The rain returned ahead of Friday afternoon practice ensuring that the second 90-minute practice session was a frustrating affair resulting in very limited mileage for the 20 runners. With just three sets of intermediate and four sets of full wet tires permitted over the weekend, most opted to stay dry in the pits rather than lapping the Suzuka Circuit.

Only Jaime Alguersuari and Toro Rosso Ferrari team-mate Sebastien Buemi completed an installation lap in the first hour of the session before Fernando Alonso and Alguersuari took top the circuit with 30 minutes remaining. “If we had more tires, I think people would be going out and doing more running,” admitted morning pace-setter Heikki Kovalainen who opted not to run at all.

The final 15 minutes saw most complete a short stint of a few timed laps on the full wet tires. Adrian Sutil set the pace as the checkered flag flew with a best lap of 1:47.231s, seven seconds off Heikki Kovalainen’s best lap in the dryer morning session.

Lewis Hamilton clinches his 15th career Pole at Monza, while Adrian Sutil continues to ride wave of success at low downforce circuits for Force India.  Taking a close look at the fuel weights, there seems to be 2 different race strategies playing out.  The top 3 qualifiers seem to be on a 2 stop fuel strategy, while the remaining 7 will most likely opt for a one-stopper.  It should be interesting to see it unfold, as we will have 2 different races transpiring simultaneously, and will not see the true placement until the second round of pit stops. Monza never fails to entertain!

Saturday Qualifying Results:

Position	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Weight (kg)
1	Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	1:23.375	1:22.973	1:24.066	653.5
2	Sutil	Force India	1:23.576	1:23.070	1:24.261	655.0
3	Raikkonen	Scuderia Ferrari	1:23.349	1:23.426	1:24.523	662.0
4	Kovalainen	McLaren Mercedes	1:23.515	1:23.528	1:24.845	683.0
5	Barrichello	Brawn GP	1:23.483	1:22.976	1:25.015	688.5
6	Button	Brawn GP	1:23.403	1:22.955	1:25.030	687.0
7	Liuzzi	Force India	1:23.578	1:23.207	1:25.043	679.5
8	Alonso	Renault	1:23.708	1:23.497	1:25.072	677.5
9	Vettel	Red Bull Racing	1:23.558	1:23.545	1:25.180	682.0
10	Webber	Red Bull Racing	1:23.755	1:23.273	1:25.314	683.0
11	Trulli	Toyota	1:24.014	1:23.611		703.0
12	Grosjean	Renault	1:23.975	1:23.728		699.8
13	Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:24.001	1:23.866		697.5
14	Fisichella	Scuderia Ferrari	1:23.828	1:23.901		690.0
15	Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:23.584	1:24.275		697.5
16	Glock	Toyota	1:24.036			709.0
17	Nakajima	Williams	1:24.074			706.2
18	Rosberg	Williams	1:24.121			708.6
19	Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:24.220			706.0
20	Alguersuari	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:24.951			706.0

Saturday Qualifying Results:

Position	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Weight (kg)
1	Webber	Red Bull Racing	1:31.257	1:38.038	1:32.230	661
2	Barrichello	Brawn GP	1:31.482	1:34.455	1:32.357	647
3	Button	Brawn GP	1:31.568	1:39.032	1:32.473	644
4	Vettel	Red Bull Racing	1:31.430	1:39.504	1:32.480	661
5	Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	1:31.473	1:39.149	1:32.616	654.5
6	Kovalainen	McLaren Mercedes	1:31.881	1:40.826	1:33.859	664
7	Sutil	Force India	1:32.015	1:36.740	1:34.316	678.5
8	Massa	Scuderia Ferrari	1:31.600	1:41.708	1:34.574	673.5
9	Raikkonen	Scuderia Ferrari	1:31.869	1:41.730	1:34.710	674
10	Piquet	Renault	1:32.128	1:35.737	1:34.803	676
11	Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:31.771	1:42.310		681
12	Alonso	Renault	1:31.302	1:42.318		668.2
13	Nakajima	Williams	1:31.884	1:42.500		683.6
14	Trulli	Toyota	1:31.760	1:42.771		683.7
15	Rosberg	Williams	1:31.598	1:42.859		689.6
16	Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:32.190			673.5
17	Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:32.251			674.5
18	Fisichella	Force India	1:32.402			662.5
19	Glock	Toyota	1:32.423			689.5
20	Bourdais	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:33.559			662.3

photo credit ©XPB