Sutil winds up fastest on Friday in Monza

Adrian Sutil held nothing back as he charged to the top of the speedcharts to set the pace for the Italian Grand Prix during today's opening two practice sessions. The German ended the second session with a time of 1:23.924 for the Force India-Mercedes team to best the earlier fast lap -- belonging to Lewis Hamilton -- by 0.012 seconds.

Adrian Sutil, Force India F1 Team.
"Everything went well today. The car was working perfectly and we can be very happy about the result," said Sutil. "It was a very, very good time that came as a result of some good work, a great set-up and getting the tyres to work well."
The reigning World Champion Hamilton was definitely superman in the first practice this morning at Monza, Italy. Try as they might, not one of his Formula One rivals could top his time of 1:23.936 on the historic 3.6-mile Autodromo Nazionale Monza circuit.
Hamilton was testing the new low-downforce Monza package for the MP4-24. Despite losing a fuel filler cap on his opening lap, the testing proved successful in the morning run. "I'm pleased with our progress," he said.
"It's always a little nerve-wracking when you arrive at a unique circuit such as this because you want to see if you've taken the right direction with the car's aerodynamics," added Hamilton. "But this morning's session showed us that the engineers had made a very accurate assessment of what would be needed. KERS certainly helps around here -- we can expect it to be worth nearly four tenths in qualifying tomorrow -- but we also made some good progress with our overall package. This afternoon was spent on heavier fuel-loads, so you can't read too much into the times, but I'm encouraged by where we are."

Renault's rising star, Romain Grosjean, appears to keep his focus on his new challenge instead of the on-going "crash-gate" frenzy. Moving over from the GP2 Series, the Frenchman proved his worth with a 1:24.163 to take the third best time.

Romain Grosjean, Renault F1 Team.
"Today has gone rather well, although I had to learn the Monza circuit for the first time in an F1 car," Grosjean said. "It's the 'temple of speed' and a legendary circuit where there is a lot to learn, especially running with the KERS and so there were lots of new procedures for me to get used to. We finished the day in good shape and I'm continuing to work well with the engineers. I tried to improve the set-up and the results were positive so I will continue in the same way tomorrow."
Following his new teammate across was Fernando Alonso with a best laptime of 1:24.297 in the Renault R2904 running mostly on the Bridgestone hard-compound while making adjustments including gear ratios changes.
"It was a normal Friday for us where we worked on set-up and evaluated the tyres. If we can find some more performance tomorrow then hopefully we can be in good shape for qualifying," said Alonso.

For Sutil, the second practice started with him sitting in the team's garage watching an engine change. His patience paid off when he came out and turned in a top five performance on the harder (medium) compound tires Bridgestone . At that time it was Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber setting the pace on the softer Bridgestones.
"We didn't try specifically to go fastest but if you are on top of your game and the car is working well there's no reason why you couldn't be P1 at the end of the session," Sutil said. "It was a very productive day on a very cool track and it's good to have some fun right now."
While Heidfeld could not improve on his 1:24.693 times, Alonso flew to the fastest time but he too was no match for Sutil once the German switched to the softer tires. It was in the final five minutes that Sutil found his stride and hit his fast lap.

Hamilton's speed in the first practice did not show in practice two. The World Champion failed to break into the top 10. Still the McLaren drivers were second and fifth fastest on today's combined practice times.
For the BWM Sauber team, Heidfeld's early speed was topped by teammate Robert Kubica who hit his best mark of 1:24.622, placing him fifth in P2 but sixth best for the day. In the combined times of Friday's practices, Heidfeld was faster in the morning one with a 1:24.683 which left him eighth on the day's efforts. Both BMW F1.09 drivers had modified front wings and to lower the drag on the Monza circuit, they were using a "special rear wing".
Kubica. "In the afternoon we worked on the set-up of the car and tried to evaluate the tyres Bridgestone "

Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber F1 Team. .
Heidfeld went off in practice two which he explained: "The height of the new kerbs changes the circuit quite a lot, you have to get used to it and look where you can still go over them and which ones you better avoid. At the end of the second session I pitted a few minutes early after I went straight on at the Ascari chicane and wanted to have the car checked."
Sandwiched between the two BMWs was Toyota's Timo Glock with a 1:24.634 in practice two. The German ended seventh in the overall picture. "It was a reasonably good second practice. It was tougher in the morning but we made some changes to the set-up and in the afternoon the car felt better overall," said the German.
"The weather was also quite a bit different to last year's rain and that was definitely an improvement," added Glock.
Sebastien Buemi was able to outdo both of the Brawn-Mercedes team drivers to place ninth fastest in his Toro Rosso-Ferrari with a time set in practice one of 1:24.703. Points leader for this year's world title, Jenson Button, was 0.020 seconds back, taking the 10th best time of the day with a 1:24.706.
For the homeland "red" team, the best time of the day was set by the Ferrari rookie: The dream for Giancarlo Fisichella to race for the Scuderia Ferrari team came true this weekend. Making his debut in his homeland might have put pressure on him but if that was the case, it didn't show. Instead, the Italian laid down a 1:24.732 in the morning session which stood up in the afternoon to place him 11th overall. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen's best was a 1:24.796 in practice two.
"I feel satisfied with this first day, which was particularly tough from a driving point of view," said the Italian in his first time driving the 'Prancing Horse' in a competitive environment. "The major difficulties are in adapting to the different positions of the buttons and gaining confidence with the KERS.

Giancarlo Fisichella, Scuderia Ferrari.
"This morning, braking heavily at Ascari, I flat-spotted the left front tyre and that meant I had to fit the softer tyres earlier than planned: I felt more confident with those and I managed to drive at a strong pace. In both sessions, we didn't go looking for performance and I had a lot of fuel on board," Fisichella continued. "The potential is there to get onto the front few rows, but I need a bit more time to improve, especially in terms of braking and cutting the kerbs."
The real story will show tomorrow now that the F1 teams have sorted out their qualifying and race setups for the high speed circuit. Who will be fastest at the end of qualifying is the first question with the second one being who will parlay their fast times on Saturday into Sunday's victory.