Monza, Italy - World champion Lewis Hamilton led the way from McLaren-Mercedes teammate Heikki Kovalainen on Friday in the first practice session for the Italian Formula One Grand Prix. Hamilton clocked 1 minute 23.936 seconds on the fast 5.793-kilometres course in Monza, with Kovalainen on 1:24.332 and Andrian Sutil third for Force India in 1:24.471 minutes.
Championship leader Jenson Button was seventh in a Brawn GP in 1:24.706 while Sebastian Vettel was a modest 18th in 1:25.951 in a Red Bull. Vettel won the Monza race last year, becoming the youngest GP winner at age 21.
Giancarlo Fisichella was eighth in his first race for Ferrari, after leaving Force India following a sensational second place finish two weeks ago in Belgium.
A second practice session was scheduled for later Friday, qualifying is Saturday and the race Sunday.
Button leads the championship with 72 points from his teammate Rubens Barrichello (56) and the Red Bull duo of Vettel (53) and Mark Webber (51.5).
