such issues are fixed for the beginning of the season, even if it's not going to be easy to challenge for the engine manufacturers, but we have to believe everything has been planned at least.

CH: I think Eric has summed it up very well. I think the other key thing to remember is that technology will be very new. Basically 50 percent of the power will come mechanically and fifty percent of the power will come electronically and I think the technology will be very immature and then you're talking about homologation of engines as well at the beginning of the season and I think it would be very easy to freeze in an advantage or a disadvantage which would be unhealthy for the sport, I think, so hopefully there will be some constructive discussion in the coming weeks to ensure that a performance advantage or disadvantage for a manufacturer of which potentially there will only be three, will be able to be addressed if somebody undershoots, particularly in the early years. It will all converge over time but as the technology is particularly immature there could be quite large variances, certainly in the first year or two.

Q: (Kate Walker - Girl Racer) Is that a discussion that is currently ongoing?

CH: I'm sure that in the Technical Working Group they are talking about it but it's a challenging topic. It's a difficult time to be introducing a new engine, obviously, under the financial climate that we currently have but that's where we are and hopefully in the time between now and when the engine is introduced, measures can be made to ensure that not only costs but competitiveness of a power plant can be measured and controlled accordingly.

MK: Well, the risk is absolutely there and maybe we then have to also... or the engine manufacturers allow them certain activities next year regarding the reliability and maybe that could also have cost implications, positive ones, for us, so I think we have to be open to discuss that and look into that.

FT: The 2014 powertrain package will become a great great challenge from the technical side, because there are so many new factors which have to be taken into consideration. It's not only the engine, it's the air system, the batteries and it's not only the reliability, it's also the cooling. I personally fear that the field will not be as close as it is currently. I think that maybe one engine manufacturer will come up with a special solution and those cars will be far in front, as we saw in the turbo years. I just hope that the three manufacturers will come up with similar solutions and that the output of the powertrain will be at a similar level, that we also will see in 2014 a nice and interesting Formula 1 season as is currently the case.

PF: I think the 2014 power unit is a very interesting technical challenge, lots of complication, and the drive to improve performance and efficiency is going to be massive. Dealing with reliability is certainly not an insignificant problem. There were certain teams which want to run an engine in an old Formula 1 car. That has been discussed at the TWG - I was keen to do that because I think it will help improve the reliability, running it in a proper car with all proper G-loading and everything. That was vetoed or voted out, whatever the right term is, so we're left trying to answer the questions on the dyno. We will answer some of the questions but we certainly won't answer all of them. There will be an element of risk when you go into the February testing, when you're going to have three tests to sort it out. If you've got a major problem, you're in a bit of trouble. Best we get our design right to start with, I suppose.

Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters) Eric, there have been a couple of stories about Robert Kubica getting back into a rally car and trying that out. Has there been any kind of contact with you over the last few months? If he were to get in touch with you, would you be at all interested in giving him a ride in one of your older cars for old times' sake?

EB: It's a long time that we haven't been talking about this. No, I did read in the press, like you, that he was doing some rally and actually he's supposed to do a rally next weekend or something like this, but we don't have much contact. I have contact with his management but nothing else. I've not been updated about his current state for a long time.

Q: (Gary Meenaghan - The National) Eric and maybe all of you; in this era of no end of season testing, how important is the simulator?

EB: You know the simulator has now reached a very good level of detail, to get the drivers familiar, to bring out the real use of a simulator which is not related to the driver. It's true that in the position today, where some drivers are stepping into Formula 1 in the last three or four years with thousands of kilometers of testing, to generally get used to the team with the process of Formula 1, with the procedure of the car, with everything, it's easy, obviously, to step into Formula 1. With the current format, now, most of the drivers now have to step in with zero miles under their belts which is a bit tricky. But there is an economic reality as well. Testing costs a lot of money, a lot of resources as well, because not only money, we are already having a busy calendar during the season and we have set up - Lotus F1 are set up to have one crew for the whole season, so adding extra testing would obviously have consequences on the resources, so the question is up in the air, let's say. Is the balance today good enough with simulator and with a few test days at the end of the year? I don't know, I don't have the answer. I know that the balance today is working but is it fair or not?

FT: Testing is very very expensive. If you want to go out for a test, you need your own test team. We cancelled the test team because of the costs three years ago. I think this was the correct decision. Regarding the young drivers, as Toro Rosso is a young drivers' team, normally we do it in this way that young drivers which are coming into Formula 1 get the possibility to run on Fridays in the morning, and I think this is a good possibility to step into Formula 1, to learn everything. And every team can do this. It's not only restricted to young driver teams and therefore I think the current balance which we have from the regulation side is a good one.

