Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monza

Image source, Reuters

Lewis Hamilton came back from his summer break at the Belgian Grand Prix weekend and expressed his determination and need to win both of the last two races of the European season. He ticked one box in Spa last weekend and the second one is going well so far. Fastest in first practice, second to Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the second - but clearly able to have gone quicker had he put together a clean lap - Hamilton has started the Monza weekend as the man to beat, and the Ferraris - at least on the evidence of Friday - appeared a step behind the pace so far.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monza

Safety car track inspection completed. "No change in conditions"

Image source, F1 on Twitter

Allan McNish
BBC Radio 5 live Formula 1 analyst

Image source, .

We are in the middle of this.

McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne has been speaking to Jennie Gow about this rain delay.

"There is so much water on track, standing water," the Belgian says. "We have too much aquaplaning. There is no point taking risks now."

The safety car is on track right now checking out the conditions.

We'll keep you across any updates from race control.

Should my poetry make you pine for other forms of entertainment this Saturday morning, don'r forget the radio 5 live guys and gals are just a press of a button away, using the tab at the top of this page.

They are currently inviting you to get in touch with your questions for ex-F1 driver Allan McNish, so have a listen in and contact them via #bbcf1

Right, so unless you've been living under a rock for the last day or so you will know that Lewis Hamilton has penned a poem for Princess Diana.

Hamilton's effort has inspired us at BBC Sport to find our inner poet and this is what we have come up with (literally in the last five minutes, and on very little sleep).

There once was a man called Fernando

Who could drive like dancing the fandango

But someone gave him a Honda

and he won races no longer

So now he just dances the conga.

By Jamie Strickland, age 39 and 11/12ths.

Think you can do better? We know you can do better. Send us your F1-themed poems to #bbcf1

So it seems we have quite a bit of time to fill.

If only something noteworthy had happened in the past 24 hours or so for us to talk about.

*drums fingers on desk*

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo has just told the BBC's Jennie Gow that the rain will have to stop completely before the organisers will even think of sending the cars out.

No sign of that happening anytime soon.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Monza

Image source, Rex Features

The rain that was promised on Friday has arrived overnight and Monza was damp and grey as Formula 1 personnel trickled into the track, fighting their way through the hordes of fans gathered at the gate for a glimpse of their heroes.

It has stayed that way for final practice and who knows when we will see any action.

The pattern of Friday seemed to be that Mercedes had an advantage, but would a wet track turn things back in Ferrari’s favour?

Will we have chance to find out?

And no sooner have I written that entry than race control have confirmed the start of this third practice session has been delayed "indefinitely".

Yep, rain in Monza. A scenario not for the faint hearted, and one wonders how prepared the teams are to risk their expensive cars in FP3.

That said, there's no guarantees race day will dry so it's also important that the teams get some running in these tricky conditions.

A taxing hour ahead.

So, to update you since last we met:

• Serena Williams has become a mother.
• Lewis Hamilton is now a poet.
• It's raining in Monza. Hard.

Good morning.

Image source, Sauber on Twitter