Welcome back to ESPNF1's coverage of the Italian Grand Prix. We've got live commentary of the second free practice session coming up in half an hour after McLaren dominated this morning's 90 minutes of running with Hamilton and Button one and two. This afternoon we should see whether that was a true representation of their pace or if Red Bull held something back.

Talking of Red Bull, during the lunch break the team announced that it has signed a new five-year deal with engine supplier Renault. Part of the deal means that Red Bull and Renault are going to work very closely on the 2014 power unit, full story here.

If that doesn't float your boat, here's one of our favourite photos from the first practice session. Note the security guard sitting on the wrong side of the guardrail at the top of the banking.

© Getty Images

... and here is a picture of that very same banking in use during the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.

© Sutton Images

For those of you of who are interested, Vitaly Petrov was the fastest through the speed trap at 347.1 km/h and Sebastian Vettel was the slowest at 327.6.

And Ferrari has offered an explanation for Alonso's absence at the end of FP1, apparently he had a problem with his rear left tyre. The Tifosi will be hoping he is closer to the pace in this session as the drivers get their first taste of the soft tyres at Monza.

If you have any questions or comments during this session feel free to send them over by clicking on the link at the top of this window.

Track temperature is now at 41C which should suit those who struggle to get heat into their tyres.

The engine cover is off Massa's Ferrari and it is up on jacks. We'll keep an eye on what's happening down in the garages this afternoon and try to keep you up to date.

Vinnie asks: "Does anyone think that Mark Webber will have a rip this time or is he holding back?"

The session is underway and it looks like Alguersuari will be the first to have a rip as he's at the front of the queue leaving the pit lane.

Adriaan asks: "What was the fastest time through free practice last year and who was it?" Vettel was fastest in FP2 with a time of 1:22.839. Hamilton was fastest in FP3 with a 1:22.498 and Alonso was fastest in qualifying with a 1:21.962.

Petrov has set the fastest time in this session so far with a 1:27.236. But the times should tumble over the next few minutes.

Schumacher has already made a mistake at the first chicane and clobbered the sleeping policeman (speed bumps) in the run off. It looked like Petrov also missed the turn in point down there.

Perez pops in a 1:26.594 but Hamilton has just started his first fast lap.

Mercedes on Schumacher's early mistake: "The track is still pretty green and some drivers tend to lose the back in corners. Including Michael just now but no issue on the car"

Alguersuari just got squeezed as he tried to pass a Sauber and his team-mate Buemi is off at the Parabolica.

Buemi gets out of the car as the marshals arrive on the scene. It looks like he's hit the tyre barrier hard.

He ran wide coming out of the Parabolica and as soon as he got out on the grass it was never going to come back. The car skittered across the gravel and then thumped the wall, breaking the front and rear suspension on the left hand side.

Button goes fastest as the track returns to normal with a 1:25.905.

Webber is 0.161 off the Mclaren with his latest time.

Trulli is back in his car after handing it over to Chandhok this morning. Lotus says: "Ride height and brake adjustments planned for Jarno's car before his next run"

Vettel tops the times now with a 1:25.635. The Red Bulls are looking a bit more punchy this afternoon but we're still a long way off the expected times.

No soft tyres being used yet, Pirelli says: "Teams are starting off on the P Zero White medium tyres for now, temperature is 28 degrees..."

Paul asks: "Vettel's speed in the trap was the slowest in Q1 does he have compromised top speed for more aero?"

Yep this weekend is going to be all about finding a balance between top speed and downforce in the corners. The main way to alter that balance is by changing the amount of rear wing the car runs.

Lotus tweets: "Heikki says he struggled to get the same grip as this morning on that run, which made the car unstable. The track will keep on improving..."

Vettel improves to a 1:24.866.

Alonso runs a tad wide at the second chicane and dips the rear tyre of the Ferrari in the gravel on the exit. It's good to see a track with proper gravel traps that punish driver errors.

Eight of the top ten cars are currently in the pits.

Senna just had a big moment exiting the Ascari chicane. He lost the rear of the car and just managed to catch it by using the limited run off on the exit. Impressive stuff.

Vettel's best time is currently 0.695 faster than Alonso's in case you were wondering. However, they are both some way off Hamilton's 1:23.865 from FP1.

Senna has popped into the top ten and appears to be holding his own. He's also 0.034s faster than team-mate Petrov.

@vithunkumar asks: "Why have teams like Force India lost their advantage in straight line speed in lower downforce circuits like Spa and Monza ?"

Force India used to have a car that worked very well on low-drag circuits but that was mainly because it didn't have much in the way of overall downforce, although the downforce it had was efficient. Since 2009 Force India has worked hard to build more of an all-rounder that works on all sorts of tracks and they have lost some of their straight-line speed advantage.

Rosberg is out of his car and at the back of the garage as his Mercedes goes up on jacks. He hasn't set a time yet in this session so obviously has some issues.

Ferrari update: "Felipe is on track for his second run of the afternoon, on the same set of Medium tyres"

Vettel is also back out on track on medium tyres.

