Grand Prix 2018 Italian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

MONZA.
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza. "The Temple of Speed." I suspect the second name is the Tifosi name for Monza. But with very good reason. It was built for speed, it was incredibly fast, and they have been slowing it down since 1933.
It was built in 1922, financed by the Milan Automobile Club. What they built for their fast circuit, was a banked oval linked to a road circuit. Obviously the racing car of the day that was slung off the oval onto the road section produced high speeds and spectacular viewing. We can only dream what that would look like with a modern F1 car. BUT .. by 1932 it had killed 9 drivers and 27 spectators. Obviously even the most fanatical speed merchant realised that things had to change.They stopped using the oval, introduced the Lesmo curves on the road section and started to introduce stands for the spectators. But then WW11 intervened , and all racing stopped at Monza.

Post war the circuit was totally revamped, and for whatever reason they reintroduced the high speed banked oval. The circuit was fully operational by 1955, and by now it was used by F1. Races were won by the likes of Moss, Hill, Fangio and Brooks. But in 1961 the racing driver Von Tripp and 15 spectators all died in one crash, and F1 abandoned the use of the oval, using only the road circuit. The oval was finally abandoned for all racing in 1969.
However the road circuit itself was still incredibly fast, and in the 1970's the first chicanes were introduced, the Variant del Rettifilo and the Variant Ascari, neither of which had the required effect. In the next few years the efforts to slow the circuit down as the cars got faster, introduced us to the, Vialone, Curve Grande and the della Reggia. All very familiar to us in 2018, but by now 48 years old. Most of them have been altered a little, moved slightly, generally messed around with, and a few more added for good luck, the curve del Serraglio and the Parabolica. Listen to the race commentary you'll hear most of them tripping of someones tongue.
But it remains a fast circuit, not nearly as fast as it once was. The old Oval is gently rotting in the trees behind todays' circuit, perhaps that's where the "The Temple of Speed" is. Todays modern circuit is a "Temple to the Tifosi" (my quote). It's still suited to cars that can go flat out, at high speed, and not fall apart, and we all know who they are. So all those curves and variants have been designed in such a way as to apply the letter of the law without adhering to it. Very Italian.
I'm obviously putting this up before we know what happened at Spa, as we only have a few days before the next round of PQR, and before we know the full outcome of the driver moveathon. Whatever has happened I hope it will throw up some interesting discussion. Most of all, I really hope that Monza and it's history plus the mad Tifosi will give us a good race.
 
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A good read Titch thanks:thumbsup:

Was just reading that Stroll has a seat fitting at Silverstone next week and will probably be in Ocon's car by Monza. Ocon they think is then going to McLaren, (I assume in place of Vandoom) and Williams are looking to put Kubica in the car vacated by Stroll for the rest of the season. It's all go isn't it?
 
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Mclaren should **** Alonso off now and get somebody who gives a shit and has something to prove in the seat.
 
Well, in light of their edge at Spa, I expect there should be a Ferrari 1-2 at Monza, but somehow it never really works out that way.
 
gethinceri Interesting comment especially if Ocon is getting the drive because ironically he is going to help Mclaren take away points from his old team

Lance Stroll got beaten by Sirotkin it will be interesting to see just how much better or worse Perez will be against him in the same team
 
It sounds like Stroll if they can get his seat sorted will be in a Force India at Monza, with Kubica returning , Ocon to Mclaren and Van Doorne out

I for one hopes Kubica beats Stroll and show everyone including Claire Williams what a stupid decision it has been for Williams having Stroll
 
If Stroll goes to Point Force India, or whatever they’re called, it will be very interesting to see how he matches up to the performance put in by the Point team at Spa. Will he be a huge disappointment / embarrassment to his Father?
 
I'm absolutely certain Ferrari will totally **** up Kimi's race this weekend. It now seems to be team policy.

I was saying to Ferrari supporting friend yesterday whats the point of Ferrari even wasting money on kimi, they treat him like an inconvenience. he says he's a typical no2 like bottas. but I said that bottas if the chance arose would be allowed to take pole or a win. Ferrari have proven on many occaision would rather finish 2nd & 3rd with vettel ahead than Kimi winning a Ferrari 1-2
 
If Stroll goes to Point Force India, or whatever they’re called, it will be very interesting to see how he matches up to the performance put in by the Point team at Spa. Will he be a huge disappointment / embarrassment to his Father?
Most likely but his father believes in him and he's put his money where his mouth is, you can't argue with that can you?

As for Kimi, he keeps on signing up for another season and another season, so he can't exactly feel too hard done by can he? When push comes to shove he does what is asked of him and he gets the job done usually, I guess it's his choice if he wants to be used in that way by them.
 
Or he is taking the shit because of the money. F1 drivers have a limited shelf life. If you can get another year you take the money and keep smiling.
 
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