Liverpool 4 - 0 Burnley

A Yossi Benayoun hat-trick inspired a dominant Liverpool to a comfortable victory over Burnley at Anfield.

The midfielder cut inside Graham Alexander and slid in a shot across keeper Brian Jensen for the opener.

Jensen could only parry Benayoun's shot at the end of a swift counter-attack and Dirk Kuyt slotted in the loose ball to extend the Reds' lead.

Benayoun then twice tapped in Steven Gerrard and Andriy Voronin passes to round off an impressive display.

The creativity produced by Israeli international Benayoun showed he can help ease the pressure on Gerrard and Fernando Torres and provided a contrast to keeper Pepe Reina's forthright words ahead of the match.

Reina claimed winning the Premier League was "not a realistic option" for the Reds as he revealed there was an air of "resignation" at the lack of funds spent on the squad.

He also cited an absence of enough players of "vision" at Liverpool compared to the Anfield side's rivals.

The lack of players to open up defences against teams like Burnley cost the Reds dearly last season as they twice drew with newly-promoted sides at home and dropped four points, which would have won them the title.

Benayoun - whether riled by Reina's words or not - appeared determined to prove his team-mate wrong.

He latched on to an angled Glen Johnson ball and cut inside Alexander before side footing in a shot across Jensen for his first.


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Reds boss Rafael Benitez has always emphasised the importance of his side getting the opening goal to bring teams out of their shell and so it proved.

Burnley pushed forward more after going a goal down and were caught out as Liverpool sucked them in before going up the other end and scoring - Kuyt side footing in after Benayoun's shot was only parried by Jensen.

There were chants of 'where is Traore' from Burnley fans in reference to former Reds defender Djimi Traore's own goal for them when they knocked Liverpool out of the 2005 FA Cup.

But there was little threat of them instigating any such humiliation this time around.

Two Martin Paterson long-range strikes were Burnley's only threat but they were comfortably gathered by Reina as Liverpool rarely looked in trouble.

Burnley will stick to good football - Coyle

Gerrard, playing in a deeper midfield role with Javier Mascherano missing, still made an impact in attack as he forced his way into the Burnley box before squaring a ball for Benayoun to tap in.

An unmarked Benayoun again eased in from close range after Voronin's pass to emphasise the emphatic nature of the victory, while a clean sheet will also please Benitez after the side's recent struggles in defence.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez:
"Yossi had been away on international duty and done a lot of travelling, but he wanted to play.

"It is important to him to show his quality in every training session and every match.

"Over the seasons he has shown his value coming off the bench, but now he is showing how important he can be with movement and passing from the start."

Burnley boss Owen Coyle:
"We started really well, and looked comfortable. But if you switch off against players like these, you will be punished.

"I can't argue with the result, we were playing against world-class players.

"But I was annoyed with the first goal we conceded, we backed off and allowed Yossi Benayoun to get his shot in

Fury stuns McDermott in title win

Heavyweight prospect Tyson Fury claimed the English title with a controversial points victory over champion John McDermott at Brentwood Leisure Centre.

The 21-year-old Manchester fighter was awarded the bout 98-92, which left McDermott, 29, stunned at the result.

Fury put the Essex fighter under early pressure with his solid jab.

But McDermott responded well with a late rally and after 10 rounds felt he had done enough, only for referee Terry O'Connor to hold Fury's arms aloft.

The clash was hyped a real grudge match and a rematch looks to be on the cards after such a close call.

But McDermott's promoter Frank Maloney was left fuming at the result, saying on Sky Sports: "I'm sure I will be called up before the (British Boxing) Board for my behaviour but Terry O'Connor is a disgrace to British boxing for what he's done here.

"Why do I want to be in the business when you're getting robbed? At least Dick Turpin has a mask on when he robs you."

But Fury insisted he had done enough to take the belt, adding: "I deserved it. I worked very hard for that. John was a lot harder than I thought he'd be, all credit to him.

"But I thought I worked the harder throughout the fight and I deserved to win. If he wants a re-match, let's get it on. I will stop him next time."

Hamilton storms to Italian pole

By Sam Lyon

Lewis Hamilton produced a stunning late lap to snatch pole position for the Italian Grand Prix in his McLaren.

