Welcome back to live coverage of the second free practice session for the Italian Grand Prix. Monza remains resplendent in the sunshine and FP2 is just 30 minutes away

The teams will be grateful for this weather, which is allowing them to carry out a 'normal' Friday schedule testing parts and honing set-ups. After high fuel runs on the hard tyre this morning we should see the medium make an appearance this afternoon

And who was quickest in this morning's session you ask? Well, it was a certain Mr Michael Schumacher:

© Sutton Images

Mercedes and McLaren both looked strong, but I don't think Nico Rosberg would be confident enough to play football during FP2 as well:

© Press Association

If you want to get in touch with us during this session you can do so in one of two ways. Either send us an email using the link above, or Tweet us in the paddock at Monza @ESPNF1

A bit of light reading for you before this session gets under way (or heavy reading if you're Felipe Massa) comes from Luca di Montezemolo, who's hinted Massa's time with the team could be coming to an end

We had a few questions about the speed trap in the break - Jerome d'Ambrosio was the quickest man through it with a top speed of 213mph

And you'll be delighted to know that we've got d'Ambrosio to appear in the standings! Hurrah!

Driver changes since this morning - Karthikeyan is back in his HRT, di Resta returns for Force India and Senna takes over the Williams again

Lots of questions about Alonso's engine. It is being changed at the moment (and is almost done) but teams tend to run old engines on a Friday in case of problems, so it won't be the race engine getting changed and therefore no penalty

We're under way in FP2 and Perez is straight in to setting a lap time

Vishwa emails in to say: "Does Mr. Ferrari has an eye on either of the Sauber drivers, they seem to be safe bet, if he is planning for future as well as competitive."

You'd expect they're an option, but who knows who the number one candidate is.

Raikkonen sets the fastest lap early on with a 1:26.093

Just to make it clear - Alonso is changing his engine but it's an old one and he will not take a penalty

Lawrence emails in to ask: "I have a query regarding the current F1 driver line up and past ones as well. I have been following the F1 for over 30 years now however I cannot recall if any information on any driver saying that one has studied and is an engineer, or accountant, chemist.....

"Do we have university graduates in the F1 line up? Once their spell in F1 racing ends what will they be doing apart from driving in other categories?"

Aside from potential honorary graduates, as far as I know none of them have been to University. Nico Rosberg was offered a place at Imperial College in London to study Aeronautics in 2005 but decided to concentrate on racing - which doesn't really go hand in hand with studying for a degree. Fortunately, drivers tend to earn a fair bit of money and their experiences make them attractive for media work, punditry, team ownership, driver management etc.

Raikkonen still quickest on a 1:25.934 ahead of Button and Perez by over 0.45s

Anthony emails in from Pretoria to say: "Jenson Button has finished second in Italy for the last three years, would be great if he could win this one."

Just as you say that, Anthony, Button improves his best time but is still 0.230s slower than Raikkonen

Rosberg goes second, 0.127s slower than Raikkonen

Hamilton now second on a 1:26.048

Yet to see a car on medium tyres this afternoon. We're also yet to see Alonso (who is in his car) or de la Rosa

Karthikeyan bounces across the gravel exiting the second Lesmo as he tries to make up for lost time this morning

Alonso and de la Rosa both head out

Button goes fastest with a 1:25.832

Schumacher has a DRS failure but his engineer says there's nothing Mercedes can do about it in this session

Thanks to Paul who has emailed in to point out that Marc Gene has a degree in Economics from the University of Buckingham - basing himself close to Silverstone to do it in the early nineties

Rosberg now fastest on a 1:25.446 ahead of Massa and Alonso by 0.118s

Mike asks where the speed trap is: It is located on the start/finish straight just before the braking point for the first chicane

Alonso's gone quickest with a 1:25.350

D'Ambrosio once again the quickest man through the speed trap at 345kph

Craig emails in to ask: "Does d'Ambrosio take over the number 10 car this weekend or is he car number 26?"

He takes over Grosjean's car so it does indeed stay as number 10

Clinton says: "Will be interesting to compare Schumachers P1 and P2 time difference to see the full effect of the DRS "

Schumacher is just 0.8s slower than his team-mate despite no DRS. If he had it available, that gap would disappear

Stuart asks: "Why are Mercedes and Schumacher having so many difficulties this year? Are they pushing the limits just too far?"

It's just bad luck, Stuart. All of these cars are built on the edge, but Rosberg has the exact same car and is just as likely to have a problem as Schumacher. People tend to jump on the fact that Schumacher always has bad luck but it's because he's a big name - much less was made of di Resta's KERS failing in the Belgian GP

Rajeev asks: "Hello I'm new to F1. Can i know more about free practice..."