Mercedes is reporting that Rosberg is back in his car and ready to go out on track.

Ricciardo, on the other hand, is definitely not in his car. The HRT is in pieces and he's watching on from the back of the garage.

Ferrari adds: "Also Fernando is back on track, on the same set of Medium tyres as well"

Hamilton sets a new personal best for this session with a 1:25.284 on the medium tyres. He's second but still some way off his morning pace.

Perez and Rosberg are out on soft tyres, we should get some faster times now.

Perez pops up to third on the softs with a 1:25.347. Schumacher is on a fast lap too...

And Schumacher goes fastest with a 1:24.816, using all the track and more as he did so. But we haven't seen soft tyre laps from the Red Bulls, McLarens or Ferraris yet.

Rosberg clocks a 1:29.651 on the softs and is back in 18th. He appears to be on a different programme to Schumacher.

Senna is currently seventh after his soft tyre lap. He's 0.784 off Schumacher.

Schumacher improves again with a 1:24.347 and Senna, behind the Mercedes on the track, moves up to fifth with a 1:25.325.

There's a bit of poking around going on at the back of Hamilton's car as he sits in the garage ahead of his soft tyre run.

Massa is now out on softs in the Ferrari.

Massa can only manage third fastest with his first lap on the softs.

Massa improves again to get within 0.019 of Schumacher. He's the fastest in the middle sector but still slower overall than Hamilton's run from FP1 on medium tyres.

Hamilton is leaving the pits on soft tyres.

Vettel is also out on softs ... this is about to get interesting.

Vettel is 0.5s off the pace in sector one and has hit traffic in sector two.

Hamilton goes quickest of all on his first lap on the softs with a 1:24.046 - still slower than his FP1 time though.

Vettel goes quicker on his second attempt but is still 0.143 off Hamilton. Senna and Schumacher clocked their best times on their third lap on the softs so there could be more to come.

Alonso has also joined the fun on the soft tyres and starts his first lap on the option compound.

Hamilton is going quicker again but is still off the pace of Schumacher in sector one. But the McLaren is making up chunks of time in sector two.

Alonso can only manage sixth on his first attempt on softs.

Hamilton's lap just got ruined by a very slow Alguersuari in the Parabolica. Shame as it looked like a faster lap. And Hamilton dives straight back into the pits.

Vettel is now fastest with a 1:24.010 but still off the pace of Hamilton's morning time. The soft tyres just don't appear to be giving their usual advantage this afternoon.

Alonso runs a tad wide coming out of turn two again. And the rear of the car snapped wildly out of the Ascari chicane. He's doing very well to keep it all pointing in the right direction. It didn't help his lap time, however, and he's still fifth.

So the low-fuel soft tyre runs look as though they've come to an end and Vettel is fastest, 0.036s quicker than Hamilton. Schumacher is third, 0.337s off Vettel.

An update from Lotus: "Another green sector for Jarno, but then he lost some time, so Gianluca radioed him back into the pits. Now preparing for a longer run"

Most of the drivers will now be running heavy fuel on the soft tyres to simulate the conditions at the start of the race and get an idea of how long they will last. They will use that data to figure out their race strategy.

Button and Massa are running line astern on track and the Ferrari passes the McLaren along the straight.

Hamilton reports a problem with the clutch but is staying out on track. He's got Webber hounding him on track but the McLaren is not using his DRS and the Red Bull is, but only in the activation zones.

Webber breezes past Hamilton on the straight while the McLaren kept his throttle pinned to the floor. That suggests overtaking is going to be rather easy on Sunday. Of course we don't know fuel loads and Hamilton wasn't attempting to block him off.

All but three cars are out on track now. Just Alonso, Alguersuari and Ricciadro in the garage at the moment.

Ricciardo has had a nightmare session and has only completed two laps.

McLaren's pit to car radio with Hamilton: "Your last lap was a 1m29.2s. Do you want to box?"

Ricciardo is back out on the track now that HRT has fixed his alternator problem.

Oscar asks: "During Schumacher's lap I can see quite often his left hand moving down on a kind of leverage, what is it?"

That will be the brake bias lever to change the bias from front to rear. Schumacher has always been keen on tinkering with it over the course of a lap.

Just a couple of minutes remaining and Hamilton is still out there with his lap times gradually improving. McLaren tell him over the radio: "You're doing a great job, Lewis."

The chequered flag is out and Kobayashi has parked at the side of the circuit with a mechanical problem.

Vettel's time at the top of the timesheets is safe.

The cars are filtering back to the pits and it looks as though Red Bull are gearing up for another competitive weekend. However, Hamilton could have gone faster had he not been blocked by Alguersuari so it's definitely all to play for.

Ferrari are probably further off the pace than they had hoped, especially on the hard tyres, but it would be a brave person who ruled them out at Monza. Schumacher also proved that the Mercedes is at home on the high-speed straights although Rosberg did not set a representative time.

Thanks for joining us for practice. Make sure you keep checking the website this afternoon for all the latest stories and comments from the drivers.