Claire Cottingham
BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter

They have changed the nose on Verstappen's car.

He's obviously going to be further back from where he started...which was the back!

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

Albon's ended up losing places when he could have found something.

Jack Nicholls
BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator

They bump wheels, they might get away with it!

Not sure if that was great brave bold stuff or give up for Albon.

Sainz and Albon collide - Albon overtakes, Sainz tries to strike back, but goes wide and into the gravel! We wait to see if that's classed as a racing incident.

The stewards have noted the incident at Turn 1 on the first lap that resulted in Max Verstappen's broken wing. Raikkonen, Perez and Grosjean were also involved.

But trouble for Vettel - a difficult first lap, and he's dropped behind the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg. Vettel gets his act together and passes Hulkenberg - he's back up to fourth.

Verstappen has to come in for a front wing change. Out he goes on the softs, which he is going to have to nurse now.

Image source, Getty Images

Leclerc gets through the first chicane ahead despite Hamilton's attempt to overtake him. Verstappen is in trouble - is that a broken front wing?

Image source, Getty Images

Fifty-three laps are under way!

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Monza

Strategy-wise, if it’s dry, the Italian Grand Prix is nearly always a one stop, because the track surface here creates very little abrasion on the tyres.

Back in the day of durable tyres that were not as heat-sensitive as the Pirellis, teams would run as long as possible for making their first stop. Even now, it could be half-distance before some stop.

The fastest race is soft-medium. A pit stop costs an unusually long 24 seconds under green flag conditions because of the length of the pit lane, only 15 under a safety car.

Image source, BBC Sport

Spa's race results didn't change the standings significantly. Verstappen retired during the first lap and missed out on points, and Hamilton and Bottas finished second and third which upped their total, but Hamilton remains 65 points clear.

Last year, Ferrari were close to their first win at Monza since 2010 with Kimi Raikkonen leading from pole for much of the race, until Lewis Hamilton spoiled the party later on.

Mercedes have won five times on this circuit since 2010.

The formation lap is under way, led by pole-sitter Charles Leclerc.

We've got BBC Radio 5 Live commentary on this race. Jack Nicholls, Jolyon Palmer and Claire Cottingham are on duty - listen along by clicking the icon at the top of the page.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Monza

There was a massive storm overnight, which flooded some of the tunnels on the access roads around the track, and rendered the teams’ and media car parks a quagmire in which you can happily practise a bit of rally driving, but which may be less amusing when it comes to getting out after the race.

But by mid-morning it was dry and blue-sky sunny and the race looks likely to be dry, even if the forecast has showers in it.

To have rain, though, you need clouds, and there are not many of those in evidence.

Sid: If Vettel wasn’t given No.1 status, the toys would be out the pram and he’d lose even more focus. Leclerc needs to consolidate his performances first, before leading. It’s fairly clear cut : not that that counts for anything at Ferrari.

David M: Tough call. Not Alonso, he's a disruptive influence. Hard to argue for Vettel given he is now being outdriven by Leclerc. But, Leclerc is too inexperienced to lead.

Stephen Taylor: Today is the biggest day in Vettel's time at Ferrari. I think he is on the way out of Ferrari. Vettel will probably see out his his contract but if he is to stay long term he needs to start beating Leclerc.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Monza

Image source, Getty Images

Ferrari have been the quickest team so far this weekend, even if not by as much as most expected, but they have failed to lock out the front row and that is going to make their attempts to win the race much more complicated than they might otherwise have been. Sebastian Vettel starts fourth, after a qualifying session marked by a combination of speed and luck - good and bad.

Vettel’s lap was set without a tow, so to be only 0.152secs off team-mate Charles Leclerc’s pole time was impressive. But he was extremely lucky in some eyes to get away with not having his time deleted following an investigation into whether he had exceeded track limits in Parabolica. From TV pictures, it looked a slam-dunk, but officials said that other images, from above, suggested he “may have been within the bounds of the white line” so he was given the “benefit of doubt”.

Vettel was “not happy” that Ferrari’s plan to give him the tow on the second runs had not worked out in the chaos of the final moments, but Leclerc said there was no malice or gamesmanship involved.

“To be completely honest,” Leclerc said, "the plan was that, in the first run, Seb was giving me the tow and in the second run, I will give him the tow. So, I actually went out of the box in front of him, and then there was the huge mess after Turns One and Two and the McLaren and a Renault – I don’t know whoever that was – they stopped in the middle of the track and we had nowhere to go. Seb overtakes me there, because of the mess, because obviously we were aware it was quite tight on time, and then I stayed, basically, behind Seb, until the last straight where I’ve heard also on the radio: ‘You can overtake Seb.’ So I overtook him – but I had no time for me either to start the lap, so yeah, it was a shame – but I don’t think I could have done much more.”

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Monza

Image source, Getty Images

Mercedes came to Italy expecting another race like Spa, where Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari was on pole by three-quarters of a second. So it has been a pleasant surprise for them to find themselves almost on Ferrari’s one-lap pace.

Lewis Hamilton was just 0.146secs behind Leclerc and that was despite having to lift in Parabolica when Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo went off in front of him. Hamilton felt he had lost pole as a result of that - and team-mate Valtteri Bottas, running just behind, felt the same. “We are more competitive here than in Spa,” team boss Toto Wolff said. “Spa seemed to be a negative outlier for us in the past. we are somehow better with our package in Monza although on paper it should be worse because our straight-line speed is not as good as the Ferraris or the Renault.”

Also different from Spa, however is that Ferrari’s race pace is better than it was in Belgium. The Mercedes was quicker in the simulation runs on Friday - but only by about 0.1secs. So a close race is in prospect.

Leclerc said: “It’s obviously going to be very, very difficult because, first of all, they are quick, secondly, slipstream and DRS are very important here. The race pace looks better than what it was in Spa, so on that we are pretty confident – but for sure it’s going to be very difficult to keep them behind. A very good start from myself and also from Seb will be very important for the good result of the team.”

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Monza

Renault have had another good weekend in Italy, after a strong qualifying in Belgium last week, and Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg start fifth and sixth.

The two races have confirmed that the car fundamentally lacks downforce - it is quick on high-speed tracks such as Canada, where Ricciardo qualified a season’s best fourth, but less so where higher downforce is required.

They have McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon’s Red Bull right behind, so that could all get a bit interesting.

Image source, Getty Images

Renault's Daniel Ricciardo, starting fifth on the grid, assesses his chances as he speaks to Sky Sports: "I don't feel we're out of position. I feel we have enough pace. If we hold position on the start, I think we can be all right."