The weather at Monza is looking perfect for this weekend’s 2014 Formula One Italian Grand Prix, with clear, sunny conditions predicted for both tomorrow’s qualifying and Sunday’s eventual race. Peak temperature for Sunday will be a warm 79 degrees F (26 degrees C), wind speed will be low and the chance of rain is nil.

The weather didn’t look so great early on today but practice got underway without any hassles. Fastest was championship leader Nico Rosberg of Mercedes AMG, who stopped the clocks in 1.26.225. Coming as no surprise, his teammate Lewis Hamilton was the next fastest with a lap just 0.061 of a second behind.

Of more interest were the times set by the drivers of the home team, Scuderia Ferrari. Kimi Räikkönen set the third fastest time of the day and trailed Rosberg by just 0.1 of a second, while Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest and 0.34 of second behind the points leader.

Most teams today focused on comparing the two compounds Pirelli has supplied this weekend: the P Zero Orange hard and P Zero White medium. It was the medium that proved faster for most on the grueling Autodromo di Monza.

Going into the weekend, Rosberg leads the 2014 Drivers’ Championship with 220 points while Hamilton is in second with 191 points. Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo is catching up to the Mercedes duo, however, and currently sits just 35 points behind Hamilton. In the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes AMG sits on 411 points versus the 254 points of Red Bull and 160 points of Ferrari.

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