Grand Prix 2010 Italian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

After the shenanigans earlier this week, Ferrari and their drivers will be pleased to be back at the home of the tifosi where no doubt they will get the usual adulatory worship heaped upon them.

Monza is what is commonly referred to as a power circuit so Red Bull once again won't be able to take advantage of their trick aero package. Even if it weren't such a high speed circuit, it's highly likely that most, if not all, of Red Bull's advantage will finally be nullified by the new bodywork tests to be introduced by the FIA this weekend.

McLaren have already stated that they have had to make changes to their floor so one would presume that several of the other teams will have to also. There has been a lot of talk of articulated planks, which is now assumed to be the key to Red Bull's design, so will Christian Horner once again claim the car is unchanged?

After McLaren's impressive performance at Spa they will be hoping to repeat that here and to cement their claim on both championships.
They won't have it all their own way though.

The Italian GP Preview thread confirms that traditionally Ferrari have been strong here so they too will be looking for a good result. With a bit of luck they won’t have to resort to coded messages or drivers lining up outside the grid box to engineer a good result for their championship contender.

Force India and Renault must also fancy their chances after their respective results at Belgium 2 weeks ago.

The weather forecast currently shows uninterrupted hot, dry and sunny weather for all 3 days so that’s at least one variable out of the mix.

Whatever happens, it's going to be a pivotal grand prix for the run in to the season finish.
 
The Autosport FP2 report states that both the Ferraris and Red Bulls went out on low fuel, option tyre runs to end up in the top three positions in the timesheets (don't know what happened with Webber) as if to suggest that the Mclarens didn't.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86531

But, seeing as we know that they did use the option tyres, does anyone know if the Mclarens spent all their time on higher fuel loads, or were their quickest times also set on low fuel?

I guess we won't really know until tomorrow lunchtime.
 
I have a sneaky suspicion Mclaren were keeping a few revs back or were maybe a little a little OTT on the wings, maybe 10kg extra fuel like you say, just to keep something in the bag for tomorrow.

That's my hope anyhow.
 
Grizzly said:
I have a sneaky suspicion Mclaren were keeping a few revs back or were maybe a little a little OTT on the wings, maybe 10kg extra fuel like you say, just to keep something in the bag for tomorrow.

That's my hope anyhow.

Think they were sand bagging, probably testing the cars spec for early lap running to see if they needed to tweak anything especially braking profiles for the 1st chicane....

Reckon this has got a McLaren 1-2 all over this, and RBR are just going for damage limitations on this, think you'll find the RBR & Ferrari were probably on vapour when they went back in the pits for those runs....
 
Grizzly said:
uh'huh

ATL11 said:
think you'll find the RBR & Ferrari were probably on vapour when they went back in the pits for those runs....

well judging by Webbers stopping on track....

Yeah cause on board pictures show a dead car, a transmission, gearbox, engine, issue he would still have power......well Petrol is £1.10 a litre
 
It was a water pressure failure apparently - the mechanics urgently told him to stop everything on the radio, I assume accounting for the complete lack of anything from his car.
 
Mclaren seemed to do their low fuel runs on options quite early on in the session before the track properly rubbered in but both cars did look like they were not properly balanced when running qualy simulation. No doubt that Hamilton damaging his front wing didn't do much to help.

Surprised at the seeming lack of pace of Renault, they really seemed to struggle in that second session.

Ferrari may well throw a spanner in the works tomorrow and Sunday, providing they don't screw up. If they can get between Lewis and Mark then this may be the race that can give Hamilton that bit of breathing space he needs heading into the 'Red Bull tracks'. I wonder what Mclaren will do if Jenson is leading a Macca 1-2 with Hailton just behind going into the last few laps...
 
I was just thinking:
With the first corner at Monza being the right-hander into the chicane; if Vettel were to get pole position, which I believe is on the left side of the track, if you were a Mclaren driver would you prefer to be in P2, alongside him on the ront row (to his RIGHT) or in P3 directly behind him? :unsure:
 
Chad Stewarthill said:
if you were a Mclaren driver would you prefer to be in P2, alongside him on the ront row (to his RIGHT) or in P3 directly behind him? :unsure:
Hmmm, as you put it like that, very tricky :D

It would be nice if someone other than Red Bull was on pole again for only the second time this season.
 
Brogan said:
It would be nice if someone other than Red Bull was on pole again for only the second time this season.
Too true. And as a Hamilton supporter, I'm hoping for an all-Mclaren front row with the Ferraris on row two (headed by Massa). Then the Red Bulls, with Vettel in 5th. Good chance of him turing right into Webber and taking them both out before turn one. LOL
 
Hmmm......... Interesting practice yesterday. One thing of note is in first practice at least (not too sure bout the 2nd) McLaren wern't the fastest through the speed traps which was a little surprising.

Practice threw up a few questions I think, but just a feeling that this weekend may not pan out as the form book says it will.

After all Formula 1 races on circuits not paper.
 
I sense a good quali/race coming up, its all so close but RBR always have somthing left for qualifing. The clean/dirty side of the grid isn't so bad, but no-one wants to be alongside vettel into rettifilio :snigger:. As for the race we know it is very possible to pass at monza even with the new regs hell bent on stopping overtaking and anything remotely interesting. If any slipstreaming or overtaking action takes place it will quickly be stopped by sensible chicanes. I wouldnt be suprised if the race ending with the top three within 5 seconds of each other.
 
I will be interesting to see how the 2 McLaren cars compare; Lewis with minimal wing and no F-duct and Jenson with a lot of wing and the F-duct.

Red Bull also have slightly different setups with Mark having a larger slot-gap on the rear wing.

It could be any one of 5 drivers on pole, an exciting session ahead methinks.
 
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