Good morning and welcome to our live text commentary of free practice three at Monza ahead of the Italian Grand Prix!

VETTEL IS FASTEST! The Red Bull driver looks a firm favourite to grab pole with a time of 1:24.360 leading the way, ahead of Alonso, Webber, Hamilton and Perez. Thanks for joining us, and we'll be back for qualifying from 12:45...

Vettel improves to a 1:24.360 but he still has a lot of room for improvement in the final sector.

Alonso is second fastest with a time of 1:24.714, but Vettel remains in control in this practice session.

Button goes third fastest now with a time of 1:24.857, and Webber is pushing him extremely hard for that spot!

Button is still on the hard tyres, while Perez is about to head back out - he currently lies down in 13th place.

Button is sent back out as the fourth fastest so far, and Martin Whitmarsh tells the broadcasters from the pit wall that he has "genuine pace".

Vettel continues to lead the way in this session at Monza, with Webber and Alonso just slightly slower and Button and Hamilton in fourth and fifth respectively.

Vettel continues to lead in this session with a fastest time of 1:24.736, while Maldonado remains in the top six.

Nico Rosberg will not be heading out in his Mercedes, and he will not have enjoyed ideal preparation for qualifying. He's encountered a few issues with his car and can't make the most of this session.

Di Resta is fine and the car should be all sorted for qualifying, but he will now miss out on a medium tyre lap which is certainly not ideal.

Di Resta crashes into the barrier at Parabolica! He hits it head on after the rear end snapped out on him as he turned in, and his front wing is ruined!

Webber goes second fastest and is 0.221s off Webber now, while Hamilton is 0.468 adrift.

Raikkonen goes fastest with a 1:25.514, while Vergne sets a decent time of 1:25.551.

The first few times have been set in this third practice session, and Perez is fastest so far with a 1:26.004.

Hamilton, Button, Pic and van der Garde are all out on track now, and Webber is having his car checked over.

The drivers head out for their installation laps, and it's gloriously sunny at Monza for this third practice session.

The session is under way, and there are 11 cars out on track already including Vettel and Raikkonen.

Hamilton, who will be chasing his fifth pole position in a row later, roared around Monza's classic 'Pista Magica' in 1:25.565 on a sunny morning in the former royal park. The Briton, who was booed by some of the passionate Ferrari 'tifosi' when he won for McLaren last year, had said on Thursday that he hoped they would be booing him again if it meant a return to the top step of the podium on Sunday.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, the German's closest championship rival with a cavernous 46-point gap to make up and eight races remaining, was fifth and 0.877 off the pace on the fastest circuit on the calendar.

Sebastian Vettel set the quickest lap of the second free practice session. The triple champion was a commanding 0.623 seconds quicker than his own team mate Mark Webber, next on the timesheets, in the afternoon sunshine at Monza with a fastest lap of one minute 24.453 seconds.