Max Verstappen, speaking to Sky Sports: "We will try today. We are a little bit slow but anything can change in lap one, so we will stay positive."

Image source, Getty Images

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, speaking to Sky Sports: “We want to finish these eight races with Daniel Ricciardo on a real high. We’d love to see him win another grand prix. He felt subdued in Spa but he seems back to normal here.

“We’ve loved having Daniel in our team. He’s driven some great races. He’s chosen to leave and we wish him the best. It gives an opportunity to a great young talent in Pierre Gasly

“Max is the ripe old age of 21 next month and he’s growing up. He’s becoming the complete package. He is going to be the experienced driver next season, but the number one driver is the one who’s quicker on the circuit. The strategy will follow whoever is quickest. Don’t underestimate Pierre Gasly.

“Max was shocked when I rang him to let him know that Daniel was leaving. He was trying to reconcile why he would do that. They’ve got a great friendship outside the car and he’ll be sad to see him go.”

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Monza

Image source, Gett

Red Bull decided to take the latest-specification Renault engine for both cars for this race in the end, despite being warned about extra reliability risks.

The team reckoned it was worth about 0.15-0.2secs but Max Verstappen said they were still losing a second a lap because of the engine.

The plan with the engine was to be in top shape for Singapore, Red Bull’s best chance for a strong result for the remainder of the season, except perhaps Mexico.

Neither driver thinks the circuit characteristics will be enough to challenge Ferrari for pole there. "But if we can be within like three, four tenths, that would be good," Verstappen said. Daniel Ricciardo faces a fight up from the back on Sunday because of engine penalties.

Image source, BBC Sport

We get going at 14:10 BST.

Lots of football is going on today.

Arsenal have taken the lead in their Premier League match at Cardiff. In Scotland Celtic lead Rangers 1-0 (pictured below) and in the Championship Ipswich Town lead bitter rivals Norwich City.

Also we have a thrilling conclusion to the Test match between England and India. A great day for sports fans.

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What of Vettel today? Well, he has already crashed once this week in Italy.

Earlier this week there was an F1 Live event in Milan in the build-up to this weekend's Italian Grand Prix. But not everything went to plan as Vettel crashed his Ferrari into the barriers at low speed. Oops.

Image source, Getty Images

A marvellous contrast between the two Ferrari drivers as they are paraded before a wild home crowd.

Sebastian Vettel says all the right things about being blown away by the atmosphere, etc, etc. "I think it's going to be a long tight race, but for sure we will do everything we can to get a Ferrari win," he says. Then, gesturing to the crowd, he adds: "It's unbelievable. Thanks to everyone who is supporting. It's really amazing."

Then Kimi Raikkonen is asked if the atmosphere is a bit too emotional. This, remember, is The Iceman who is being asked. "Nah, it's OK," he says. "This is what we expect from Ferrari in Italy."

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Some wise words from Britain's three-time world champion Sir Jackie Stewart to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who may well remain the favourite despite starting second.

Image source, Getty Images

We've been asking for your podium predictions over the past few days and the choice was fairly resounding when it came to the winner - Sebastian Vettel to bring it home first for Ferrari.

The German, 17 points behind Lewis Hamilton in the world championship, was the choice as winner of 54% of respondents.

Hamilton was predicted to come home second with pole-sitter Kimi Raikkonen third.

Over the past couple of days, you may have seen on this website clips of Billy Monger, the teenager who had both legs amputated after a Formula 4 crash last year, meeting former F1 driver Alex Zanardi, who lost both of his legs in a crash in Germany in 2001.

Billy travelled to Rome with BBC F1's Jennie Gow to meet the Italian two-time CART champion, who has gone on to win four Paralympic handcycling gold medals since his accident.

The full programme - Human Endeavour: Billy Monger Meets Alex Zanardi - will be broadcast on the BBC News Channel at 21:30 BST on Sunday.

But you don't have to wait - you can watch it now via the BBC iPlayer here.

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has got to Monza and been posing with some fans (and some drivers).

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Monza

McLaren had been braced for a tough weekend in Italy, and while 13th on the grid for Fernando Alonso is not exactly brilliant - and was helped by penalties for Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg, who did not run in Q2 - the pace was still more competitive than expected.

Alonso said: “I thought we could be quite under-performing but the team did a lot of changes overnight and the car was better and starting P13 was unthinkable yesterday so I am extremely happy. It is an amazing surprise.”

He’s still concerned about the race, though. “Today it is surprisingly good for whatever reasons,” he said after qualifying. “I take it, but I am a bit worried we come back to reality.”

Image source, AFP

Watch an exclusive interview with two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso, who says the sport is becoming too predictable and that only two teams are fighting for the title.

Alonso will be leaving F1 at the end of this season.

Image source, Getty Images

McLaren's Fernando Alonso, the last Ferrari man to win here back in 2010, will be racing in his last Italian Grand Prix today and he has been speaking to Sky Sports: "Our position is much better than what we thought it would be at the beginning of the weekend. We will take P13.

"We are close to the points, let's see if we can grab some. It's the last Monza for me, so I will try to enjoy every moment of it."

These lads are certainly hoping that Hamilton gets to dust off those old-school karting moves, although we have a feeling this group will be very much in the minority at Monza today...

And why is the last guy in a red 'E' when all the rest have black letters? They'll do well to stay in order all race. And who decides which poor fellow has to wear the hashtag. Surely he's got the short straw there?

Image source, Alpesh Patel

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Monza

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes had looked on the back foot all weekend but when he went fastest with his stunning first lap in final qualifying, it looked as if he might just edge the Ferraris out.

But it was not to be. Third it was, and that seemed a fair reflection of the competitive picture.

“We were hopeful that we might be able to give them a run for their money,” Hamilton said. “Obviously the first qualifying lap was pretty good – but the second one was… it was still good but it could always be better. It was just amazing how intense it was – and that’s how racing should be. So, I really enjoyed it thoroughly, to be honest.”

Can he beat them in the race? It won’t be easy. The start is the first opportunity. Hamilton said: “I need to somehow bring some of the old-school moves back from karting to get in between. It is going to be hard, they have great starts, we see how it goes.”

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, .

Pictured above is Lewis Hamilton, who completely dominated last year's race at Monza after qualifying in pole position.

Image source, Getty Images

Not only did Kimi Raikonen set the fastest lap in F1 history in taking pole yesterday (averaging 163.793mph), at 38 years and 320 days he also became the oldest pole-sitter since Nigel Mansell, then 41, in a Williams at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide.

Image source, Getty Images