Grand Prix 2011 Italian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

The fat bloke lady is starting to sing

Sebastian Vettel took a major stride towards a second world championship after a crushing win in Belgium, he extended his lead over Mark Webber who made a good recovery from a bad start to finish second after a fantastic overtake on Fernando Alonso into Eau Rouge.

Lewis Hamiltons indifferent season continued after a crash with Kamui Kobayashi into Les Combes, while he won't admit it, he will be close to giving up on closing down Vettel as he is over 100 points behind, but while he can't win the championship, that won't stop him going to win every race remaining and with Monza being a strong McLaren track, he will be up there in the running.

Monza is one of the most historic tracks on the F1 calendar and will be full of Ferrari fans as it is the teams home race and the tifosi are known for their support of the prancing horse and after a Ferrari win in 2010 they willl be expecting more of the same from Fernando who needs a win to keep alive his fading championship hopes but an average showing in Spa including losing third place late on will be a killer blow to the Spaniard. Massa is sliding further into obscurity after a good start, but faded quickly into the minor points.

The track isn't one of Red Bulls strongest circuits due to the low downforce and long straights but we have said that a few circuits aren't Red Bull friendly circuits and Vettel has gone on to get pole and win and Monza might not be an exception with Vettel in imperious form and the car seemingly bulletproof there is no-one who can stop the bull racing to the title in emphatic fashion.

After a turbluent weekend, Pastor Maldanado picked up his first point in F1 with a strong drive to tenth (and a lot of luck) to give his beleagured Williams outfit a small reason to be happy but it represents how far they have fallen in that a point is an achievement for them. Barrichello finished a dissapointing 16th finishing behind both Lotus cars.

Bruno Senna will be aiming to improve on a promising first weekend back in F1, he qualified a brilliant 7th, but rusty racecraft caused a bad collision at turn 1 and he eventually finished 13th, the last of the unlapped cars, Petrov managed to pick up a handful of points to go level with his former team mate Nick Heidfeld who is seeking legal advice after losing his seat last week to the young Brazilian.

Adrian Sutil continues his upturn in form after outpacing Di Resta who had a poor weekend with the German taking home 7 points and Di Resta just finishing outside the points in 11th, with Nico Hulkenberg challenging for a set at Force India next season, both these two drivers have improved lately with both taking home points from the last few races
At the back of the field, Jarno Trulli finished ahead of his team-mate showing that maybe he still has some pace in the Lotus now that they have fixed the power steering issues, with Chandhok just over his shoulder he will need to beat his team-mate to ensure that he still has a seat at the team next year and extend his long career.

For Galahads supreme circuit write up see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/autodromo-nazionale-monza/

 

[Speshal]

There's a thread for discussing any stewarding decisions here

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Schumacher could have taken some glory from that fight but instead he played dirty and has ended up at the centre of some quite negative appraisals of his driving and sportsmanship.

So no change there then.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Anyway, didn't Senna, Di Resta and Algersuari do well?

 

[Quintessentially]

Speshal - That thread is closed.

Agreed! I personally preferred Monza’s stewards, .

Good job you do as Charlie Sheen did not refer the incident to them (the stewards that is) but took matters into his own hands. One member of the panel subsequently came out and said he was disappointed not to have been asked to review the incident (re-Schumacher/Hamilton fight).

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

I thought Senna did especially well in only his second race for Lotus Renault, having pitted to repair damage caused while passing the first lap carnage and effectively starting from at or near the back from the re-start. What do others think?

 

[Quintessentially]

Its obvious to me that one driver is being offensive and the other is being defensive. The proximity of the other car (Alonso/MS) tells the story, one is dangerously close and the other is comfortably close

Its not rocket science

Looking at the thread, I know it's been done to death but honestly don't know why both incidents are being compared. People are looking for comparison where it doesn't exist and freezing footage to draw similarities is a futile exercise as it doesn't paint the whole picture. The rules are patently clear - You are only allowed one move to defend position. Common sense prevailed in the end but as Brundle wrote in his column, most drivers (not the least Hamilton) would've appreciated this common sense approach in the past rather than being issued with an immediate penalty.

