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/

 

[tranquility2k9]

Why did button come in?

He was up in both sectors...

I though that was strange, I didn't see a mistake either during sector 3. He mentioned in his interview that he made a mistake into Turn 1 and carried it throughout the lap, so it means he could have been even faster after sector 2.

 

[Brogan]

He would have seen his delta on his steering wheel so it seems odd he says he made a mistake into turn 1 and yet did 2 good sectors.

Something doesn't add up.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Nope. Makes no sense. We are obviously missing something. Unless he screwed up the Ascarri chicane, but there was no mention of it.

 

[sobriety]

Is the pole side of the grid grippier for the start?

 

[Brogan]

It usually is.

 

[sobriety]

Maybe that's why button backed out then, he knew he was only good enough for 2nd.

 

[Vortex]

Yeah I thought that for a split moment, maybe he preferred 3rd to 2nd, tho I doubt it.

 

[riskitall]

button started in 2nd last year and quickly got past alonso.so why would he think 3rd is better?

 

[sobriety]

I have no idea, maybe mclaren want to conserve tyres then, or more likely given their previous, they just screwed the pooch.

 

[riskitall]

im suprised he wasnt asked the question after the race,it was the most obvious question to ask.
oh well,whatever the reason,it wont change anything.

 

[The Pits]

Could it be that the tyres he set the faster lap on were in better condition?

 

[Jos the Boss]

1. Vettel S
2. Hammy S
3. Button S
4. Alonso S
5. Webber S
6. Massa S
7. Petrov S
8. Schumi S
9. Roseberg M
10. Senna
The rest S
Starting tyres.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

If Rosberg gets a nice start and can jump a couple of cars and stay there for a bit I think he might just sneak onto the podium, especially if there is a safety car and he can regain the time he will lose on those medium tyres, much like Schumacher did at Spa.

I was dissapointed with Hamilton and McLaren in Q2, just before Hamilton went back out looking at the timing board he has seven tenths in hand and there was no-one who could realistically challenge for 7th, then again was better to be safe than sorry on a track where tyre degredation is low.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

I also see a couple of websites claiming that Vettel's short gear ratios could hamper his chance to win the race but to be honest I think they are overstating the fact, he was only a few kph slower than Hamilton through the speed trap and when you consider Button was a lot slower than Alonso last year (around 10 kph slower I think and yes I know you have to factor in f-ducts and DRS) it doesn't bode well for the McLarens.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Why did button come in?

He was up in both sectors...

No. He said he was a tenth-and-a-half down in Sector 1 from his best and he carried that deficit through into Parabolica so aborted.

Cheers.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

No. He said he was a tenth-and-a-half down in Sector 1 from his best and he carried that deficit through into Parabolica so aborted.

Cheers.

Ray. Can you provide that data because my TV screen said something different. It certainly would explain things, but not going to take your word for it.

"Cheers"

 

[riskitall]

No. He said he was a tenth-and-a-half down in Sector 1 from his best and he carried that deficit through into Parabolica so aborted.

Cheers.

yeah a link to where he said that would be nice.

 

[f1fansp]

From the feed, it looked like he was 0.1s up in S1 and 0.15s up in S2 (up on P1 that is).

However, as McLaren were faster than Vettel, perhaps he was up on Vettel at this time but not far up on his own lap. Calculating his ultimate laptime suggests 1:22.738; not much, but slightly faster, and worth completing S3 to see if a slight improvement could be made to gain P2.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

yeah a link to where he said that would be nice.

Go to the official site and click on interviews and go to the section where the guy asking the question asks Jenson why he came in on his final flyer.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Go to the official site and click on interviews and go to the section where the guy asking the question asks Jenson why he came in on his final flyer.

I need more than words. I need data. The only data I have is from watching the feed which had him up on pole in sectors 2 and 3. Vettel would have gone on to beat that but he looked certain to knock Hamilton down a spot.