2009 Italian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Button leads by 16 points from Barrichello, who leads Vettel by 3 points. Brawn lead the Constructors’ Championship by 23.5 points from Red Bull, who are 48.5 points ahead of Ferrari.

Previous race

Räikkönen won in Belgium from sixth on the grid, giving Ferrari their only victory of the season. Fisichella finished second from pole, scoring Force India’s first-ever championship points and first podium. Vettel was third. Button failed to score after a first-lap crash involving him, Grosjean, and Alguersuari. Barrichello dropped to the back of the field after nearly stalling at the start and recovered to seventh; his car caught fire in parc fermé.

Between-race developments

Luca Badoer, who had qualified and finished last in both his races, has been replaced at Ferrari by Giancarlo Fisichella following his performance at Spa. Fisichella terminated his Force India contract and joins Ferrari for the remainder of the season. Force India test driver Vitantonio Liuzzi takes Fisichella’s place at Force India for the remaining five races.

Fisichella becomes the first Italian to race for Ferrari at Monza since Ivan Capelli in 1992. Italy’s other two entrants are Jarno Trulli and Liuzzi. Vettel won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix here for Toro Rosso, making him at the time the youngest driver to win a Formula One race. Renault use KERS for the first time since Spain.

Practice

McLaren led the opening two sessions, with Hamilton fastest in FP1 ahead of Kovalainen, and Force India’s Sutil fastest in FP2 ahead of the two Renaults. Sutil was again fastest in Saturday’s session, with Button second and Barrichello fourth. The two Red Bulls ended FP3 seventeenth and eighteenth. Hamilton took pole in qualifying over Sutil, with the fuel-load-adjusted times showing Barrichello — who starts fifth — as the quickest qualifier in fuel-corrected terms on a one-stop strategy. Both BMW Saubers suffered engine failures in Q2.