| 13.30 | Welcome to F1-Live.com and our live coverage of the 53-lap Italian Grand Prix. It is another perfect day, weather wise, at Monza and the start is 30 minutes away. |
| 13.32 | McLaren Mercedes head into the Italian race as firm favourites having completely dominated qualifying yesterday. Fernando Alonso starts from the pole position ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Given Alonso’s pace all weekend, he is aiming to record his first win at the Monza circuit. |
| 13.34 | For Hamilton, his five point advantage in the championship is not much of a cushion and he will be aiming to get the jump on his team-mate at the start of the race, while trying to keep behind rivals Felipe Massa. In fact, none of the four championship contenders have ever won at Monza... |
| 13.36 | Massa starts third in the leading Ferrari, but was a massive half second off Alonso in qualifying. For Massa and Ferrari, this race may be a case of damage limitation. Kimi Raikkonen starts fifth after a difficult day yesterday. A heavy crash in practice has left him nursing a painful neck. |
| 13.38 | Nick Heidfeld took advantage of the troubles at Ferrari to qualify his BMW Sauber in a strong fourth position. It remains to be seen what fuel load the German is carrying as last time out team-mate Robert Kubica qualified well, only to pit very early in the race and never be a factor again. |
| 13.40 | Kubica himself starts sixth in his F1.07 and his qualifying pace was three-tenths slower than Heidfeld indicating a heavier fuel load. His target is to be the best of the rest behind the top two teams. |
| 13.42 | Behind the fastest six, there was a big time gap in qualifying, seven-tenths of a second in fact. Heikki Kovalainen starts seventh in the leading Renault and may well be one of those opting to try and make the race a one stop event. Certainly Nico Rosberg’s pace had been better than his eighth position on the grid would suggest in the Williams Toyota. |
| 13.44 | Jarno Trulli starts ninth in his Toyota with team-mate Ralf Schumacher languishing back in a dismal 18th position. Trulli’s aim is the lower points. Jenson Button starts tenth in his Honda and he certainly is on a one stop strategy. Honda needs points desperately and this circuit may be a track where the RA107 can show relatively well. |
| 13.46 | Mark Webber starts 11th in his Red Bull Renault with team-mate David Coulthard back in 20th after gearbox issues ruined his qualifying run yesterday. The big question for this team once again is reliability as this is a hard circuit on engines, transmissions and brakes. We’ll see... |
| 13.48 | Rubens Barrichello traditionally goes well at Monza. Starting 12th in the second Honda, he could be a factor for a lower-points finish if the he is happy with his car on the day. Barrichello can blow a bit hot and cold depending on the car the team provide him with. |
| 13.50 | Alex Wurz starts 13th in the second Williams and needs to show he can race and pass people on merit if he is to have any hope of retaining his seat with the team next season. Anthony Davidson is also pushing hard as his future is unclear with Super Aguri Honda. The British driver has shown well in the second half of the season, but has struggled on the first lap not to lose ground. |
| 13.52 | Giancarlo Fisichella was busy moaning after qualifying 15th in his Renault, claiming that Barrichello ruined his day. Fact was that his first run left him venerable and when that happens, just one bit of bad luck and the day is finished. What the veteran can do from 15th remains to be seen. |
| 13.54 | Sebastian Vettel has a good run to 16th on the grid in his Toro Rosso. The rookie driver needs a strong showing after two fairly non-descript races in Hungary and Turkey. Team-mate Tonio Liuzzi starts 19th after a pretty poor weekend in the second STR2. |
