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 1990 the FIA decided to change the Group C regulations from free engine displacement and type with a limited amount of fuel to a specific displacement but with unlimited fuel. The new engines would be 3.5 liter normally aspirated, essentially Formula 1 units.
With the advent of Group C, sport car racing had reached a peak of popularity by the end of the decade that rivaled Formula 1. Porsche, Mercedes, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Aston Martin, Lancia and Jaguar were all involved as were a healthy amount of privateer teams.
The new regulations effectively eliminated the privateers by making the older cars )mostly Porsche 962) uncompetitive and pricing them out of the series. By holding shorter races to compete with Formula 1, the series alienated fans of endurance, nobody really cared for two seater F1 cars.
Despite manufacturer involvement from Peugeot, Jaguar, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota, by '93 it was all over: Races had to be cancelled for lack of entries. Endurance racing globally was a giant mess that has only recently begun to make a real comeback.
Still, those 3.5 prototypes were amazing machines. The 1991 Jaguar XJR-14 was designed by Ross Brawn and built by TWR. It used the same Ford V8 engine the Benetton F1 car, albeit rebadged as Jaguar. Aluminum honeycomb and carbon fiber monocoque, pushrod suspension, carbon brakes and very advanced aero which gave it a huge edge over rivals, a couple of seconds a lap. Other teams eventually copied Jaguar's detached rear wing and ground effect chassis.
This XJR-14, originally raced by Derek Warkick and Martin Brundle, was driven at Monza recently by Belgian Christophe d'Assenbourg in the Coppa Intereuropa, part of the FIA Masters Historic racing series.
Every year, around this time, teams will hire the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza for some special high speed testing ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Check out the 2015 AUDI R18 E-TRON Quattro woosh around the Curva Biassono at the end of the main straight. The chicane is not used and the car turns in flat after accelerating all the way from the apex of Parabolica, the only thing slowing it the scrub of its tires.
Yes, the sound is awful but that's 220 mph + around a flat corner!
Monza again and I know some American viewers might have a cow watching but, European track day rules are less nanny state dictated than the US versions.
The car just looks so balanced and is driven, often sideways, with great skill. Towards the end of the clip M comes up behind a LaFerrari driven by someone who is only fast on the straights....
the 458 Speciale is no slouch but, good god the LaFerrari is a beast! (check it out around the 2:20 mark).
Monza runs a version of the Nürburgring tourist days, a casual track day where you just show up, pay and go. Before anyone gets all bent out of shape, this is what you are watching, helmets are not required because only street cars are allowed.
Now, that first lap in the video, straight out of pit lane, casually driven while dodging assorted econoboxes and having to essentially park in a number of places, is still as sub 2 minute lap.
That is incredibly fast. A Ferrari Challenge EVO on slicks driven by one of the fastest Challenge drivers on the planet will do 1:50 in qualifying. The LaFerrari, on street legal tires, driven casually in shirtsleeves chatting with a friend in the right seat and going slow in the parts of the lap is less than ten seconds slower?
That's just sick, Track Day World Championship winner for sure.
Well, or favorite Italian hypercar hooner has recently upgraded. Gone is the black Enzo and the Black FXX with the Italian colors on the spoiler and in comes a badass Black LaFerrari.
You may find the name ludicrous but so is the power of this beast. Not too many owners will have the will and the skill to vaporize those 345 rear tires using every one of this 960 HP in a way that will make Chris Harris green with envy. Felipe Massa maybe.
Please note the speed this car picks up speed going sideways and imagine what it must be under full traction.
The gravel runoff at Monza's Parabolica is being paved.
I have memories of sitting in the stands as a little kid with my dad, watching GT cars go off in a huge cloud of dust there but my son will never see it.
Bit of a shame really.
Opinions will vary, paved runoff is certainly more forgiving in most circumstances but there is no denying that it takes away from this historic track.
Granted, for modern race cars - certainly for F1- the Parabolica is not the challenge it once was but still, I'm sure most would still rather see a driver error penalized with dirty tires or radiators full of gravel than by a steward's decision after reviewing tire position vs a painted white line.
But I'm sure teams, mechanics and track officials don't see it that way.
Hopefully, the work was done in the context of fixing the drainage issues with the turn which in the past have caused the pavement to buckle and bubble causing big problems for bikes. This was a know issue that track management was aware of yet kept hidden. The circuit's top brass was recorded (in the context of a public funds investigation) discussing how to keep the issue from the public.
Around this time of year, ahead of Le Mans, Audi has gotten into the habit of renting out the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza for some testing. To simulate the long straights of la Sarthe, the first chicane is bypassed. This means the cars get to the the Biasonno/Curva Grande at well over 200 mph.
It's worth noting that current LMP1 cars produce much more aero downforce than Formula 1 cars and it is only their weight and higher center of gravity which prevents them from being faster than their open wheeled cousins, like prototypes used to be back in the 60's and 70s.
In the second video what is possibly a camouflaged 2015 Audi R8 GT3GT something
Turn it up because the improved version of the 458 Challenge racer, now with more downforce and better bits from it's GT versions, sounds as good as it looks!
Audi was testing in Monza recently, to simulate the Mulsanne straight the chicanes were opened up and for the first time in god knows how long (or since the last high speed test...) a car has had a flat-out run at the Biasonno turn (you may know it as Curva Grande).
Hard to tell for sure but I don't think they lifted at all making corner entry in the 330/340 kmh range. The turn is not banked, that's just amazing.
A beautifully driven, bone stock Ferrari 458 driven around Monza, topping out at around 180 mph on a track where mistakes cost dearly.
It will never get the monumental number of views the Chris Harris video did clowning around on a mickey mouse track but at least this driver did not have to borrow the car or liestretch the truth to "tell a story" for ratings.
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...
In case you thought bump drafting was only done with tin tops... This was Team Carlin driver Antonio Felix Da Costa of Portugal, pushing Aaro Vainio in GP3 at Monza.
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
Peter Gethin passed away aged 71. In 1971 Gethin drove a V12 Yardley BRM to victory in what might still be the closest finish ever for a Formula One race: 5 cars in 6/10th at the flag.
It was at the pre- chicane Monza where an endless 5 car slip stream duel with Ronnie Peterson in a March 711 (in low downforce configuration), François Cevert in the Tyrrell 002, Mike Hailwood in a Surtees TS9 and New Zelander Howden Ganley in the other Yardley car, saw Gethin literally win it by inches in the final lap. (photo: Motorsports Retro)
Every year the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza gets turned into a labyrinth of chicanes and slaloms, a Ken Block Gymkana minus the special effects and editing! The really cool parts is that rally cars get to run on the old banked track...at night!
Above is Danni Sordo in a Mini WRC, Below Dindo Capello, out of his usual environment driving a Citroen DS3 WRC And Valentino Rossi tearing it up in the Monster Energy Ford Focus WRC
Part of the festivities at the annual Monza Rally show. The course is set up for rally cars, Max takes the gravel line at Parabolica...much to the amusement of Zanardi.