You can indeed Rajeev. The teams get two 90-minute sessions on a Friday, and then one 60-minute session on a Saturday morning where they can test new parts and try to prepare their cars for qualifying and the race. The times are just indicators for who is quick and who isn't, but don't count for anything once qualifying begins

Rosberg having problems with the airflow not re-attaching when he closes his DRS - so it's not just Schumacher with issues. He's told to lift and coast for 25 metres to try and get the air to attach to the wing before he brakes

Not that it seems to help - Rosberg fails to slow down enough for the turn one chicane and has to weave through the bollards, clipping one on the way through

We've just had a great email in from Erkko who is a professor at Imperial College! He says:

"Nico Rosberg's father Keke had a degree in IT engineering and used to work as an information systems engineer before embarking on F1. This might also explain Nico's early interest in Imperial. To be clear, Imperial is a top-10 university globally, and not everyone gets offered a place."

Another email in asks about Red Bull's pace. Vettel currently 12th and Webber 15th, and they were only 9th and 12th in FP1. Red Bull does appear to be a bit off the pace here, but it's close and it could be working on race set-up so we'll wait until after FP3 to truly judge it

Cheryl emails in to ask: "Good to see Alonso back in the thick of it after last weekend.... But hoping the McLaren boys get a hat trick!"

54 minutes to go and Alonso is still quickest. Di Resta improves to a 1:26.048 but stays seventh

Ben asks: "Your thoughts on Charles Pic this season? Is he a chance to retain a drive next year?"

I've been impressed with Pic. I didn't think he'd do a lot after seeing him in GP2 - he didn't stand out as such - but he's really taken the fight to Glock and I think Marussia would do well to keep him. But the team needs money from its drivers, so he'll need to bring as much sponsorship as possible

Alonso's on the medium tyres but doesn't improve first time round

Clinton emails in to remind us about another clever driver: "Jonathan Palmer was a Doctor (medical). His nickname was "The Flying Doctor""

A number of drivers improving in the middle sector but not in the rest of the lap. Raikkonen on medium tyres and he goes fourth on a 1:25.809

Denis says: "You would think that the aerodynamicists at Mercedes would have tested this in the wind tunnel before installing a revised wing. This is not reminiscent of the type of efficiency associated with Ross Brawn!"

The team will have tested it, but and oddities would not show up until it's put in to practice. It's the sort of thing Brawn could have discovered at Ferrari when there was unlimited testing.

Alonso unhappy with something on his brakes after missing the first corner

Vettel puts on a new set of medium tyres but can't improve. He's started this lap with a fastest first sector though

Gary emails in about Bruno Senna: "Once again he just seems so slow! No natural pace at all! Cant see him keeping his drive over Bottas, what do you think?"

Senna's down in 17th at present and 1.6s off the pace. He has only had 20 laps all day though having missed FP1, so it's probably a bit unfair to judge him on that. I think he needs to up his qualifying performances but I actually think he's done a good job in the races. If money wasn't an issue I'd have Bottas and Senna out of the three drivers available to Williams

Schumacher told over the team radio that we're not seeing much of an improvement on the medium tyre. Massa has improved though and is second with a 1:25.430

Rohit asks: "So I was wondering how the DRS detection works during the race. If the driver is a second behind another car, does his DRS button automatically light up, or is this communicated to him by the team over the radio. In essence how does he know he is one second behind the other car?

Also in my personal opinion DRS should only be available to cars racing each other or to lead cars coming across backmarkers, meaning Lewis Hamilton should not have had the DRS available to unlap himself from Vettel a couple of races ago."

There may be readout on the steering wheel, but as far as I'm aware most teams have engineered it so that the DRS automatically opens at full throttle if it's available - there's no button to activate it etc.

Button was 0.2s up in the first sector on a set of medium tyres but he ends the lap 0.135s slower than Alonso and in fourth place

Carlos emails in: "Please I want to Know which tyres are available for race?"

It's the medium and hard compound tyres, Carlos

Sergio points out that Nigel Mansell was an aerospace engineer - I assume that required a degree but I couldn't find out where he studied

Button now 0.175s up through sector two - can he finish the lap off?

Yes he can. Button goes quickest by just 0.022s

Webber improves, but he's still a second off the pace and 13th

Mercedes power looks strong. Di Resta has just gone sixth in the Force India - 0.284s slower that Button - on medium tyres

Vlado asks from Croatia: "Please, could you tell us, what is the weather forecast at the race time?"

Dry, hot and sunny!

Oliver asks: "What's the current preferred pit stop strategy at Monza? I can't imagine Monza's the worst for tyre-wear on the calendar even though they run such low downforce. My guess would be start on Mediums (as a qualifying tyre) then change to Hard at your one and only stop. Any educated guesses though?"

And you'd be right Oliver, it looks likely that the ideal strategy will be a one-stop race

Paul asks: "Are Button and Hamilton running the same rear wing?"

Yes, they are - both have the same wing, which is different from the two they had last weekend due to the special wings run at Monza

And Hamilton goes quickest with a 1:25.290

Bjorn does my research for me and tells me Mansell got an Engineering degree at Matthew Boulton College

Guillaume emails in to ask: "The Belgian seems to have a decent pace today. What to think of his performance so far? How did he compare to Glock, last year, really? Can a good weekend land him a seat next season?"

Firstly, Guillaume is interested because he's working at Viry-Chatillon! Secondly, d'Ambrosio did a good job last year and I felt he was harshly dumped by Marussia. I think he can only harm his reputation this weekend, but it would take something really special to get himself a drive for next year based on this weekend alone

Johan asks: "How do you rate McLaren vs Ferrari so far this weekend? Who will have the upper hand?"