The world champion stormed to a time of one minute 24.066 seconds to wrestle the position from Force India's Adrian Sutil, who was 0.195secs behind.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen followed in third ahead of Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen and the Brawn cars of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button.

Red Bull pair Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber managed only ninth and 10th.

And the title hopefuls, who trail Button by 16 points in the drivers' championship, will not be comforted by the fact their fuel weights - which show the true pace of the cars with the amount of fuel on board taken into account - reveal they were 8th and 10th fastest on the day.However, with the top 10 appearing to be split between one and two-stop strategies and a mere 0.7seconds separating the fuel-corrected pace of the top four cars, a fascinating encounter looks to be in store on Sunday.
Hamilton, who is to make two fuel stops compared to the Brawns' one, made the most of his lighter fuel load as he ran a late flying lap to pip Sutil - who himself had only just posted a lap of 1:24.261 - into second spot.

"That was a very close qualifying session, but the team did a great job this weekend. The car was feeling very good this weekend and I was able to put the lap together," said Hamilton.

"It's such a great feeling when you can put one lap together. We have to wait and see what the strategies are for everyone tomorrow, but we needed to be where we are.

"We're in the best position to start the race, and it's great to have Kers (power-boost) so I can boost off the line, be clear of any incident, and try to control it from there."

As expected, the McLarens and Ferrari's leading driver Raikkonen were boosted by their Kers system, with Monza boasting a full-throttle percentage of up to 70%, and the Finn gave the home fans something to cheer in securing a second-row spot ahead of compatriot Kovalainen.
But the happiest team on the grid could well be Brawn - with Button looking to have found his form again having watched his drivers' championship lead cut from a peak of 26 points in June after five races without a podium finish.

Team boss Ross Brawn said: "We are very happy with our positions, especially because of our strategy. It's a pretty perfect position to be honest."

And Button could barely hide his delight as he revealed: "We are pretty heavy. I don't know how much fuel they can get into the Red Bulls but we will see.

"The car felt good and I am happy. The tyre temperature will not be an issue - we are not having any problems getting heat into them - and all the Kers cars are in front of us as well, so all in all it's been a good session for us."

Barrichello, though, faces an anxious wait to see if his team recommend a gearbox change that would cost him a five-grid penalty.

The Brazilian first encountered the problem in Spa, when he crossed the line with his car emitting smoke, and there are doubts it can last the race on Sunday.

"It felt alright," he said, "but sometimes you are a single person fighting with 50 of them in the factory. If they tell me I cannot race with it then I cannot say no."
Webber, meanwhile, conceded the qualifying result was the best he and Vettel could have hoped for.

"It was probably pretty close to what we expected," said the Australian.

"We can't pass the Kers cars on the grid, we know that, so we will have to try something with the pit stops. That was as good as it could have got."

Elsewhere, Ferrari debutant Giancarlo Fisichella, having crashed out of final practice after locking his front-right tyre round Parabolica, was a high-profile casualty in Q2 as he had to settle for 14th on the grid.

And the contrast with his old team Force India could hardly have been more marked, with India billionaire Vijay Mallya's team getting both drivers into Q3 for the first time in Formula 1.

With Sutil second on the grid, Vitantonio Liuzzi produced an excellent qualifying performance on his Force India debut, beating Renault's Fernando Alonso into eighth with an impressive lap of 1:25.043.

The most surprising casualties of the second qualifying session, though, were the two BMWs, who had been tipped to surprise the front-runners by Red Bull boss Christian Horner on Friday morning.
Nick Heidfeld suffered engine trouble at the start of Q2, his seventh of the season, and shortly after the same problem struck team-mate Robert Kubica.

That leaves both with just one new engine to last them for the rest of the season given the eight-engine limit imposed upon teams in this campaign.

Williams, aware this weekend was most likely all about damage limitation from the outset given their struggles on the low downforce Monza circuit, lost both Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg in Q1 - their worst qualifying result of the season - joining Toyota's Timo Glock and the two Toro Rossos at the back of the grid.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46364000/jpg/_46364920_tiger226x170gety.jpg

US Open officials say they are ready to "develop" plans for a roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium but any decision remains "some time" away.

