Lewis Hamilton staved off a late effort by Sebastien Vettel to top the final practice session in Monza.
McLaren had dominated the session for most of the hour, with the team continuing to run different set-ups around the high speed circuit.
Although Jenson Button had topped the timesheets early on it was Hamilton, running without the F-duct, who eventually went fastest with a lap time of 1:22.498.
Hamilton’s time would remain unbeaten, finishing 0.226 seconds ahead of Vettel’s Red Bull.
Fernando Alonso had looked set to go fastest, sending his home fans into raptures in the dying minutes of the session as Ferrari dominated the times in the final part of the lap. The Spaniard may well have gone faster on his final run but was blocked by Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber round the Parabolica, forcing him to settle for third.
Team-mate Felipe Massa was fourth, despite a huge moment which saw him spin into the Lesmo gravel, with Button and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg rounding off the top sixth.
The session would proved to be yet another disaster for Mark Webber, who once again stopped out on track with a mechanical issue. The Australian’s Red Bull suddenly lost power at the Rettifilo – hampering his preparations for the rest of the weekend.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.498 19 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:22.545 + 0.047 21 3. Alonso Ferrari 1:22.644 + 0.146 15 4. Massa Ferrari 1:22.648 + 0.150 16 5. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.724 + 0.226 19 6. Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.946 + 0.448 17 7. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:23.082 + 0.584 9 8. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:23.129 + 0.631 18 9. Kubica Renault 1:23.209 + 0.711 20 10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:23.303 + 0.805 19 11. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:23.450 + 0.952 19 12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.673 + 1.175 20 13. Schumacher Mercedes 1:23.896 + 1.398 21 14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:23.908 + 1.410 24 15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.909 + 1.411 17 16. Petrov Renault 1:23.967 + 1.469 19 17. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:24.191 + 1.693 19 18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:24.439 + 1.941 15 19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:25.788 + 3.290 14 20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:25.925 + 3.427 16 21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:26.434 + 3.936 18 22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:26.682 + 4.184 19 23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:27.471 + 4.973 18 24. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:28.730 + 6.232 14
