Monza 2009 – Italian Grand Prix Practice 1

McLaren showed why it is rated among the favourites to win the Italian Grand Prix by making a strong start in opening practice on Friday, Lewis Hamilton outpacing team-mate Heikki Kovalainen to head up the times.

With KERS-equipped cars expected to feature prominently on the high-speed Monza circuit, McLaren used its class-leading system to dominate the morning session, Hamilton in particular quickly got into the groove to outpace Kovalainen by almost 0.4s and finish just over 0.5s clear of the first non-McLaren with a best time of 1m23.936s.

1 – L Hamilton  McLaren
2 – H Kovalainen     McLaren
3 – A Sutil     Force India
4 – F Alonso     Renault
5 – N Heidfeld     BMW Sauber
6 – S Buemi     Toro Rosso
7 – J Button     Brawn
8 – G Fisichella     Ferrari
9 – M Webber     Red Bull
10 – K Raikkonen     Ferrari
11 – R Kubica     BMW Sauber
12 – R Barrichello     Brawn
13 – N Rosberg     Williams
14 – K Nakajima     Williams
15 – R Grosjean     Renault
16 – V Liuzzi     Force India
17 – J Alguersuari     Toro Rosso
18 – S Vettel     Red Bull
19 – J Trulli     Toyota
20 – T Glock     Toyota