| 13.56 | At the back, Spyker struggled in qualifying and line-up on the final row in their new B-Spec chassis. Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto have shown flashes of promise in practice and will be aiming to try and mix it up with the likes of Liuzzi and Schumacher and of course gain valuable data for the team with the new car. |
| 13.58 | The drivers are all in the cars and waiting for the engineers to fire up the engines. |
| 13.59 | The engines fire up and the grid is being cleared. |
| 13.59 | Hard tyres for Hamilton and Alonso. Soft for Massa. |
| 14.00 | Fernando Alonso leads the field away from the dummy grid to start the installation lap. |
| 14.00 | Everyone has cleared the dummy grid. |
| 14.01 | Actually it looks like it is Raikkonen and not Massa starting on the softer tyre. |
| 14.03 | Alonso takes up his second pole position of the season with Hamilton, Massa, Heidfeld and Raikkonen close behind. |
| Lap 1 | The Italian Grand Prix is now underway. |
| Lap 1 | Hamilton cuts the first chicane under pressure from Massa. Raikkonen has passed Heidfeld. |
| Lap 1 | Hamilton under pressure from Massa. |
| Lap 1 | Hamilton so nearly lost second into the first turn. |
| Lap 2 | A bad start from Trulli who drops from 9th to 13th |
| Lap 2 | Vettel has pitted his STR. |
| Lap 2 | A big accident for Coulthard. |
| Lap 2 | Coulthard is climbing out of the car. |
| Lap 2 | Coulthard has gained five positions to run 15th. It looks like a front wing failure at Curve Grande. |
| Lap 3 | Safety Car is out. |
| Lap 3 | The safety car missed the leaders and picked up Heidfeld, certainly one of the BMWs. |
| Lap 3 | Now the safety car has the leaders behind and order is respored. |
| Lap 4 | Safety Car remains on track. |
| Lap 4 | The safety car is good news for Vettel who pitted at the end of the first lap. He is now at the back of the pack having gained 30 seconds. |
| Lap 5 | Coulthard's car has been cleared. |
| Lap 6 | The safety car remains on track. |
| Lap 6 | The race will restart at the end of this lap. |
| Lap 7 | The race is now back underway... |
| Lap 7 | A clean restart |
| Lap 7 | Hamilton now pressuring Alonso for the lead mid-lap. |
| Lap 7 | Fisichella cuts the second chicane under pressure from Davidson. |
| Lap 8 | Davidson passes Fisichella on the main straight. |
| Lap 9 | Button (8th) has quite a train of cars behind him as he drops back from Kovalainen. Unseen by me, Rosberg is now behind Button for some reason. |
| Lap 10 | Massa pitting from third! |
| Lap 10 | A slow stop and Massa is back out at the back of the field. |
| Lap 10 | Massa struggles through the first turn. Something going on with his F2007. |
| Lap 11 | Massa is touring, he is not at full revs. |
| Lap 11 | Massa heading to the pits to retire it looks like. |
| Lap 11 | Massa pits. Race over and probably any slim title hopes. He pulls straight into the garage. |
| Lap 12 | Rosberg runs behind Button. He may have cut the second chicane way back on lap one and therefore now dropped back down behind Button after instructions from the race director. |
| Lap 12 | Raikkonen runs third and is dropping back at quite a rate from the McLaren duo. |
| Lap 14 | Raikkonen drops another second on that last lap. |
| Lap 14 | Rosberg cuts the first chicane trying to pass Button, so has to let the Honda back ahead. |
| Lap 15 | Raikkonen is really struggling. Unless he is on a one stop strategy... |
| Lap 16 | Vettel still runs at the back and has not been able to make any progress after his early stop. |
| Lap 16 | Sato has moved ahead of Yamamoto. |
| Lap 16 | Alonso and Hamilton are trading fastest laps. |
| Lap 17 | Davidson is still holding off Fisichella who in turn has Schumacher right behind him. |
| Lap 18 | Wurz has lost a position to Trulli. |
| Lap 19 | Hamilton pits from second position and locks the brakes into the pit lane. |
| Lap 19 | A clean stop with more hard tyres. |
| Lap 19 | Hamilton exits ahead of Button. |
| Lap 20 | Hamilton is in clear air as Button is a massive 15s behind Kovalainen. |
| Lap 20 | Alonso pits from the lead. Not as agressive on the way in as Hamilton. |
