Max Verstappen took a page from the old Lewis Hamilton, the one who never seemed to miss the opportunity to keep his mouth shut and just drive.
Lewis has learned, Max has yet to figure it out. Not sure he should take advice on how to react in public from the ill tempered elder Verstappen.
What happened?
Jacques Villeneuve, 1997 World Champion, now amateur musician and TV commentator, suggested what almost everyone in the media has since Spa: that Verstappen moderate some of his borderline racing moves before he causes a big accident.
Villeneuve said "before someone gets killed" which is a turn of a phrase. Bombastic perhaps but not unheard of in media talk certainly.
What he was referring to is the accident at the 2001 Australian GP in Melbourne which resulted in the death of a marshal Graham Beveridge who was struck by debris when Villeneuve's BAR collided with Ralf Schumacher's Williams.
Two things about this "counterpunch" by the Verstappen: in 2001 he was three years old so it's not like he remembers it. Someone from his management team told him to use that comeback for Villeneuve.
The second point is that that accident was a result of a driver, sitting in the middle of the track and driving erratically.
Sometimes it's better to let go and have your driving do the talking.
After years of push and pull, of threats and denials, there have been reports that 2016 will be the end of the road for Formula one at Monza.
Formula One Management and Italian organizers have been at odds for a while now. It's the usual story, Bernie wants money more in line with what some of the newer venues are paying, organizers say they don't have that kind of cash.
In a recent interview, Angelo Sticchi Damiani president of the Automobile Club Italiano, declared "It has all been in vain, there are no more margins on which to deal" and that if Monza is lost then Italy would accept to have its Grand Prix at Imola.
On the surface, it would be easy to dump on Bernie and his demand for €19M per year for the race, but there is more than meets the eye at play.
A proposal saw the ACI (automobile club Italia) kick in €12.5M with the remaining €6.5M coming from the Monza track management. Unfortunately the current managers of the Monza Circuit have not been stellar, they have been running a deficit and are essentially broke despite it's employees salaries ballooning in recent years. Their scheme to modify the circuit in order to accommodate Superbikes has not gone over very well.
Sticchi Damiani's declarations were designed to put Monza's managers on notice, they can either come up with the funds and provide services F1 is demanding or the ACI will pick up the tab (well, Italian taxpayers would....) but insist on new management for the historic track.
Will Monza be history soon? It could be but it might not be all Bernie's fault this time.
Save for deflate-gate threatening Mercedes's dominant win for a couple of hours, the Italian GP was a bit of a snoozer.
Except for Kimi Raikkonen.
The Finn climbed out of the hole he found himself before even the very first corner.
Driver's fault or technical issue, we don't know for sure and we may never find out but Kimi drove a spectacular race from last at the first chicane to 5th at the flag.
It's amazing the run of bad luck Raikkonen has had. You wonder if Heikki Kovalainen might not have put some ancient norse curse on him.
Perkele!
But in a way the Kimster must have had more fun than anyone... unless they find out he forgot to take it out of neutral anyway.
Someone definitively not having any fun was Alonso.
Fernando retired before the end, supposedly to "prevent further damage" to the car and engine. One has to wonder if him being behind Jenson Button once again was as much of a factor as the McLaren being such a total dog.
It's pretty apparent the McLaren-Honda relationship is completely broken with the English team calling for Honda's engine development boss Yasihisa Arai's head and Honda hinting McLaren cars are not all that.
It's a terrible mess and incredible two great companies could have dug themselves in such a hole.
Speaking of engines, before the week end, Red Bull let it be known they would not be using Renault engines in 2016. Everyone thought they must have made a deal with Mercedes but Toto Wolff convinced the Mercedes board it would be a terrible idea.
That leaves Red Bull at the mercies of Ferrari, a company they historically not have head great relations with.
Unless they really have, as long rumored, been working on their own engine in secret...
Renault's acquisition of Lotus is not a done deal yet, with the hangup being, according to some, F1's stakeholders wish to make the maximum amount of money possible. CVC is said to be objecting giving Renault what amounts to a bit of a sweetheart deal with the prize money. With the alternative bing Renault leaving the sport and leaving the series to just Mercedes and Ferrari, it seems like an extraordinarily short sighted policy.
