Sebastian Vettel sets Monza pace ahead of Ferrari duo and McLaren pair

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel edged Fernando Alonso of Ferrari for the fastest time in Italian Grand Prix practice yesterday as the duo looked to maintain pressure on Formula 1's championship leaders.

Vettel set a quickest lap of 1 minute, 22.839 seconds around the Monza circuit to deny Alonso the day's best time by less than one-tenth of a second. Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa was third ahead of overall F1 leader Lewis Hamilton and McLaren team-mate Jenson Button following the afternoon session. Mark Webber retired early with a water pressure problem after setting the day's sixth fastest lap for Red Bull.

Hamilton leads Webber by three points going into tomorrow's 53-lap race, while third-place Vettel is 31 points behind the leader. Vettel, Button and Alonso are separated by only ten points.

Vettel is looking to rebound from the Belgium GP, where he finished outside the points after crashing into Button following a mistake that knocked the British driver out of the race. "It looks better for us here than a year ago," said Vettel. "The gap between cars will be very small."

Button, who led the morning's 90-minute session, is looking to qualify on the front row for the first time since the Turkish GP in June 2009 - a span of 23 races. McLaren is one of the favourites on the low downforce, high-speed circuit after a strong performance in Spa, where the track is similar.

"I'm happy with the way the car feels, it's a good starting point and I think we're going to have a fun race and we need one," said the world champion.

"I need a good race here and to challenge for a victory to pull some points back. It's not a must-win but that's the aim. A podium is obviously important."