| Lap 21 | Alonso retains his position over Hamilton by about two seconds. |
| Lap 21 | Rosberg gets the move done and passes Button at the second chicane. |
| Lap 22 | Heidfeld pits from third position. |
| Lap 22 | Kovalainen also in the pits. |
| Lap 22 | Raikkonen now assumes the lead. |
| Lap 23 | Raikkonen laps the two Spykers. |
| Lap 24 | So if Raikkonen is one stopping, he is effectively 19s ahead of Alonso. Kubica pits his BMW Sauber. |
| Lap 24 | Problems for Kubica with the front jack and he loses a good eight seconds. |
| Lap 24 | Kubica exits behind Kovalainen. Bad news for BMW. |
| Lap 25 | Raikkonen now leads Alonso by almost 20 seconds. |
| Lap 26 | Raikkonen pits fom the lead. |
| Lap 26 | A lot of fuel as he takes the hard tyre. I doubt he'll stop again. |
| Lap 26 | Alonso and Hamilton regain the top two positions. The question now is if Raikkonen can keep pace and regain the lead when the McLaren duo pit again. |
| Lap 27 | Fisichella finally gets ahead of Davidson. |
| Lap 28 | Raikkonen is now 15 seconds behind Alonso. He needs to keep the gap less than say 22 to have any hope of taking the lead when Alonso pits. |
| Lap 29 | Fisichella is now pushing to find a way ahead of Alex Wurz. |
| Lap 30 | Raikkonen's one stop strategy is not going to work as he is a second a lap slower at the moment |
| Lap 31 | Rosberg pits from fifth position. |
| Lap 31 | Trulli pits from ninth. |
| Lap 32 | Soft tyres for Rosberg, so he is one stopping as well. He has exited behind one of the STRs. Ralf Schumacher pits. |
| Lap 32 | Alonso is dropping Hamilton now and seems comforable at the front. |
| Lap 33 | Button now runs fifth and has not pitted. |
| Lap 33 | Liuzzi pits his STR. Last lap Vettel also pitted. |
| Lap 34 | Button now pits his Honda. |
| Lap 34 | Fisichella makes his one and only stop from 11th. |
| Lap 35 | Webber and Barrichello pit. Alonso is still pulling away from Hamilton. |
| Lap 36 | Raikkonen has now dropped too far back to take over the lead when Alonso and Hamilton pit. |
| Lap 36 | Davidson pits from eighth position. |
| Lap 38 | Wurz is the only driver yet to pit. |
| Lap 38 | Wurz pits from seventh position. |
| Lap 39 | Hamilton is picking up te pace to ensure that Raikkonen cannot get the jump on him when he pits. |
| Lap 40 | Heidfeld makes his second stop from fourth position. |
| Lap 41 | Hamilton pits from second position. |
| Lap 41 | Pressure on for McLaren as Raikkonen may get the jump. |
| Lap 41 | Raikkonen passes Hamilton. Job done for Raikkonen and a good effort. |
| Lap 41 | Had Hamilton stayed with Alonso he would have been safe, but he dropped six crucial seconds. |
| Lap 42 | Hamilton is about a second behind Raikkonen. |
| Lap 42 | Kovalainen pits his Renault. |
| Lap 43 | Kovalainen exits ahead of Button. |
| Lap 43 | Hamilton passes Raikkonen into the first turn. |
| Lap 43 | It was just a very late braking move with a front right locked up. An amazing pass. |
| Lap 44 | Alonso has pitted from the lead. |
| Lap 44 | So it all shakes out as it was with Alonso ahead of Hamilton and Raikkonen as Kubica pits a second time. |
| Lap 46 | Kubica is now pushing to find a way ahead of Rosberg. |
| Lap 46 | Kubica has moved ahead of Rosberg for fifth position. |
| Lap 48 | Raikkonen has now backed right off and is lapping a second and a half slower. |
| Lap 51 | Raikkonen is getting slower and slower, as he protects the F2007. He is a safe third however. |
| Lap 51 | Button looks set for his second point of the season |
| Lap 52 | Alonso is cruising to the win and will narrow the championship gap to three points heading to Spa. |
| Lap 53 | Alonso wins the Italian Grand Prix from Hamilton. |
| Lap 53 | Raikkonen takes third position |
| Lap 53 | Raikkonen's third position effectively removes him from the drivers' title battle. |
| Lap 53 | Heidfeld takes fourth half a minute down on Raikkonen with Kubica close behind having closed in in the final laps. |
| Lap 53 | Rosberg is sixth after a good race in his Williams ahead of Kovalainen and Button. |