The future of Monza was another big topic. Bernie said, boiled down to it, he could care less if Monza has been on the calendar for the whole history of F1, he only cares about money.
Italy, unlike the many dictatorships F1 seems to prefer, is bound by EU regulations limiting government financial involvement in private enterprises. Laws have to be changed and Italy has bigger fish to fry.....but politicians are politicians and they love a show: Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was on hand to meet with the tiny Briton.
Frankly, given PM Renzi's command of the english language combined with his determination to continue butchering it in public, makes me glad negotiations will be conducted in the universal language of money.
I'm hoping Sergio Marchionne is more involved that he will admit
The elephant in the room was the tire decision.
Unfortunately it becomes difficult to discuss this rationally as Lewis Hamilton fans get bent out of shape. It actually had absolutely nothing to do with Lewis at all and yes, it would have been a disappointment for him and his fans had the dominant race win been taken away because of a technical infraction.
But not any more disappointing as it was for Daniel Ricciardo last season in Australia.
In Monza, it was decided that in effect, rules were wrong, or not sufficiently clear or that it was Pirelli's fault for not being specific enough...
On pit lane, not everyone was buying it:
Rob Smedley (Williams Martini F1): "It does not matter how much it is, minus 0.3 or minus 10, when you have technical regulations you have to adhere to them. With wings we make them within a half a millimeter of the regulations. If we go over and are caught, we get disqualified. Rules are there so that you respect them, what do you do with wings, with engines with ride height ? Is it OK to go over by a little but not OK to go over by a lot? If we all added just a little, all of our cars would be all be two seconds faster. There are rules and they broke them, end of story."
Paul Hembery (Pirelli) "at the end of the day, it's about performance, (low pressures) create a problem because they threaten the integrity of the race car but at the same time gives a performance advantage." It's somewhat ironic that after Spa, Toto Wolff had been very critical of Ferrari for going outside of Pirelli's recommendations. The measured discrepancy on Hamilton's car was small, but on Rosberg's. quite substantial. Both were below what they were supposed to be.
In it's infinite wisdom, the FIA decided, after two and half hours, to rule it did not really know when to measure pressures and that Pirelli had not been sufficiently clear about when it should be done.
It would seem logical pressures should be checked as closely as possible to the start, it's too easy for a mechanic to change pressures on the grid. Will everyone take tires out of the blankets early so as to have lower pressures for the start?
Before you say "stupid F1 rules", "Shitty tires" etc., WEC has exactly the same safety rule regarding tire pressures.
Politically, it's understandable: fans would have screamed bloody murder.
It's complicated to rule against the largest team in the sport, the one that supplies the most teams, provides all the support vehicles, the one buying all those Pirelli tires for its road cars.
The rule was one for safety yet it's pretty clear other considerations came into this decision.
It's not the first time Mercedes has has "interesting" rulings from the FIA regarding tires: remember the secret tests of 2013 after which the Silver Arrows stopped wearing through Pirellis in less than ten laps?
All of this really had nothing to do with Hamilton who drove exactly as he should have and did everything the team asked him to do.
In what can only be described as a convoluted ruling, the FIA stewards jumped through hoops to let Mercedes off the hook on the tire pressure issue.
They resolved the tire pressure measurement that counts is the one that is taken when wheels are fitted to the car in the garage prior to the start.
Some of you may ask why then they would bother taking measurements on the grid right before the start. Presumably this is to make sure pressures are still within specs, not to look cool on TV.
Only a cynic would think Mercedes would show up on the grid with colder tires in order to have a lower effective pressures or that any commercial considerations were part of this decision.
Whatever. Nobody was going to beat Hamilton's W06 today anyway.
Lewis Hamilton had the usual rocketship at Monza, upgraded engine and all.
Rosberg had a different car and is showed, his pace was nowhere near and eventually exploded a couple of laps from the end.
But the talk is of the pending penalty to Mercedes over tire pressures.