This year's event has been disrupted by rain and an extra day's play will be required for the second year running.

But the estimated $100m cost of a roof remains a major issue.

"We are substantially farther along the road of consideration than we were six months ago," said US Tennis Association chief Gordon Smith.

"There had been a few preliminary studies regarding a roof.

"We have gone past the consideration stage of 'Are we going to at least look at plans?' to actually developing plans, which at some point in the not-too-distant future will give us some idea of cost."

He added: "It will be some time before there's any decision made on whether or not to go forward with the roof.

We would be looking at issues some years down the road and the present economy has not slowed the process at all."

The main courts at the Australian Open and Wimbledon each have a roof, and there are plans to construct one at the French Open.

But the size of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, which has a capacity of 23,000, makes it a more expensive process than at the other Grand Slam tournaments.

"Would be great to have a roof," said Smith. "Would be great to have the money to put the roof up. It's a much more difficult decision.

"The reason is we're non-profit. Our mission is to grow and develop the game of tennis.

"Are you going to spend $100m or more, we don't know exactly, on a roof that you might use once a year, which would be the average, or is the money better spent promoting the game?"An alternative to building a roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium would be to do so on the Louis Armstrong Stadium or Grandstand Stadium.

"The master planning group is going to consider a wide range of options," said Smith.

"Once we understand the cost of the roof over Ashe, it could lead to some consideration of other options. Nothing is out at this point.

"When we look at the design considerations, the cost of that, consideration of another stadium is not off the table."

The 'Super Saturday' format of playing both men's singles semi-finals and the women's final on the same day, before the men return 24 hours later for their final, has also come in for criticism.

"We have a particular finals scenario that we've had in place for several decades, and we're comfortable that it is, in fact, fair," said tournament director Jim Curley.

"If you were to ask a player, would they say it's ideal? No, they would not say it's ideal. A player would like to get a day in between the semis and the finals. We all know that.

"It's important from our USTA perspective to promote and develop the growth of the game.

"It gets to a much larger audience, and that's one of the reasons why we do it."

Super Woods shoots course record

Tiger Woods broke the course record at Cog Hill to take a huge lead into the final round of the BMW Championship.

The world number one opened his round with a bogey but recovered to card a stunning nine-under-par 62 to build a seven-shot lead over the field.

His nearest rivals are fellow American Brandt Snedeker (66) and Australian Marc Leishman (68), with England's Luke Donald 10 shots off the lead.

The previous best at Cog Hill was a 63, held by seven players, including Woods.

Tottenham 1 - 3 Man Utd

By Jonathan Stevenson

Manchester United produced a superb display to fight back from a goal behind and win away at Tottenham, despite Paul Scholes' sending off.

Spurs went ahead when Jermain Defoe fired in an acrobatic overhead kick only 38 seconds in, but Ryan Giggs' majestic free-kick levelled matters.

Anderson fired home his first United goal from the edge of the box, before Scholes saw red for two bookings.

Peter Crouch hit the crossbar, but Wayne Rooney's solo goal wrapped it up.

Rooney's goal was an exhibition of counter-attacking play from the 10 men and a brutal response to those wondering whether United would carry the same threat without Cristiano Ronaldo this season.

It was a thoroughly deserved victory, especially as United were forced to play for over half an hour without Scholes against a team that had won all four of their Premier League games this season.

And until Scholes' unfortunate dismissal, it was the two old stagers of the side in the former England midfielder and Giggs who brilliantly led United's renaissance, after they succumbed to the quickest goal of the campaign thus far.

With only 38 seconds on the clock and White Hart Lane still a veritable cauldron of anticipatory noise, Defoe produced a moment of sheer class to stun the champions.

Red card was a bit harsh - Giggs

Under pressure from Crouch as he tried to deal with a long ball into the United box, Nemanja Vidic could only head into the air and Defoe pounced to dispatch a magnificent overhead kick into the bottom corner from eight yards.

The occasionally unplayable Crouch went close with two long-range volleys, but as the game wore on the influence of Scholes and Giggs gradually increased and with 25 minutes on the clock, the Welsh wizard conjured up yet another memorable moment in his stellar career.

