Saturday 13 September at 19:27 : McLaren boss Ron Dennis on Saturday was happy to see the team now run by his former driver, Gerhard Berger, achieve its first formula one pole position.

But the Briton did want to take some of the sheen off Toro Rosso standout Sebastian Vettel's top spot at Monza, by hinting his single seater may have benefitted from plenty of downforce on the sodden track.

"Many drivers drove today with a lot of downforce," Dennis suggested after the session. "That will not do them much good tomorrow."

With the weather expected to clear for Sunday's Italian grand prix, having benefitted from high downforce in the rain may come back to bite down Monza's long and dry straights.

But Berger, who famously was Ayrton Senna's teammate at McLaren in the 90s, rejected Dennis' claim that Vettel is weighed down with downforce.

"He's going to be alright in the dry," the Austrian said.