You can argue this until you turn blue but it should be cut and dry: If a car was not operated within the technical regulations then it's not legal and it should be excluded.
If you argue .3 PSI makes no difference then you have to argue 2mm on a wing or .5 psi more fuel flow does not "really" make a difference.
It seems a black and white issue, at least when it comes to the starting set of option tires it really should have been resolved before the podium ceremony.
We don't know if the second set tires were within pressure specs but for sure Lewis made his tires last the longest in the first stint. Lower pressures make tires last longer, Lewis said as much himself after the race.
Unfortunately the talk will be of plots and stupid rules and Pirelli being "terrible"
Did .3 psi make the difference? Possibly not but there is no point to a rulebook if you make exceptions.
In the 2014 Formula Mercedes Grand Prix of Italy, the man who only made one mistake won.
In fact Hamilton fully deserved the win, he was fastest in qualifying and, after a lousy start apparently due to a mysterious technical fault, he first made a crucial early pass on Kevin Magnussen to keep himself in contention and later a clean DRS pass on Massa to take second place and put himself back in the position to pressure Rosberg into a mistake or two.
Or did he?
Question were asked: was this Rosberg's sanction for the collision at Spa?
Sounds crazy? It is odd Rosberg, a driver who makes very few errors (and when he does gets accused of doing it intentionally) would make two in the same race, the first when he was was under no particular pressure.
And why did Rosberg not even attempt to attack Lewis in the final part of the race and was content to stay four seconds back the whole time? Rosberg historicallyhas always obeyed team orders.
Toto Wolff's smile when Lewis passed and Lauda later saying Rosberg had a "great race" did not help alleviate suspicions.
It all makes for amusing speculation because would Mercedes not have chosen one of a million other more practical and less obvious ways to get Lewis ahead, had that been the objective?
But conspiracies, recently it was that the team was sabotaging Hamilton, are part of what makes F1 fun.
In any case it's not just a one-two but a win win for Mercedes because they need to hold on to Hamilton of course. Of the two drivers, he's immensely the more marketable and charismatic, not to mention probably a bit faster. Not someone you want to give away to a rival like say, Honda.
The win at Monza, after all the controversy since Spa, was just what the doctor ordered.
And this brings us to the psychological game. Post race Lewis doubled down on Rosberg, effectively saying the German just cracked under his mighty pressure. It will be interesting to see if that's so and if this was the turning point of the season. Rosberg seemed to take the high road on the radio after the finish and, even when boo'd on the podium, congratulated Hamilton. I'm not sure his goose is as cooked as much as some commentators seem to feel it is.
Speaking of teammate wars, Vettel might have run out of excuses today at Monza, Ricciardo pretty much humiliated him with the dummy he sold him to pass. Nobody would be surprised if Sebastian had dinner with Ron Dennis Sunday because Red Bull is many things but sentimental is not one of them, they have Daniel and have Daniil waiting. Marko is done with Seb.
And then there is Ferrari (cue funeral dirge).
Alonso gets Ferrari's first mechanical at Monza of all places, on the front straight of all places. Di Montezemolo rebuffs rumors of his impending departure proclaiming he will be the only one making such announcements and that he has much more to do at the team only to be brutally slammed by Sergio Marchionne with the old "everyone is useful, nobody is indispensable".
Ouch.
A great day for Massa. Had Bottas gotten a proper start it might have been a different story but you can't not like the irony of Felipe standing on the podium at Monza facing the tifosi in his white Martini overalls. Massa was a real pro when Lewis passed him on the outside of the chicane, leaving enough room to avoid contact. A lesson in class.
Another one who tasted some sweet revenge was Sergio Perez who with Ricciardo, and Bottas really put on the show at Monza. Button must be livid.
Magnussen penalty: deserved. the kid has a bit of a nasty habit of defending by walking people off the track and weaving.
After Friday practice at Monza it looked like there might be a real challenge to the Mercedes from Williams and even Ferrari.
Saturday dispelled that notion: A Mercedes one-two and with Williams on the second row but a full 1/2 second off for Bottas in P3 and almost 8/10th for Massa in P4.