After Dimitar Berbatov had been brought down by Wilson Palacios, the 35-year-old, who was captain for the day on his 700th start for United, bent a quite wonderful free-kick into Carlo Cuducini's top corner to keep up his record of scoring in every Premier League season since its inception in 1992.
Jermain Defoe scores Tottenham's opener
Defoe produces a supreme finish to give Spurs an early lead

United were suddenly flying and - prompted by Scholes - some of their football was an absolute joy to behold. In the space of 10 seconds, Cudicini saved from Rooney, Berbatov's shot was blocked on the line by Sebastien Bassong and the Bulgarian then fired over.

The visitors deserved to go in front, but when they did their goal came from a most unlikely source.

A corner from the United right was half-cleared to Scholes and after his shot hit Ledley King, Anderson rifled in his first competitive United goal in his 76th appearance from the edge of the box.

Spurs needed half-time to reassess and the introduction of Jermaine Jenas almost paid immediate dividends, but after he teed up Robbie Keane to shoot the striker's effort was expertly deflected over by Vidic.

Jenas himself went close when Foster tipped away his curling 25-yarder, before Crouch rose highest to power a header against the United crossbar as Spurs piled the pressure on.

United's task appeared to get harder when Scholes was dismissed by referee Andre Marriner for two fouls, the second a very harsh decision after a collision with Tom Huddlestone.

Redknapp regrets missed opportunity

But United and Rooney in particular were proving a real menace on the break and after he saw one shot tipped against the bar by Cudicini, he settled it with their next attack.

Fletcher's long-range pass found Rooney outside the Spurs box and he easily foxed Alan Hutton before keeping his cool to slot between the legs of the advancing Cudicini.

Ominously for the rest of the league, United - so often slow starters - moved up to second in the Premier League.

Real deals put La Roja in the shade

You might have thought that with Spain poised to book their ticket to South Africa on Wednesday - if they win against Estonia at home and Bosnia fail to beat Turkey - that the excitement would be reaching fever pitch.

After all, Spain is not a country usually noted for its stoic sensibilities where such matters as qualifying for the World Cup are concerned.

However, you would be wrong. Completely wrong.

Typical of the lack of interest in the game is that the Spanish Football Federation have shuffled it off to be played in provincial Merida.

Where? If you are looking at a map of the Iberian peninsula, start by looking close to the Portuguese border parallel to Lisbon.

The federation proudly told the world on Monday that the game was finally a sell-out. Well, as Merida's tiny Romano stadium only holds 15,000, usually playing host to the equivalent of Spanish fourth division games, it would have been a huge embarrassment if it wasn't.

The main point of interest has been speculation on how many goals David Villa may be able to get against the minnows from the Baltic, who currently lie 112 notches below second-placed Spain in the current Fifa rankings
David Villa's strike rate for Spain has been impressive

The Valencia striker has found the net while in the jersey of La Roja - The Red, as the Spanish team are widely known - a phenomenal 33 times in 51 outings and he is inexorably closing in on the record of 44 goals held by Real Madrid's Raul.

Rather than rallying to the national cause though, the big issue among Spain's chattering classes remains Raul and his newly acquired chums, that €253m (£222m) experiment in conspicuous consumption embarked upon by the Real club president Florentino Perez.

The summer arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema as well as bit-part players in this soap opera like the former Liverpool pair of Alvaro Arbolea and Xabi Alonso continue to dominate the agenda here.

Neither of Spain's two leading daily sports papers had anything to do with the national team as their main headlines on Monday. Instead, it was all about Real Madrid yet again, just as it has been since 20 May when the construction magnate took over at the helm of the historic club for the second occasion.

Real's first serious match of the season, a 3-2 home win in La Liga over Deportivo La Coruna just over a week ago, is still being mulled over as the media at large try to work out what it means for the rest of the season.

The truth is, obviously, that nobody can know for sure.

However, here are my thoughts, which valiantly, and possibly in vain, try to encapsulate some of the more lucid opinions.

On the positive side, Kaka and Benzama look as though they have quickly built up a good working relationship, with the Brazilian roaming down the right wing. They should be a source of plenty of goals.