I think McLaren will be quicker - it tends to be over one lap in qualifying and Spa isn't all that different from Monza so that's a good indicator that McLaren is probably the team to beat. The top four is McLaren-McLaren-Ferrari-Ferrari at present and very close; all four covered by 0.14s

Tim wants to know how d'Ambrosio is getting on. He's 12th at the moment and 0.8s off Hamilton's pace. He's 0.6s off Raikkonen, and hasn't made any major mistakes so far so he's doing a good job

Heavy fuel time and Rosberg does a 1:31.222 on the hard tyre

Alonso has a problem - he's crawling around the track at present and appears to be stuck in second gear

He's made it back to the pit lane, but that seemed to be a gearbox issue. Now this could cost him grid positions...

Massa runs a bit wide at the first Lesmo after touching the kerb on the inside

Kobayashi slowly back to the pit lane with his rain light on

Alonso's climbing out of his car in the garage, and it seems like whatever that problem is will end his session

Button does a 1m30.7s on high fuel - half a second quicker than Rosberg

1m30.9s from Vettel

We've got the closest field we've had in a while here due to the low-downforce configurations. Both HRTs are within 3.5s of the quickest time, both Marussias within 2.7s and Kovalainen is just 1.5s off in the Caterham

Ferrari confirms Alonso's session is over, and says it looks like a gearbox problem

Sachin asks: "What is the Maximum speed that can be reached in Monza circuit? and what exactly do you mean by Low/High Downforce."

We're looking at about 350kph as the top end round here in these cars, and high downforce means a lot of aerodynamic parts helping push the car on to the circuit and take corners at a higher speed. That impacts on top speed though, so low downforce means the car isn't able to corner so quickly but is faster on the straights (because less drag is created by the wings)

Here comes Vettel on medium tyres and high fuel - he's done a 1:30.423

We'll have to await FIA confirmation over Alonso's gearbox, but if he needs to take a new one then he could be facing a five-place grid penalty

Button reports big vibrations in his McLaren after a double lock-up in to turn one

Hamilton does a 1m30.1s

Schumacher with a 1m29.9s and Rosberg with a 1m29.8s

Massa does a 1m29.3s on hard tyres - these are all on high fuel but we don't know the exact levels

Button does a 1m30.1s on hard tyres, although he deployed his DRS on the main straight

Raikkonen starts a heavy-fuel lap on hard tyres so we'll soon be able to compare the Lotus pace too

Raikkonen does a 1m29.375s on hard tyres

Rosberg did a 1m29.6s on the same lap as Raikkonen

D'Ambrosio does a 1m30.3s on medium tyres - could be a very early race simulation if Lotus expects to qualify in the top ten

Hamilton locks up and runs wide at the Roggia chicane, while Vettel does the same at the first chicane

Rajeev asks why DRS is used in F1 - it's an overtaking aid to give the following car a straight-line speed advantage. It's designed to help a much quicker car overtake a slower one

We have loads of Alonso-related questions coming in. If the gearbox needs replacing and hasn't completed five races then he will be penalised; if it was damaged in the crash last weekend this gearbox would be a different one (and that initial change would not have been penalised). There are always sub clauses in the regulations so Laurence is stationed by the FIA notice board for confirmation tonight or tomorrow - so our Twitter feed will give a definitive answer when we know

As the chequered flag falls, Massa does a 1m28.7s, Rosberg does a 1m29.1s laps and Schumacher does a 1m29.5s. There's a group of quick cars in race trim, so qualifying could be crucial

So a very competitive session comes to a close, with Hamilton quickest from Button by just 0.038s. Alonso is third 0.02s further back ahead of Massa, Rosberg, Raikkonen, di Resta and Hulkenberg. The top eight are covered by just 0.257s and Schumacher would be up there but for a DRS failure in the session.

Swapnil asks: "I always read that we don't know the fuel level rendering the predictions futile. However, for heavy fuel runs, presumably all engines have similar consumption/lap and there is no refueling which means that everyone has to start with same fuel weight. In this case, why cant we directly compare the heavy fuel timings keeping tire wear into consideration?"

The engine consumption does differ, but the main thing is we don't know how much fuel the teams have put in during practice - high fuel doesn't necessarily mean a full tank and they don't need to run with a full tank during practice as they are not running a full grand prix distance, just simulating a section of it

Before we sign off, for those asking about telling you the heavy fuel lap times we do try where we can, but the timing we receive doesn't update the time if it isn't an improvement on the best, so we have to add up sector times ourselves which is very tricky! Of course, when a full lap time is shown on-screen it's easier, but unfortunately that's out of our control and we try to give you an example from every front-running team during the latter stages of the session. Hope that explains things!

Thank you for joining us for this session, and for all your feedback. We had so many emails in this afternoon I'm sorry we couldn't respond to them all, but thanks for the questions and comments. We'll be back for FP3 tomorrow, but in the meantime keep up to date with our Twitter feed from the paddock and all of the reaction from the drivers on ESPNF1.com. Bye for now.