Practice
Mercedes opened proceedings by going fastest in FP1, with Hamilton going just ahead of home favourite Alonso, with Rosberg in third to show the silver arrows pace. Mercedes slipped back a little in the afternoon on Friday to sixth and seventh, whilst things turned ahead of qualifying as Hamilton grabbed fourth but Rosberg ended up last after only a few laps running before returning to the garage with overheating issues. Ferrari looked much stronger going into this weekend, with Alonso second, fifth and second over the three sessions to mix it with the Red Bulls. Massa looked less promising as he was nearer the bottom of the top ten, but ran with no problems. Red Bull took a little while to heat up, with Vettel fourth in FP1, but going fastest in the other two sessions. Webber similarly took some time to get going, eighth in the first session but then posting second and third in the other two, close to Alonso. McLaren looked promising behind the big three, with both cars running inside the top ten in all three sessions only around half a second off those in front. Button was investigated for improper DRS use in FP1 but later cleared before FP2. Lotus had a changeable practice, inside the top ten in FP1, and posting great times for third and fourth in FP2. Oddly for the team, both drivers posted identical times, though Raikkonen was using a long wheelbase version of their car and Grosjean the standard version, giving no indication of any performance deltas. In FP3 Raikkonen ran in the standard car again though they were less competitive, dropping to the bottom of the top ten and into the midfield. Torro Rosso headed up the rest, mixing it with everyone in the midfield at times, using their strong engine and top speed to push into the top ten and make it clear they will be quick for the midfield battle come Sunday, with Ricciardo posting their best of sixth in final practice. Force India struggled, with Di Resta having gearbox problems after FP1 and only just threatening the top ten with 11th in FP2, before a brake failure and a big off at Parabolica in FP3 left his car in pieces ahead of qualifying. Rookie James Calado made an F1 debut in Sutil's car for FP1, getting within half a second of Di Resta. Sutil took it back for FP2 and 3, but couldn't find much pace, battling with the Williams and Torro Rosso's at the back of the midfield. Sauber's Gutierrez had a good set of sessions, getting 11th, 12th and 13th, whilst Hulkenberg suffered gearbox problems in FP1, struggled a bit in FP2 and then found some pace to take 12th in FP3. Williams pushed up into the midfield with Maldonado as he drove to ninth in both FP1 and FP3, with a good midfield run in FP2. Bottas failed to find the groove however, and was only just ahead of the Caterham's and Marussia's at the back for much of practice. Both those teams chose to run their third drive in first practice, with rookie Rodolfo Gonzalez and not-so-rookie Heikki Kovalainen getting track time. Both teams found Monza a leveller as they got closer to the cars in front than usual, and the order of them fluctuated. Chilton got ahead of the Caterham's in FP2 and was very close to Bianchi in FP3 as Caterham regained the initiative ahead of qualifying.