Xabi Alonso also appeared to be very effective when working in tandem with the former Arsenal and Portsmouth midfielder Lass Diarra, who has become a Real fans' favourite thanks to his indefatigable work rate.

On the other side of the coin, perhaps it's best to temporarily draw a veil over Real's current defensive deficiencies but the completely new back four should be expected to improve.

More worryingly for Perez, Ronaldo's performance against Deportivo, as it had been during most of the pre-season matches, was limp.

Perez, who paid Manchester United a world-record fee of £80m, must be wondering how long it will be before Ronaldo starts to justify the massive outlay.

To a certain extent, Perez's own personal prestige - with anyone who is not a hard-core Real fan sniggering their socks off - depends on Ronaldo even more than anyone else.

The next test for Perez's second generation of 'galacticos' comes this Saturday night at Espanyol.

It will be an encounter imbued with a lot of mixed emotions.

The cash-strapped Barcelona-based club will inaugurate their new stadium, finally having a place to call their own after 12 years as tenants at the city's Olympic stadium, but there will be sombre memories that Espanyol's popular former club captain Daniel Jarque will not be there to celebrate the occasion.

Jarque, who was only 26, died of a heart attack while on a pre-season tour of Italy last month. He was a close friend of several Real players, including goalkeeper Iker Casillas with whom he played in Spain's junior teams, and more than 15,000 people paid their last respects to him in the days following his death.

Tevez completes Man Utd transfer

Manchester United have finally completed the signing of Argentine striker Carlos Tevez.

The summer saga involving Tevez eventually came to an end when the Premier League approved the deal - thought to be a two-year loan.

The 23-year-old had become a free agent when his agent Kia Joorabchian paid former club West Ham a £2m settlement.

Tevez is eligible to play against Reading on Sunday but the striker is not yet match fit.

His first game is likely to be the derby at Manchester City on Sunday 19 August.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: "Carlos has surprised us. We thought he would need more training but he looks in great shape.

"It is a difficult situation to assess because a derby game can be frenetic. Once we know he can play, we can make a decision quite easily."

Tevez's registration as a United player brings to an end a long-running saga, which began back in April when West Ham were fined for breaching league rules when they signed the striker and his Argentine team-mate Javier Mascherano.


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And with that, the most boring transfer saga ever was laid to rest

ZGB

The Hammers' response was to tear up an agreement they had with Joorabchian - who claimed to own the striker's economic rights.

But when it emerged Tevez wanted to join United, the Hammers, backed by the Premier League, insisted they should receive the transfer fee, prompting Joorabchian to take legal action.

Joorabchian eventually agreed to pay West Ham £2m to release Tevez from his contract, allowing the Argentine to join United on a similar deal to the one that took Mascherano to Liverpool in January.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has promised to tighten the rules to avoid a repeat of the saga.

"What made this an unbelievable story was an unbelievable series of events," he told BBC Radio Five Live.

"West Ham were all-but relegated at Christmas and then Tevez scored a few goals right at the end of the season and they were able to escape.

"It's unscripted drama and one of the things that makes football so interesting but in other ways it looks like a road crash in how some of the events appear."

Nadal & Gonzalez delayed by rain

US OPEN
Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Date: 31 August - 13 September
BBC coverage: Live text commentaries on the website from 1600 BST each day, regular updates on 5 live, full commentary on 5 live sports extra in week two, both finals on 5 live. Live on Sky Sports and Eurosport.World number three Rafael Nadal took the first set against 11th seed Fernando Gonzalez before rain stopped play in their US Open quarter-final.

Third seed Nadal saved two set points and had treatment for an abdominal injury, but still led 7-6 (7-4) 6-6 (3-2) when rain hit the night session.

It was the second interruption, after the players had been forced off for 75 minutes early in the second set.

Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro awaits the winner in the semi-finals.

Nadal was four points from taking a two-set lead when play ended for the day but Gonzalez will remain hopeful after pushing the Spaniard hard.

Their match was scheduled to resume after the women's semi-final between Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams on Arthur Ashe Stadium court.