Behind the Williams, another Mercedes powered pair, Magnussen and Button both well over a second off the pace.
Row 4 has Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel 1.3 secs behind. That should make for a nice battle.
Hamilton is very much in control with Rosberg looking rather nervous in the post qualifying press conference. Rosberg could not run in the free practice saturday morning because of an issue with his gearbox and this certainly hurt him in qualifying and possibly the race.
If you've ever wondered how much of a factor heat from the brakes is in heating tires on an F1 car, look no further than this video of Paul Di Resta's warm up lap through that cool infrared camera.
Several interesting bits: At the very first chicane he locks up just a bit and you can see what a dramatic hotspot that creates.
You can see how much the airflow cools the rubber but also how quickly it lights up in the corners, Interesting that you see the inside wheel light up under braking.
Finally as the car comes to a stanstill on the grid, you see the effect of brake heat. Check out how at the green , you can see the cold spot from where the tire was touching the asphalt!
All that heat though was not enough to prevent Di Rest from locking up into the Variante della Roggia (T4...) and smashing into Grosjean's Lotus, which miraculously survived the impact.
No matter how you want to look at it, when your top driver refers to the pit wall brain trust as "geniuses" (with heavy irony) things are not, in RonSpeak, optimized for maximum performance.
What happened? Ferrari, unlike anyone else in the field, purposely set out with a strategy to have Alonso get a tow from Massa. It's a risky strategy: it can help but it can also ruin a lap if you get it wrong. In Q3 Massa and Alonso were released so that somehow Ricciardo was between them on their warmup lap and Alonso lost time and contact with Felipe.
Massa slowed and by sector 3 they were in tow but in the meantime Fernando let fly a heavy " should have let him by, you are truly geniuses, c'mon guys" ( c'era da farlo passare, veramente site dei geni. Mamma mia ragazzi).
At the very least a sign that Alonso is not happy about the way things are managed. At worse they are hints of a driver coming a bit undone. Certainly with di Montezemolo and all the Ferrari brass in the pits and having that message go out on the world feed, even if in Italian, will not go over well.
Of course this is only a snippet of conversation and one must ask, exactly who makes the editorial decisions on which radio calls to make public and what might be their motives?
There was no catching Vettel today, the Red Bull was consistently 2 to 3/10th faster in the German's hands. But behind him, P2 to P7 all were within less than 5/10ths.
Ferrari's plan for Alonso did not work out because Massa ended up getting a bit of a tow from Webber, enough to pip Fernando by 1/100th of a second. Massa however will have to start on the "dirty side" behind Webber so it may not be ideal.
There is also a chance of rain which might explain the bad performance in qualifying from Lotus today. Hamilton was held up by Sutil quite clearly in Q2 and did not make the final pole shootout.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m23.755s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m23.968s +0.213s
3. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.065s +0.310s
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m24.132s +0.377s
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m24.142s +0.387s
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.192s +0.437s
7. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.209s +0.454s
8. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.502s +0.747s
9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.515s +0.760s
10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m28.050s +4.295s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m24.776s Gap **
11. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m24.610s +0.633s
12. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m24.803s +0.826s
13. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m24.848s +0.871s
14. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m24.932s +0.955s
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m25.011s +1.034s
16. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m25.077s +1.100s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m25.030s Gap *
17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.226s +0.907s
18. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m25.291s +0.972s
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m26.406s +2.087s
20. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m26.563s +2.244s
21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.085s +2.766s
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.480s +3.161s
Kudos to FOM for bringing interesting innovations to their broadcasts. We've seen pictures of teams with thermal cameras mounted on their cars in the past but this is the first time we see what they are looking at.
Pirelli's Paul Hembery explains tire manufacturers use them regularly for product development and you can see how useful they can be to a team, giving real time feedback of the effects of suspension and alignment settings.
The views are from Paul Di Resta's Force India above and Pastor Maldonado's Williams below.
After bad luck in Belgium and more bad luck in qualifying Saturday, Fernando will be more than happy with a third. Helps Vettel had yet another alternator failure and scored no points, dropping him to fourth in the championship behind Raikkonen, now a single point behind Lewis, one ahead of Seb.
