Monza: Button tops opening practice

UPDATE

Jenson Button

McLaren

McLaren got off to a strong start at Monza on Friday morning, despite testing a rear wing that looked more suited to a high-downforce track.

While many rivals were running more conventional for Monza 'tea-tray'-style wings for the Autodromo's long straights, observers were surprised when the MP4-25 emerged from the pits with a very big rear wing.

After the British team hinted it might not use an F-duct at all this weekend, the wing was indeed used on Friday morning in conjunction with the downforce-shedding innovation.

The implication is that McLaren achieves high straight-line speeds by activating the F-duct on the straights and stalling the wing, while in the corners the car gains a competitive advantage by producing higher-than-normal downforce.

Jenson Button topped the morning timesheets at the Italian circuit, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton was third quickest in the sister car.

09/10/10 McLaren's Jenson Button set the fastest time in opening practice session at Monza in preparation for the Italian Grand Prix. Button's best time was less than a tenth quicker than Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull, with Button's McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton the only other driver in the 1m23s bracket in third.

Although Friday morning is largely a track cleaning exercise (The 90-minute session was half over before anyone set a competitive time), the Ferrari team did not give the Italian race fans anything to cheer about with Fernando Alonso in 8th and his teammate Felipe Massa 9th.

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