But further rain on Friday has meant there will be no play before 1900 BST and it may be moved to Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Gonzalez earned two set points in the 12th game of the first set but missed a good chance on a second-serve return, and fell behind early in the ensuing tie-break.

Nadal took it but then immediately called for the trainer and showed signs of discomfort during the three-minute medical timeout.

His play remained of the highest quality though and Gonzalez found himself staring down the barrel at 15-40 in game 10 of the second set, but the Chilean came up with two huge serves and managed to force a second tie-break.

That was going with serve when bad weather intervened for the second time at 10.20pm local time as Gonzalez prepared to serve trailing 3-2, although play was not officially called off until past midnight.

The eventual winner of this match will now to have to play for four successive days if they are to win the title.

In the earlier match, sixth seed Del Potro came back from a set and a break down to beat Croatia's Marin Cilic and reach the semi-finals.

Cilic, conqueror of Andy Murray in round four, made a fine start to his first Grand Slam quarter-final, but Del Potro broke in game six of the second set and never looked back, coming through 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-1.

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Is it me, or has Del Potro's tennis gone up a level or two since the French Open?

snowmandyj

Del Potro will go into his first US Open semi-final in buoyant mood after finishing so strongly against fellow 20-year-old Cilic, but knowing he needs a faster start.

"I cannot start the match like today," Del Potro said afterwards. "I was thinking about other things, and the weather was bad. But it was bad for both players.

"I just need to be in focus in the beginning of the match until the last point and play my game."

He added: "My dream is win this tournament. I'm so close to doing it, but now I am focusing on the semis."

Clic, the 16th seed, got going in sensational fashion, breaking Del Potro in game five and, after serving out the first set, again at the start of the second.

But Del Potro, who initially seemed ill-at-ease with the cold conditions on Arthur Ashe Stadium, hit back to level at 3-3 and dominated from there on in.

Cilic completely lost his range as Del Potro broke at 4-3 before the Argentine served out the second set and then wrapped up the third in 36 minutes.

The fourth set was even more one-sided until Cilic offered late resistance with a break at 0-5 - but Del Potro responded immediately to seal his triumph in two hours and 32 minutes.

"The beginning of the match I was playing really good and moving him around a lot," said Cilic, "and I found after the first set that it got a lot cooler and the court was a little bit hard to play on.

"The ball wasn't going through the court as much as it was in the beginning, and then he was like all the time on top of me and not letting me find any other solution to get back."

West Ham close in on Franco deal

West Ham are set to give Mexico striker Guillermo Franco a medical ahead of signing him on a free transfer.

Franco's contract with Villarreal expired during the summer and he was set for a move to Estudiantes in his home country before that fell through.

But the 32-year-old, who played for Mexico at the 2006 World Cup, has now been drafted in by Upton Park boss Gianfranco Zola.

"I'm sure he is a player who can make a good contribution," said Zola.

Franco has been on international duty with Mexico and scored in the 3-0 win away to Costa Rica on Saturday.

He is expected to sign a one-year deal with West Ham but will not be available for this weekend's game at Wigan.

"I'm happy because I'm going to an English team and I believe that is a good opportunity for me," said Franco.

Sutil on top as Force India shine

By Sean Chaney

Force India's Adrian Sutil continued his team's good recent form with the fastest lap in Friday's second practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Sutil was 0.239 seconds faster than Renault's Romain Grosjean as his team look to build on their first podium finish, achieved in Belgium in August.

Brawn's championship leader Jenson Button was 19th while McLaren's morning pace-setter Lewis Hamilton was 11th.

The Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were 14th and 18th.

Sutil topped the timesheets for much of the second session but Renault rookie Grosjean, competing in only his third grand prix, nipped in with a faster effort in the closing stages to briefly lead the way.




Page last updated at 13:43 GMT, Friday, 11 September 2009 14:43 UK
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Sutil on top as Force India shine
Force India's Adrian Sutil

Highlights - Sutil fastest at Monza

By Sean Chaney

Force India's Adrian Sutil continued his team's good recent form with the fastest lap in Friday's second practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Sutil was 0.239 seconds faster than Renault's Romain Grosjean as his team look to build on their first podium finish, achieved in Belgium in August.