A 37 point lead might seem like a lot but , with seven races remaining and a maximum 175 points still in play, Alonso has a long road ahead of him, it's by no means over.
Some observations on the race.
There was much to do was about the Alonso Vettel incident, almost a mirror image of last year. After Spa and Grosjean there was little doubt everyone would be under the FIA microscope but, as it turns out, it was a straight forward decision for the stewards, Emanuele Pirro explained:
"After Bahrein, when Nico Rosberg forced Hamilton to complete a pass beyond the circuit boundaries and later Alonso to have to lift to avoid going off track, the FIA issued very clear guidelines" "The leading driver can choose his line up until the driver behind brings any part of his car beside the leading car's rear wheels: at that moment the driver ahead is obliged to leave one car width of space. Vettel's penalty was correct as Alonso front wing was well beyond the Red Bull's rear tires."
"There is no doubt, Connelly and I had prepared a powerpoint presentation after Bahrain that showed drivers all possible scenarios and consequences. Drivers know how they should behave."
There was a question about the incident between Senna and Di Resta which did not result in a penalty to which Pirro replies:
"There was no double standard, TV pictures showed how Senna was already on the grass when he started the overtaking maneuver. As the Brazilian was beyond the white line it was he who was taking the extra risk and Di Resta was under no obligation to leave him room as he had the right to his line into the corner."
Fantastic Race for Sauber.
Very happy for them after the disaster at Spa, Checo Perez from 12th to 2nd is certainly showing "experience" but was I the only one noticing a very distinct lack of..."feeling" in the body language between him and Alonso after the race?
Speaking of body language, what is going on with Hamilton? Something's going on there, the guy is not a happy camper.
Finally, this this race seal the deal for a one year renewal for Massa? I say maybe, he needs to continue to remember what it feels like not to be a midpack runner for the rest of the season and take precious points away from Alonso's rivals, Can Felipe do it?
Bonus, check out these two clips, Nico Hulkenberg had some interesting moments...
Save for the most rabid of Mclaren fans, nobody believes pole today at Monza would have gone to anyone other than Fernando Alonso, after all his Q1 time on hard tires would have put him P2 on the final grid. But, after a run of good luck, Alonso got bit once more when a "one euro part", as Ferrari have described it, broke leaving the rear anti-sway "bar" useless and the car pushing like crazy. Alonso in an interview later confirmed the team had not seen a similar failure in fifteen years.
Di Resta's five spot penalty for a broken gearbox destroyed his great qualifying performance and shuffles the order a bit, Alonso will start on the "dirty" side with all his championship rivals will be ahead and with a projected one stopper and Raikkonen as the fastest car in a straight line, it will be a tough day at the office for Nando.
Photo: Francesco Crippa/Flickr
Pos Driver Car Time Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.010s
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.133s + 0.123s
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m24.247s + 0.237s
4. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m24.304s + 0.294s***
5. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m24.540s + 0.530s
6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m24.802s + 0.792s
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.833s + 0.823s
8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m24.855s + 0.845s
9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.109s + 1.099s
10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m25.678s + 1.668s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m24.742s Gap *
11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m24.809s + 0.567s
12. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m24.820s + 0.578s****
13. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.901s + 0.659s
14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m25.042s + 0.800s
15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.312s + 1.070s
16. Jerome d'Ambrosio Lotus-Renault 1m25.408s + 1.166s
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.441s + 1.199s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m25.834s Gap **
18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m26.382s + 2.207s
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m26.887s + 2.712s
20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.039s + 2.864s
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.073s + 2.898s
22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m27.441s + 3.266s
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m27.629s + 3.454s
24. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes
107 per cent time: 1m30.076s
* Gap to fastest in Q2
** Gap to fastest in Q3
*** Will take five-place penalty
**** Will take 10-place penalty
It was an exciting race...for three laps, then it became an interesting race to fill the rest of the podium.
