Hamilton and Button look strong on Friday in Monza

McLaren emerged pleased and upbeat from the first day of practice at Monza today, after posting competitive times in both sessions. The Woking-based team comes to Monza as the hot favourite for victory, thanks to their powerful Mercedes-Benz engine and efficient F-duct, and justified that label by both cars inside the top five in morning and afternoon practice.

However, the team is yet to decide on which aerodynamic package they are going to run for Saturday and Sunday, after running back-to-back tests on packages with and without the F-duct. While the higher-downforce package with the F-duct gives more grip in the corners, the low-downforce package without the F-duct has a straghtline speed advantage.