Ahead of today's sole free practice session, the air temperature is 22 degrees C, whilst the track temperature is 30 degrees. It is bright and sunny, typically Monza.

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in yesterday's opening session but was side-lined for much of the second with an electrics issue. However, once on track he was able to set the second best time, just 0.061s off the pace of... you've guessed it, teammate Nico Rosberg.

It's unclear whether Ferrari has been playing games but despite warning of a difficult weekend the scarlet cars appeared to be the best of the rest, certainly in FP2, with Kimi Raikkonen out-pacing Fernando Alonso.

Mercedes-powered cars will have the edge here, and consequently its wasn't surprising to see William and McLaren right up there, whilst both Force Indias were just outside the top ten.

Like Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo had a difficult day, the Australian losing track time with an engine problem in the morning. Unable to make full use of its superior aero package here, Red Bull will struggle this weekend.

However, Red Bull's struggles are nothing compared to Lotus where the black and gold cars are having difficulty fighting off the Marussias. Another difficult weekend for the Enstone team.

Other than the warring teammates at Brackley, one of the big talking points up until now has been power unit component usage. Today, Daniil Kvyat became the first driver to be hit with as ten-place grid penalty after his team changed his engine (ICE) thereby taking him over the magical limit of 5.

Whilst this is the first such penalty this season, it won't be the last, particularly for the Renault-powered teams.

Tyres this weekend are the hard and medium. Yesterday's running suggested there is just half-a-second between them.

The lights go green and aforesaid Kvyat leads the way, followed by Bottas and Chilton.

Rosberg has barely left the pitlane when he locks up and misses the first chicane.

Kobayashi, back in the car after being replaced in Belgium, looks likely to be the first driver to post a time. The Japanese has admitted that he has no idea as to whether he will be dropped for further races. He eventually crosses the line at 1:33.344.

As Button goes quickest (30.913) Magnussen goes second (32.296), only to make a hash of the first chicane. Kobayashi ups the ante with a 30.523.

Rosberg is told to "box" after he complains of an issue with his gears, "they are not learned", he says, the German already having been told to be easy with his brakes which are not yet up to temperature.

Like Rosberg, Hulkenberg is advised that his brakes need more heat.

Button re-takes the top spot with a 27.076 ahead of Hulkenberg (28.285). Next time the Briton improves with a 26.845.

Hamilton's first flying lap sees the Mercedes driver go third (29.297).

Perez posts 27.709 to go third as Piero Ferrari is pictured arriving in the paddock.

Ricciardo, having made use of part of the artificial grass at the Parabolica, goes second with a 27.100, as teammate Vettel goes fourth (27.362).

Bottas goes quickest in S2 and again in S3, crossing the line at 26.915 to go second to his teammate. Elsewhere, again, even having pitted to rectify the problem, Rosberg complains that his gears are not learning.

Grosjean almost trips up over countryman Vergne at the first chicane, moments later teammate Maldonado has to miss the corner and weave through the polystyrene markers.

Bottas improves to 26.693 to go quickest. After twenty minutes of running, all but Sutil, Alonso and Rosberg have posted times.

With almost surreal timing, as Alonso posts 27.065 to go fourth, team president Luca di Montezemolo arrives in the paddock. There is widespread speculation that the Italian is to leave the company in the not too distant future.

It's a Williams 1-2 as Massa posts 26.790 to go second. Moments later, the Grove duo are split by Alonso who mates Bottas' time to one-thousandth-of-a-second. Raiikonen improves to fifth with a 27.004.

Both Toro Rosso drivers having handling problems, both very out of shape at Ascari.

Rosberg is out of his car, and lots of worried looks on that side of the Mercedes garage as the floor of the German's car is removed. Indeed, Mercedes tweets that due to a gearbox issue he will not run again this morning which means no qualifying simulations for the world championship leader.