It would have been an even shorter race for first had Alonso not managed to shoot around everyone, driving his Ferrari on the grass from fourth place on the grid to first at the end of the straight. The tifosi's roar could be heard over the field of 24 screaming Formula 1 cars. Liuzzi tried the same move, over precisely the same patch of grass and quickly ran out of talent and taking out Rosberg and Petrov and giving herr Maylander a few laps in the big SLS safety car.
That mess just delayed the inevitable for one lap. On lap three, Vettel put in a spectacular move on Alonso and from then on, he was gone. Pole, win and fast lap, complete domination.
Two lingering questions have been answered this week end: of course Vettel can race and yes Schumacher still has a place in Formula 1. Vettel's pass on the Ferrari at 200 mph with two wheels in the dirt has to be one of the moves of the year and the fight between "Grandpa" Michael and Hamilton was just great fun to watch.
Well, probably not if you are a big Hamilton fan as Lewis was the big loser today (along with Mark Webber). Lewis has to be seething, he could not not get free of Schumacher despite the Mclaren being clearly the second best car in the field. After Spa Lewis made such a big deal about passing Alonso on the outside, he must have freaked when Schumacher re- passed him on the outside on the Curva Grande. In a post race interview Lewis certainly smirked enough to make it clear that he was saying one thing but thinking another when asked about the Schumacher duel. Probably a good thing, looking at the onboards, Schumi's supposed weaving does not look as extreme and the fact remains that Jenson Button was able to dispatch the German in less than half a lap.
However you feel about the fight between Hammy and Schumi, It was great to see some sustained hard racing for a change.
Vettel is obviously World Champion, but it's great to see he will not go all Prost on us and be content to cruise for the rest of the season, I'm positive he would not be happy to clinch the championship with anything less than a win.
Another great race by Jenson Button who is really the man at Mclaren right now, fantastic pass on Schumacher , had to laugh when I heard him say he closed his eyes and went for it. Fernando Alonso managed a third which is good for second place in the championship over Button, Webber and Hamilton, not bad considering the Ferrari is certainly the third best car on the grid.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h20:46.172 2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 9.590 3. Alonso Ferrari + 16.909 4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 17.471 5. Schumacher Mercedes + 32.677 6. Massa Ferrari + 42.993 7. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 8. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 9. Senna Renault + 1 lap 10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 11. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 13. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap 14. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps 15. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:26.187
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 40 Perez Sauber-Ferrari 34 Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 23 Sutil Force India-Mercedes 11 Webber Red Bull-Renault 6 D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 3 Petrov Renault 1 Rosberg Mercedes 1 Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1
World Championship standings, round 13:
Drivers: Constructors: 1. Vettel 284 1. Red Bull-Renault 451 2. Alonso 172 2. McLaren-Mercedes 325 3. Webber 167 3. Ferrari 254 4. Button 167 4. Mercedes 108 5. Hamilton 158 5. Renault 70 6. Massa 82 6. Force India-Mercedes 36 7. Rosberg 56 7. Sauber-Ferrari 35 8. Schumacher 52 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 29 9. Petrov 34 9. Williams-Cosworth 5 10. Heidfeld 34 11. Kobayashi 27 12. Sutil 24 13. Alguersuari 16 14. Buemi 13 15. Di Resta 12 16. Perez 8 17. Barrichello 4 18. Senna 2 19. Maldonado 1
They say Red Bull may have chosen the wrong gear ratios for the race but check out this little number by Sebastian Vettel at Ascari. Any doubts as to how perfectly set up to Seb's style and how balanced the RB7 is, should be put to rest by the seeming effortless way Vettel pulls this off.
Stunning.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m22.275s 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.725s + 0.450 3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.777s + 0.502 4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m22.841s + 0.566 5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m22.972s + 0.697 6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m23.188s + 0.913 7. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m23.530s + 1.255 8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.777s + 1.502 9. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.477s + 2.202 10. Bruno Senna Renault No time Q2 cut-off time: 1m24.157s Gap ** 11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m24.163s + 1.249 12. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m24.209s + 1.295 13. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m24.648s + 1.734 14. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m24.726s + 1.812 15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.845s + 1.931 16. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.932s + 2.018 17. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.065s + 2.151 Q1 cut-off time: 1m25.164s Gap * 18. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.334s + 1.358 19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m26.647s + 2.671 20. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m27.184s + 3.208 21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m27.591s + 3.615 22. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m27.609s + 3.633 23. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1m28.054s + 4.078 24. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m28.231s + 4.255
Ah Monza.... the un-Tilke track. yes there are two super tight chicanes but there are also gravel traps meaning if you make a mistake it will actually cost you. That's a welcome change from the "oh well I will just run wide" racing we see even at Spa now.
