Been a mixed morning so far for Daniel Ricciardo (pictured). His early engine problem has been fixed, and he is back on the track, but goes off track and through some gravel. His team-mate Max Verstappen also goes off circuit, but no real harm done for either driver.

It could be a good chance for Formula 2 driver Lando Norris to show what he can do again.

He impressed in first practice last week at Spa and will hope to do so once more.

Max Verstappen is one of the few out there and he is on the inters, he spins round at the Parabolica, but stays on the track and gets going again.

"All good, just a little drift," says the chilled out Dutchman.

Image source, Getty Images

Back to the halo chat...

Nico Hulkenberg admits he has had to rethink his opposition to the halo head protection device after the crash at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Renault driver, who triggered the dramatic accident by ramming Fernando Alonso's McLaren, was a vocal opponent of the halo's introduction.

Hulkenberg said: "It has proved pretty useful and a good device.

"I'm not a big fan of the halo as a device. I have to face facts - it does bring something in terms of safety."

It is raining harder, but the Renaults and Ferraris have set times. Carlos Sainz leads the way with a 1:37.424, with Sebastian Vettel a 1:37.867, Nico Hulkenberg with a 1:38.567 and Kimi Raikkonen with a 1:38.878.

Dave Leuchars: To be unpredictable you need more variables. Bring back refueling, and have bigger performance difference in tyres. And toughen up the tracks, mistakes don't get punished when they're driving round a car park!

Jamie Franklin: F1 needs to take the unfairly balanced power away from the big teams and have a more evenly distributed prize fund. F1 is at its best when underdogs are fighting for podiums.

Remember that carnage at Spa?

It was one of the most spectacular crashes of the season. Nico Hulkenberg forgot to brake, went straight into the back of Fernando Alonso and the Alonso catapulted over a very lucky Charles Leclerc.

The halo head-protection device had some critics earlier this year, with some calling it ugly, but it certainly showed its worth there with Leclerc walking away from the incident unhurt.

Image source, Getty Images

Twenty-five minutes gone. Just the one timed lap of the day and that came from Nico Hulkenberg, who not only has had some Madonna to listen to, but is now leading the way.

Remember, Hulkenberg has a 10-place grid penalty on Sunday after causing the opening lap carnage at the Belgian GP.

Image source, F1

More from Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, this time talking to Radio 5 live's Jennie Gow: "We're trying to get a bit of a read on this engine so hopefully it will run a bit cleaner on the next run.

"We are going to try to learn as much as we can, even in these soggy conditions, before we decide what to do for the rest of the weekend."

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live online

Signing Daniel Ricciardo is a big step up for Renault. He's a proven race winner, very talented and brings a lot of laughs and charisma and that can all lift a team. There are a lot of positives but the gap ahead is still pretty big.

By the way, we said it earlier and you can listen to our 5 live team of Jack Nicholls, Jennie Gow and Jolyon Palmer by selecting the play button at the top. The commentary is only available online.

Dylan Crawley: Well, firstly stop applying engine penalities to drivers through grid penalties and start docking championship points. The teams get penalised for unsafe releases not the driver so why is it different for engine parts? It's ridiculous and it's ruining racing opportunities.

Alan Stewart: How to make F1 less predictable? Basically anything that leads to more equality between teams. Equal engines for all teams could be a start...

Image source, Getty Images

By the way, with Ricciardo's early problem I have not yet mentioned great (maybe) banter from Renault. As Nico Hulkenberg waited to get out there, his team played some Madonna over the team radio, with the lyric "time goes slowly" from Madonna's Hung Up.

Hulkenberg is obviously not as clued up as I am from rubbish 1990s / 2000s music as he asks "Is that Madonna or Kylie Minogue?"

He knew, really, I'm sure.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has just told Sky Sports: "The problem is we are limited on the number of wets and intermediates for the weekend and the rain might hang around tomorrow so I think we are going to see limited running today."

The interview with Horner ends early as he has to find out what has happened to Daniel Ricciardo's stricken car. Not the best start to his, Red Bull's or Ricciardo's day.

A new engine and an absolutely terrible start to the weekend for Daniel Ricciardo.

He grinds to a halt within two minutes of the session, within two minutes of them testing out their new engine.

"I've got a problem, I've got no power," says the Australian.

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Monza

Daniel Ricciardo will start this race from the back as a result of taking the new, upgraded Renault engine. The French manufacturer themselves have made the third specification of engine this year available to their privateer teams but are not taking it themselves because it carries an increased reliability risk.

But Red Bull have an eye on a potential win in Singapore and feel that the performance increase - believed to be 0.1secs or so - might be worth the risk on an engine that struggles for reliability anyway. The plan is to run it in practice today and then make a call on whether to continue with it for the rest of the weekend after analysing the data.

The session is under way despite the rain and Daniel Ricciardo, testing out a new engine, is getting straight out there with Nico Hulkenberg also out there.

Image source, Rex Features