 

[Brogan]

Schumacher was warned by race control.

Alonso wasn't.

There's a thread for discussing any stewarding decisions here

That thread has been closed Spesh.
This one hasn't though: http://cliptheapex.com/threads/interpreting-fia-rules-and-the-consistent-application-of-them.2344/

 

[Vortex]

Yeah, but it wasn’t for the curva grande block. Lewis will probably get his revenge, and hopefully the stewarding will be just as sensible.

 

[Brogan]

Yeah, but it wasn’t for the curva grande block.

How do you know that?

And you agree it was a block then? Which is against the rules

 

[FB]

The Vettel/Alonso pass took me back to Turkey last year only this time Seb was against a driver who doesn't specialise in running into other people. Oh blimey, now I've opened an old can of worms....

Anyway, isn't it great to see drivers battling at the front of the race for a change? Fernando's start was simply awsome, wonder if he pressed the secret code on his steering wheel to engage the launch control. Oh no, now I've opened another old can of worms...

Sit's back and waits for the fall out

 

[Vortex]

Just on Ross Brawns radio messages telling him to make sure he left enough room at err.. was it Roggia? cant remember if I got the correct corner name now.

 

[Vortex]

FB, notice too how Vettel wasn’t penalised for overtaking a Ferrari, for the lead, in Italy? lol worms everywhere.

 

[Quintessentially]

Yeah, but it wasn’t for the curva grande block.

How do you know this?

Radio messages are delayed so it's hard to pinpoint what particular offence the warning was issued for. Conventional wisdom would suggest it was for Schumacher's generally questionable driving, as Brawn's radio message specifically read - "Just a reminder, Michael, please make sure you leave room for the car when you move and change direction."

It has already been clarified in this thread several times that the decision ‘not to punish’ Schumacher was not taken by the stewards but Charlie Whiting. This is a very important factor in this never-ending debate of inconsistent stewarding decisions.

"A steward told me after the race that he was very frustrated not to have been consulted during the race, particularly as he takes a very dim view of what he perceived as blocking.

The procedure which did happen was race control spoke with the team and gave a warning which translated into two radio calls from team principal Ross Brawn to Schumacher to leave more space for Hamilton.

This undoubtedly confirmed Schumacher was driving in an aggressive and questionable manner,

There were several questionable moves on Sunday by Schumacher - during braking into Ascari; the apparent sweep right pushing Hamilton onto the grass at Curva Grande; and the clear double move between the second chicane and first Lesmo corner."

..Martin Brundle

 

[Vortex]

How do you know this?

Already answered that question 5 minutes ago.

But I cant say for sure anymore than you can say it was, can only go on what I heard Ross say on the radio which was specific to one corner. Cant say anymore than that and what’s done is done so doesn’t really matter anyway.

 

[Road of Bones]

Ross was warning Schumi to "leave room on the entry to Ascari" chicane.

 

[Vortex]

Yes it was, couldn’t recall the name!

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

The start of the race:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/14871992.stm

It's a good job there was a slip road in the first Chicane to got through cause the first corner would have seen more cars crash out.

Also awesome start from Alonso, thought it was good didn't realize how good until i saw this video.

Oh and BTW - I'm looking forward to MCLS's PQR thread for Singapore. .

 

[Speshal]

This one hasn't though: http://cliptheapex.com/threads/interpreting-fia-rules-and-the-consistent-application-of-them.2344/

That's the one I was looking for......

Dear all, the Vettel/Alonso - Schumacher/Hamilton passes have been debated to death by now - no penalties were given - shall we leave it there?

 

[Vortex]

Yeah, would have been a major traffic jam!

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

The Vettel/Alonso pass took me back to Turkey last year only this time Seb was against a driver who doesn't specialise in running into other people. Oh blimey, now I've opened an old can of worms...
Sit's back and waits for the fall out