Brawn's championship leader Jenson Button was 19th while McLaren's morning pace-setter Lewis Hamilton was 11th.

The Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were 14th and 18th.

Sutil topped the timesheets for much of the second session but Renault rookie Grosjean, competing in only his third grand prix, nipped in with a faster effort in the closing stages to briefly lead the way.


606: DEBATE
I think Fisi will do a solid job. He can only improve once he is familiar with the Ferrari and its controls. I would just have expected more in second practise

SimonWright1983

That provoked an immediate response from Sutil who promptly clocked an effort of one minute 23.924 to set the fastest time of the day.

"It was a very, very good time," said Sutil, "it came as a result of some good work, a great set-up and getting the tyres to work well.

"Everything went well today. The car was working perfectly and we can be very happy about the result.

"We didn't try specifically to go fastest but if you are on top of your game and the car is working well there is no reason why you could not be P1 at the end of the session.

"It was a very productive day on a very cool track and it's good to have some fun right now."

Giancarlo Fisichella finished second for Force India in the last race in Belgium, but the 36-year-old Italian has since been drafted in by Ferrari to replace the beleaguered Luca Badoer for the rest of the season.

Fisichella made a promising start in the day's first practice session by out-performing team-mate Kimi Raikkonen but he was bottom of the timesheets after the second session, 1.619 seconds off the pace.

Practice sessions are rarely the most reliable barometer of race pace as teams often use Friday's two 90-minute run-outs to analyse and assess how their cars react to various fuel, aerodynamic and technical scenarios.

Sutil topped the timesheets in third practice for the European Grand Prix in August, but the 26-year-old German finished 10th in Valencia.

The ban on in-season testing this year has meant Friday practice sessions have been even harder to decode as there is no way of knowing what fuel loads or race set-ups the teams are running.

Brawn boss Ross Brawn confirmed that his team had used Friday's sessions to understand how their cars would react to the unique low down force challenge of Monza.

"The fact that we haven't had the opportunity to test here this year, meant Friday's practice sessions were particularly important to work on the set-up of the car," said Brawn.

"It feels very different running with such low downforce, said Button, "but the car has been performing reasonably well.

"We need to work on the fine-tuning of the set-up overnight to ensure that I'm completely happy with the balance before qualifying."

McLaren's Hamilton set the pace in the morning session in Monza but the defending world champion was 11th quickest in the second session.

"This afternoon was spent on heavier fuel-loads, confirmed Hamilton. "So you can't read too much into the times, but I'm encouraged by where we are."

Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen backed up his second-quickest time in the morning session by going fourth quickest in an unpredictable second session and the Finn said afterwards that he thought the Kers power-boost system was a big advantage.

"The Kers advantage here is nearly four 10ths per lap so it's really helpful along the straights and out of the slower corners," said Kovalainen.

"Others have more down force compared with us, but we have this fantastic Kers button.

"It is funny the teams have all adopted different technical solutions but the lap times are still very close together - that's the beauty of Formula 1."

Renault reintroduced their Kers system especially for Monza and that decision seemed to pay dividends as Grosjean and Fernando Alonso set the second and third fastest times on Friday afternoon.

The Kers button makes the car accelerate faster, so it spends longer at a higher speed on the straights than cars without it, which is particularly advantageous on Monza's long high-speed straights.

McLaren, Renault and Ferrari are the only cars running the non-compulsory Kers system in Italy.

Vettel's lowly position of 18th can be partially put down to his need to conserve engines, the German blew two engines at the European Grand Prix in Valencia and has now used seven of his eight engine quota for the season.

While Vettel completed 27 laps on Friday afternoon, his team-mate Webber managed even fewer, just 25, the Australian was kept in his garage as his Red Bull team repaired a chaffed electrical loom.

"It was a mixed day," said Webber. "We had an electrical problem in P2, which probably cost us about a run and a half, so it was a good recovery from the guys to get the car turned back around.

"Mileage is important here, as it's the first time we've driven in Monza this year - normally we test here beforehand.

"We've got a bit of pace to find, but I'm sure we'll be in the running tomorrow."

Button's closest championship challenger, his Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello, was 16th fastest around the low-downforce Monza circuit.

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