Sebastian Buemi learned that and his radio transmission back to the team sounded like a grade school kid confessing something real naughty to his teacher.
Have you noticed how in Italy, all drivers get into the spirit? Even Lewis is talking with his hands!
And speaking of hands, check out at the end of the clip the difference between "Grandpa" Schumacher and Button. Schumi has the lightest hands on the wheel than anyone I can think of but at the same time he is always super busy, always changing brake balance and other settings. Button on the other hand never changes a thing. Interesting.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m24.010s 37 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.046s + 0.036 21 3. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m24.347s + 0.337 39 4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m24.366s + 0.356 33 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m24.433s + 0.423 31 6. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m24.468s + 0.458 32 7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.508s + 0.498 30 8. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.097s + 1.087 39 9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.182s + 1.172 37 10. Bruno Senna Renault 1m25.325s + 1.315 38 11. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m25.450s + 1.440 31 12. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m25.496s + 1.486 39 13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m25.683s + 1.673 37 14. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.758s + 1.748 29 15. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m26.202s + 2.192 36 16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m26.353s + 2.343 40 17. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m28.347s + 4.337 5 18. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m28.559s + 4.549 32 19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m28.605s + 4.595 32 20. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m28.804s + 4.794 25 21. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m29.162s + 5.152 34 22. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m29.184s + 5.174 29 23. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m29.622s + 5.612 34 24. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1m29.841s + 5.831 7
There was a scary incident where a HRT radio tech who had come onto the hot pit are to check faulty equipment on Sakon Yamamoto's car and was not able to get out of the way of the car as it left. The pit lane was closed as he was taken to the hospital for a check up.
Race win, pole and fast lap: Fernando Alonso showed why he gets paid the big bucks this week end but if anyone had any doubts about Formula being a team sport, today's race should change your mind.
Ferrari had the measure of Mclaren on speed but it was strategy that played the key role. Alonso and his engineers did well to bide their time, pressuring Button but saving tires just enough for a quick in lap. On lap 37 Ferrari's crew made what has to be the pit stop of the year, 8/10th faster than Mclaren's one lap earlier, allowing Fernando to come out just ahead of Jenson.
Over at Red Bull, Vettel's crew gambled on what seems like an insane strategy gamble, going 52 of 53 laps on the soft tires. It worked.
Now team orders, many wondered why teams fight for every single point, Alonso who seemed to be out of the running for the championship after Spa is now third, one point ahead of Jenson Button. Red Bull probably used team orders today and ended up salvaging precious championship points for Webber who had a lousy start, 4th to 9th on the first lap.
Yesterday we wondered if Lewis Hamilton would choose to defend his championship lead or try to win it on the first lap. Ironically, interviewed before the race in a segment about Sebastian Vettel's supposed immaturity, he opined the German is still young and has some learning to do before he can be champion... I'll leave it at that.
