Matador! Alonso and Ferrari Dominate Monza.

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      
     

Bugatti Veyron Super Sport

And speaking of oogling carbon fiber, another great shot by Eric Rosendahl, erdero on flickr, who also took the picture of the RSR in out top banner!

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Pagani Zonda Tricolore

YouTube video of Horacio's tribute to the Italian Air Force acrobatic team is a good excuse to oogle rolling carbon fiber porn.


On the occasion of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the "Frecce Tricolori", Pagani Automobili created the Zonda Tricolore as a tribute to the National Aerobatic Team.

In 2010 the aerobatic season of the Frecce Tricolori comes to its 50th anniversary, wich will be celebrated on 11th and 12th September at Rivolto Airport (info: www.aeronautica.difesa.it).

The Frecce Tricolori (Italian, literally Tricolour Arrows), officially known as the 313th Aerobatic Training Squadron is the demonstration team of the Italian Air Force, based at Rivolto Air Force Base, in the north-eastern Italian region of Friuli Venezia-Giulia, province of Udine. They were formed in 1961 as an Air Force team, replacing previous teams that had been sponsored by various commands by the end of the 1920s.

The team flies the Aermacchi MB-339-A/PAN, a two-seat aircraft capable of 898 km/h at sea level, with nine aircraft and a solo (the highest number of aircraft of any aerobatic team in the world).

The Frecce Tricolori belong to the legacy of the entire italian community.

¡Olé! Alonso's got the beans but will he make a fabada tomorrow?

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

All Timing Unofficial

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Italian GP Friday Practice Highlights

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

WRC Rally Japan: Kimi vs concrete and Al Qassimi has a big one

Yeah..those blocks, they are not styrofoam Kimster.



Once again, those amazing WRC roll cages at work


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