LIVE: Italian Grand Prix - FP1

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Follow live coverage of the opening practice session for the Italian Grand Prix from Monza with F1i.

The final race of the European season takes place at the iconic Autodromo Nazionale di Monza this weekend, with Lewis Hamilton holding a nine-point lead over team-mate Nico Rosberg in the drivers' championship following Hamilton's fightback in Belgium last weekend.

LIVE: Italian Grand Prix - FP1

The two Mercedes drivers are favourites once again, but Ferrari will be looking to deliver a strong performance in front of the Tifosi following Red Bull's recent resurgence. The passionate home crowd will be supporting Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, while Felipe Massa is also set for a warm reception after announcing his retirement on Thursday.

Williams will also be looking for a strong performance at a circuit which should suit its car, with the team from Grove keen to fight back after losing fourth place in the constructors' championship to Force India at Spa-Francorchamps.

A number of teams will once again test the Halo on Friday morning, with Red Bull, McLaren and Force India all running the cockpit protection device.

You can follow all the action from Monza live at 10:00 local time (9am BST) for the first 90-minute practice session. We'll be bringing you all the news and information from trackside as it happens on F1i's live page, where you can also get involved with your questions and comments.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.