[9] Dani Clos replaced Narain Karthikeyan at HRT in the first practice session, while Valtteri Bottas drove Bruno Senna's Williams once again.

Kamui Kobayashi ended the session fastest, having chosen to stay out early while other drivers pitted to begin work on their car setup.

The third and final session on Saturday morning was dry, allowing teams just one hour to complete as much of their testing programmes as possible ahead of qualifying and the race.

Bruno Senna had eighth position secured but due to a slow puncture he had to make a pitstop with only four laps left in the race, dropping him to 12th.

Button, who started on pole, was never under threat as Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel fought from 10th to 2nd, ahead of Lotus's Kimi Räikkönen.

Pastor Maldonado was given two five-place grid penalties at the Italian Grand Prix, the first of which was for his jump start and the second for causing an avoidable collision with Glock.