The Italian Grand Prix Autodromo di Monza, Italy; 53 laps; 306.720km; Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Alonso Ferrari 1h16:24.572 2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 2.938 3. Massa Ferrari + 4.223 4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 28.193 5. Rosberg Mercedes + 29.942 6. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 31.276 7. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 32.812 8. Kubica Renault + 34.028 9. Schumacher Mercedes + 44.948 10. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:04.200 11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:05.00 12. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 1:06.100 13. Petrov Renault + 1:18.900 14. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 16. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 17. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps 18. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 2 laps 19. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps 20. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:24.139
World Championship standings, round 14:
Drivers: Constructors: 1. Webber 187 1. Red Bull-Renault 350 2. Hamilton 182 2. McLaren-Mercedes 347 3. Alonso 166 3. Ferrari 290 4. Button 165 4. Mercedes 158 5. Vettel 163 5. Renault 127 6. Massa 124 6. Force India-Mercedes 58 7. Rosberg 112 7. Williams-Cosworth 47 8. Kubica 108 8. Sauber-Ferrari 27 9. Schumacher 46 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 10 10. Sutil 45 11. Barrichello 31 12. Kobayashi 21 13. Petrov 19 14. Hulkenberg 16 15. Liuzzi 13 16. Buemi 7 17. De la Rosa 6 18. Alguersuari 3
Alonso and Massa will be starting from the "right" side of the track tomorrow while the "wrong" Mclaren is on the "wrong" side.
Hamilton is back two rows but on the racing line, it will be interesting to see if he tries a first corner move or if he might decide for a cautious race calculated to preserve his points lead. I imagine he will want to get ahead of Webber at least.
Alonso really put together an incredible lap yet, looking at the onboard I was surprised by the big oversteer moment at the first Lesmo. In his post qualifying comments Alonso mentioned how it's easy to try too hard at Monza, check out how he negotiates Ascari, so clean on exit, a
Great job by Jenson Button to come up with the right setup at a point in the season where the team and the fans attention balance had shifted to the other side of the garage. Great Job by Webber to dig out a 4th from a fairly lousy week end so far. Red Bull chose not to change Mark's engine and he has issues tomorrow many nasty questions will be asked.
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q3 Q3 1. Alonso Ferrari 1:22.646 1:22.297 1:21.962 2. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:23.085 1:22.354 1:22.084 3. Massa Ferrari 1:22.421 1:22.610 1:22.293 4. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:23.431 1:22.706 1:22.433 5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.830 1:22.394 1:22.623 6. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:23.235 1:22.701 1:22.675 7. Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.529 1:23.055 1:23.027 8. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:23.516 1:22.989 1:23.037 9. Kubica Renault 1:23.234 1:22.880 1:23.039 10. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:23.695 1:23.142 1:23.328 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:23.493 1:23.199 12. Schumacher Mercedes 1:23.840 1:23.388 13. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:24.273 1:23.659 14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.744 1:23.681 15. Petrov Renault 1:24.086 1:23.819 16. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:24.083 1:23.919 17. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:24.442 1:24.044 18. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:25.540 19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:25.742 20. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:25.774 21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:25.934 22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:25.974 23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:26.847 24. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:27.020
No surprise that with everyone running as little drag as possible, there were some off... Great Job by Massa to keep it off the barriers at the exit of the Parabolica.
Check out how complicated the inside of the wheel fairings at least on the Mclaren have gotten. While some of that is to channel air to the brakes, the bottom part looks a lot like a wing, probably to clean up the airflow. Someone might easily misconstrue that as a "movable aerodynamic device"...
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:22.839 27 2. Alonso Ferrari 1:22.915 + 0.076 32 3. Massa Ferrari 1:23.061 + 0.222 20 4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:23.154 + 0.315 22 5. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:23.210 + 0.371 38 6. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:23.415 + 0.576 23 7. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:23.708 + 0.869 31 8. Kubica Renault 1:23.709 + 0.870 32 9. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:23.852 + 1.013 30 10. Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.857 + 1.018 29 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:24.181 + 1.342 35 12. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:24.380 + 1.541 36 13. Petrov Renault 1:24.407 + 1.568 21 14. Schumacher Mercedes 1:24.448 + 1.609 29 15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:24.517 + 1.678 35 16. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:24.547 + 1.708 32 17. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:24.785 + 1.946 31 18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:25.106 + 2.267 24 19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:26.204 + 3.365 38 20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:26.306 + 3.467 41 21. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:26.631 + 3.792 31 22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:26.676 + 3.837 25 23. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:29.498 + 6.659 5 24. Senna HRT-Cosworth 3
Race win, pole and fast lap: Fernando Alonso showed why he gets paid the big bucks this week end but if anyone had any doubts about Formula being a team sport, today's race should change your mind.