Q: (Christian Nimmervoll - Motorsport-total.com) Christian, you mentioned before a potential freeze of an engine advantage when the engines come in in 2014. Is that one of the reasons why Red Bull is so keen for an engine RRA to be introduced with a chassis RRA, possibly in 2013?

CH: Er, no. The reason that we said that there should be... if an RRA is to come in in full force and policed by the FIA it should encompass all aspects of the car of which the engine and power unit is a significant part, because some teams in Formula 1 belong to automotive or are automotive subsidiaries that produce both chassis and engines and obviously some resource will come between chassis and engine and it's impossible with a chassis-orientated RRA to eliminate elements and treat, in our opinion, all parties transparently and fairly. Our view is that if you're going to look at a resource restriction of any form, you've got to look at the formula in its entirety rather than cherry picking certain elements, and obviously the engine is a key cost driver and therefore should be included within any overall package rather than just, as I say, looking to cherry pick certain items and cost drivers.

Q: (Dieter Rencken - The Citizen) Christian, your colleague Helmut Marko, if he was reported correctly, stated that he felt that the Sauber was the fastest car out there. Given that it's a James Key car, given that James is going across to Toro Rosso, are you concerned that possibly Toro Rosso will produce a faster car than you next year? And would you invoke drink orders in that case?

CH: I think the Sauber has been a very good car this year. I think it's been clear at different races that they've had very good pace, including less than a week ago in Belgium. The changes in the regulations this year were significant and it seems to have concertina-ed the field significantly and that also includes the likes of Williams, Lotus have made a big step as well this year, so you turn up to a Grand Prix not knowing who is actually going to be competitive, how competitive your own outfit is going to be. I think James Key has done a good job previously, not just at Sauber but the teams that he's been at prior to that and I think it was an obvious choice for Toro Rosso when they were looking to restructure, to include James within their line-up. I think as far as the future is concerned, I'm sure he is going to be looking to make his mark there and the teams are open to race. Sebastian Vettel won his first race here in 2008 in a car that was designed in Milton Keynes and run by Toro Rosso, but the teams were free to race each other and that will continue to be the case.

Q: (Dieter Rencken - The Citizen) Franz when I visited you in May, you were speaking about your expansion plans and you were going to move into new factories etc during the shutdown. What sort of progress was made there?

FT: Step one of our building is finished now and it's mainly for the composite department and we moved the composite department into the new building during the shutdown and fabrication has already started. You are invited to come there to see it. It looks good.

[Katsuya]

Sergio

[Starvinho]

Excellent race from Perez, he's just been so much quicker than everyone in the second half of the race.

Edit: Hamilton holds on for the win though, Perez second and Alonso third. Button very unlucky to have car trouble whilst it was looking like an easy McLaren one-two. Neither Red Bull managed to finish either.

Edited September 9, 2012 by Starvinho

[Katsuya]

You could see it coming, too. Brundle and Croft saying "I don't understand this, they're racing for 5th or 6th", when it was clear that he would gain hand over fist as other tyres went off.

[Katsuya]

Somehow, Kimi is now 3rd in the drivers standings. Bizarre.

[MJB]

LEWIS

Just stay with McLaren, Lewis, you'll always have a chance at winning the race and the championship.

[Gazz]

Somehow, Kimi is now 3rd in the drivers standings. Bizarre.

The K in Kimi stands for consistency.

[Lineker]

No big news post due to computer problems, so just some timings for now:

Lewis Hamilton stayed safely clear of an incredible charge from Sergio Perez to win the Italian Grand Prix, as Fernando Alonso stretched his Formula 1 points lead by coming through from 10th on the grid to third.

Alonso benefited from his closest title rival Sebastian Vettel being penalised for forcing him off the road as they battled mid-race and later retiring with a mechanical problem.

For much of the distance it looked like a straightforward McLaren one-two was in prospect.

Although Felipe Massa made a great start to immediately pass Jenson Button for second and then pressure Hamilton into the first chicane, the poleman was soon able to ease away. Button then overtook the Ferrari for second just before their pitstops.

But with 19 laps to go, Button was forced to park his McLaren on the approach to the Parabolica, with what was initially diagnosed as a fuel pressure problem.

That brought Massa back up to second, but with Alonso catching him.

The championship leader had gained two places off the start, before overtaking Kamui Kobayashi and Kimi Raikkonen in quick succession.

Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel then proved tougher opponents, though both were eventually conquered by the Ferrari. Along the way, Alonso ended up on the Curva Grande grass as Vettel defended - a move that would earn the champion a drivethrough penalty.

Vettel still looked set for sixth until being ordered to stop his car due to a developing technical problem five laps from home.

Massa gave Alonso an easy pass into second place, but by then a new threat was looming.

Unlike all the frontrunners, Perez had started on the hard tyres, allowng him to run until lap 29 before his first pitstop.

He rejoined in sixth, benefited from Vettel and Button's problems, and then started lapping 1.5 seconds faster than the hard-shod leaders as he thrived on the medium rubber.

Both Massa and Alonso were easily overtaken, and Perez then charged off after Hamilton.

The Mexican would run out of time to catch the McLaren, but still claimed his third podium of an excellent season.

Alonso and Massa finished third and fourth, ahead of Raikkonen's Lotus, which held off two-stopping Mercedes duo Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.

Mark Webber recovered from a slow start to get into the top six, only to spin his Red Bull out of the Ascari chicane in the final laps and then retire.

Force India's Paul di Resta took eighth, while his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg's charge from the back ended with a late technical problem.

Kamui Kobayashi in the second Sauber and Bruno Senna's Williams completed the points-scorers after a last-lap problem for Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo. The latter's team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne retired in dramatic style with an apparent suspension breakage approaching the Rettifilo.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS


The Italian Grand Prix

Monza, Italy;

53 laps; 306.720km;

Weather: Sunny.


Classified:


Pos  Driver        Team                       Time

 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h19:41.221

 2.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     4.356

 3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    20.594

 4.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    29.667

 5.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +    30.881

 6.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +    31.259

 7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    33.550

 8.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +    41.057

 9.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +    43.898

10.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +    48.144

11.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +    48.682

12.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    50.316

13.  d-Ambrosio    Lotus-Renault              +  1:15.861

14.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap

15.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap

16.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +     1 lap

17.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +     1 lap

18.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +     1 lap

19.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +     1 lap

20.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    2 laps

21.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +    3 laps

22.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +    6 laps


Fastest lap: Rosberg, 1:27.239


Not classified/retirements:


Driver        Team                         On lap

Button        McLaren-Mercedes             32

Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari           8



World Championship standings, round 13:


Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Alonso       179        1.  Red Bull-Renault          272

 2.  Hamilton     142        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          243

 3.  Raikkonen    141        3.  Ferrari                   226

 4.  Vettel       140        4.  Lotus-Renault             217

 5.  Webber       132        5.  Mercedes                  126

 6.  Button       101        6.  Sauber-Ferrari            100

 7.  Rosberg       83        7.  Force India-Mercedes       63

 8.  Grosjean      76        8.  Williams-Renault           54

 9.  Perez         65        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         12

10.  Massa         47

11.  Schumacher    43

12.  Kobayashi     35

13.  Di Resta      32

14.  Hulkenberg    31

15.  Maldonado     29

16.  Senna         25

17.  Vergne         8

18.  Ricciardo      4


All timing unofficial[/code]




Ferrari's Jules Bianchi led the way on the opening day of Formula 1's young driver test at Magny-Cours on Tuesday.



The Frenchman ended the day half a second quicker than Force India's Luiz Razia.



Bianchi, who has been Force India's reserve driver this year, completed 87 laps, with a best of 1m18.070s, as Ferrari evaluated a new front wing as part of its aerodynamic development programme. 



His running came to an early end after he stopped at Chateau d'Eau with a suspected mechanical problem.



GP2 title contender Razia, having his first taste of Force India machinery, used soft tyres to set a best lap of 1m18.535s during his 64 laps of running. 



His team was trialling a new front wing, and the Brazilian brought out the red flags at one point during the afternoon when he spun at Imola.



Third fastest Sam Bird was the centre of attention during the morning as Mercedes unveiled a new Coanda-effect exhaust layout as part of an update push it is having with its W03. He set a best time of 1m19.094s and completed 95 laps.



Bianchi will switch to the Force India car on Wednesday, as the team evaluates his potential for a race seat next year.



Davide Rigon will take over the Ferrari, while Bird continues evaluation of more Mercedes updates.



[code]Pos  Driver               Team                   Time     

 1.  Jules Bianchi        Ferrari                1m18.070s

 2.  Luiz Razia           Force India-Mercedes   1m18.535s  + 0.465s

 3.  Sam Bird             Mercedes               1m19.094s  + 1.024s

* All timing unofficial

[Katsuya]

Sid Watkins has died