08.55 BST - Good morning once again, and welcome to our coverage of Friday Practice from Monza. I should warn you I didn't get much sleep and I have no Relentless, so I may fall asleep. And that's before we even take into account the inevitable total lack of track action.
09.00 BST - All change this weekend of course, which has brought about Luca Badoer Memorial Day. The Italian has tragically been ousted from his Ferrari seat for what would've been his home Grand Prix, to be replaced by another Italian, Giancarlo Fisichella, fresh from driving a Findia randomly fast in Belgium last week. Replacing Fisi is, oh, another Italian in Tonio Liuzzi, back in competitive (well, as of tomorrow) F1 action for the first time since Brazil 2007.
09.05 BST - 16 of the 20 cars have popped out of the pits to stretch their legs, arms etc, including Fisi, who has turned the wheel of a Ferrari for the first time. He's the first Italian to drive a Ferrari at Monza since Ivan Capelli in 1992. On that occasion poor Ivan retired after 12 laps, which pretty much summed up his 1992 season. Incidentally look out for an article featuring him later this week (yes, I am going to write another article!)
09.10 BST - So we've had everyone except Grosjean bother to pop out onto the circuit. Fisichella's manager Enrico Zanarini (former manager of Eddie Irvine of course) is getting himself on TV as much as possible in the Ferrari garage, while Rob Smedley looks quite happy to see the back of Luca. How terribly disrespectful. Feel free to email me with your testimonies to Luca Badoer (and indeed anything you want to say, I will deify you on this very page).
09.15 BST - Rmn Grjn finally takes to the track, so now everyone has bothered to do an installation lap, although he is the only guy on track. While nothing is happening, Holly Samos tells us the engine situation - Toyota are in the Red Bull position of having used 7 engines per driver, while every other team has used 6 per driver with the exception of Toro Rosso, who have used 5 per driver. Speaking of Toro Rosso, Sebastien Bwemmy takes to the track to do our first proper running, alongside his team mate Jaime Alguersuari.
09.20 BST - Bwemmy does the first flying lap of the session in 1:29.687, with Algie about 2 seconds off his teammate. Seb Vettel is apparently reading a novel in the Red Bull garage, what with his engine breaking ability. The BBC guys are discussing Sebastien Loeb possibly nicking Algie's seat for Abu Dhabi, which wouldn't be the worst thing, given he's now 3 seconds behind his teammate.
09.30 BST - You leave the room for a couple of minutes and suddenly Webber and the McLaren duo are out on track setting times. Ted says Algie looks set to be confirmed at Toro Rosso for next year, which probably means Loeb is definitely switching from WRC. Guffaw. Hamilton is now quickest on a 1:25.410, a tenth quicker than Bwemmy. Fisi is out to turn his first laptimes in a Fezza.
09.35 BST - Ham goes about 8 tenths quicker, and Kova goes second. Fisi's first couple of laps have him pegged in last, come back Luca all is forgiven. Heidfeld improves from 6th to 5th, and all sorts of people have taken to the track now.
The Foot - "Badoer, a haiku;
Summer race
Ferrari seat of the ace
Empty"
09.40 BST - A beautiful effort, very worthy of the man. Kimi's first flying lap is slower than Fisi, I take it all back. Fisi is the King. We're not fickle here at Patty. Christian Horner says that he thinks there's Bob Hope and No Hope of getting past KERS cars this weekend, which is worrying for the non-KERS teams.
09.45 BST - Staying awake is a real effort here. We're at the halfway point of the session, so we may as well run down the order, with only Vettel yet to set a time: Hammy, Button, Sut, Kova, Kimi, Bwemmy, Ickle, Nico, Nakas, Algie, Boobens, Nando, Kubby, Webbo, Jarno, Timo, Tonio, Fisi and Romain.
09.50 BST - Obviously, by the time you read this, the order has changed already, with Nando going up to 6th ahead of Nico in 7th and Nakas 8th. Grosjean is moving 'steadily' towards the a pace.
EMAIL! - The Head is having a senior moment, as he says "It's hard to say what I'll miss most about Badoer. The epic slowness, the endless amusement, the wonderful bouts of petulance, the glasses....hang on a minute, I'm thinking of Sebastien Bourdais."
10.00 BST - McLaren, Brawn, McLaren, Brawn is the top 4, and with Sutil in fifth the first 5 cars are all Mercedes powered. There's a bit of a lull in the session now, with the only cars on track being Heikki, the two Beemers, Nico and Webber. Ickle moves into 10th as Kovalainen goes second. The two Ferraris also take to the track now, as Fisi continues to familiarise himself with the Ferrari, and Webber improves a smidge into 13th.
10.05 BST - Heidfeld has ruined the status quo at the front by going 4th, and improves again to third next time. Fellow countryman Sutil improves into 5th, and another German has a spin at the first chicane in Timo Glock. Nando has gone up into 6th.
10.10 BST - That Spanish guy who won in Singapore last year (more on that saga during FP2) is now up into third. Sebvet is sticking to his engine saving programme and hasn't been out since the opening moments of the session. Grosjean is going along solidly in 12th, but it doesn't look like Toyota are going to pull up any trees this weekend, with Trulli and Glock in 16th and 17th.
10.15 BST - In one of the most exciting moments of the session, Boobens misjudges the second chicane and goes across the tarmac run-off area.
10.20 BST - Sebvet finally takes to the track, and on the TV we see LUCA BADOER looking quite circumspect in the Ferrari garage, poor guy. Fisi has put on a set of soft tyres in a desperate attempt to move away from Badoerth.
10.25 BST - Apparently the last man to win successive Italian Grands Prix was Damon Hill and 1993 and 1994, which doesn't bode so well for last year's winner Sebastian Vettel, in an unbelievable race which I actually had the privilege of terrying. Fisi has improved up to 12th and Kubica is 13th, while Vettel has finally done a flying lap, although he is last.
10.30 BST - I feel like I've put a helluva lot more effort into this session than most of the pitlane frankly. Thankfully it's drawing to a close now, so lets see how things ends up. Sebvet is gradually on the up, as he's now 18th. Kubica improves to 10th, and Fisichella once again outbrakes himself into the first chicane and pops down the escape road. Nico pops into the top 10 now, in tenth, and Hammy looks like improving on his fastest time. Webber goes 9th and Nakajima is 14th, while Fisi goes 8th, just ahead of teammate Raikkonen. Webber retakes 9th, splitting the Ferraris, and the Sut improves ahead of Alonso into third. Webber causes a heart attack for everyone by appearing on scren very slowly, although thankfully he's just touring back to the pits rather than it being a problem.
10.35 BST - So overall then Hamilton is fastest from teammate Kovalainen, then Sutil, Alonso, Ickle, Bwemmy, Button, Fisi, Webbo, Kimi, Kubby, Nico, Nakas, Grosjean, Tonio, Algie, Sebvet and bringing up the rear are the 2 Toyotas of Trulli and Glock. Well, I'll be back shortly before 13.00 BST for Frappy 2, so I'll speak to you then.
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