Grand Prix 2023 Italian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

buongiorno & welcome to monza which is surprisingly the end of the european season which feels like it gets earlier & earlier every season, for me its up there as 1 of the greatest grand prix we go to all season, everything considered. only spa can come close to stirring the same emotions Monza can. youve got the picturesque location in the royal park, you have the hertiage with the restored banking, the best podium of the season & finally you have the tifosi. i always think that there are 3 races you want to win as F1 driver (2 in Leclerc case). your home race, Monaco GP & to win at monza in a ferrari. ive never been a ferrari fan, but even i appreciate that there is little better in the sport. than a italian national anthem blearing out on the speakers with 100,000 fans singing. you join the exclusive club as only 10 drivers have achieved it Ascari, Phil Hill, Scarfiotti, Regazzoni, Scheckter, Berger, Schumacher, Barrichello, Alonso & Leclerc

also this weekend History will be made inside the Red Bull Family, as Liam Lawson will become the 1st F1 driver from New zealand to race on what we would consider the Modern monza, ever since the layout change they made in for 1976, which is 1st time the circuit is what we would recognise today.

also apparently Verstappen could win be the 1st driver to win 10 in a row. there looks to be very little that could stop him, as if you designed a circuit that would suit the red bull it would be monza with their top speed advantages & it looks like it will be fully dry weekend for the 1st time since baku. but Monza has a habit of throwing up strange results, as their is a curse developing the last 3 winners have failed to finish the following year, Hakkinen who wins comfortably in 1999 before crashing out & who can forget in 1988 when the unbeatable mclarens were beaten for the only time

on the weekend this is the return of the qualifying rules that we saw in Hungary, what is called 'Alternative Tyre Allocation' drivers and teams will have mandatory tyre compounds to use in Q1, Q2 and Q3, as opposed to having a free choice if Saturday's qualifying is dry. Each driver will have 3 sets of hard tyres, 4 sets of medium tyres and 4 sets of soft tyres available to them over the weekend.
In Q1 only the hard tyre will be available.
In Q2 only the medium tyre will be available.
In Q3 only the soft tyre will be available.

this is to be more sustainable, & reduce the amount of tyres flown around the world which well done on trying to be more sustainable. but a sensible person wouldve said how about not taking 7 sets of intermediates & Full wets to the 5 desert races we have. but as we know F1 rarely does common sense

 

[Johnny Carwash]

Spoiler alert Max Verstappen won.

 

[cider_and_toast]

The teams have some even tighter rules on flexible aero parts to contend with this weekend as it seems the buggers have been finding even more ingenious ways of getting around the regulations.

 

[FB]

Monza 1991, when the technology started to go nuts.

 

[FB]

Alfa have made an effort for Monza

 

[F1Brits_90]

The teams have some even tighter rules on flexible aero parts to contend with this weekend as it seems the buggers have been finding even more ingenious ways of getting around the regulations.

surely not. F1 teams have always been such a law abiding bunch

FB have i remembered right or wrong. is this alfa last yr with sauber. as i thought i read that. as with audi coming in 2026. they dont see the point being a title sponsor for a rival manufacturer that is running the team in all but name

 

[Johnny Carwash]

Once again Sergio Perez is in the gravel trap. Lucky for him Daniel Ricciardo has a broken hand.

 

[F1Brits_90]

it was fasinating listening to this in FP1.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1697584768861241782

but there was a part where they ask have you ran the numbers from last week to see what couldve have happen & in huge breaking news mercedes have learnt in debrief that if you pit for wet tyres when the track is wet. apparently you will have a more successful race.

now, my mind was blown when i heard that. as that is going to revolutionise the sport as we know it

 

[F1Brits_90]

highly impressive lap that from sainz to put it on pole in Italy. i assumed that they would have a penalty, because maximum lap time i wouldve guessed a slam dunk like speeding in the pit lane. but maybe they didnt fancy sleeping in the stewards office by incurring the wrath of tifosi at monza

Lance stroll in a season of disappointments. thats up there. to qualify last, being 8 tenths slower than alonso. & the awkward part might be coming. because his son might cost aston martin 2nd or 3rd in the constructors & as we asked in Montreal. who does he put 1st. the team or his son

 

[Il_leone]

highly impressive lap that from sainz to put it on pole in Italy. i assumed that they would have a penalty, because maximum lap time i wouldve guessed a slam dunk like speeding in the pit lane. but maybe they didnt fancy sleeping in the stewards office by incurring the wrath of tifosi at monza

Lance stroll in a season of disappointments. thats up there. to qualify last, being 8 tenths slower than alonso. & the awkward part might be coming. because his son might cost aston martin 2nd or 3rd in the constructors & as we asked in Montreal. who does he put 1st. the team or his son

In regards to Stroll it seems like his seat is under threat from probably Vesti if its Merc associated rather than Van Doorne or Schumacher

F1 is a business and Stroll sr is a successful and ruthless businessman. Sponsors are attracted to Aston Martin because they believe it can be successful not invest it as a vanity project for Lance who is just being shown up by Alonso who he should be sending to retirement

 

[Johnny Carwash]

So Max Verstappen beats Sergio Perez 10 times in a row. Not the achievement it’s made out to be.

 

[FB]

Even though the race had lots of incident it all felt a bit unsatisfactory and predictable.

 

[Il_leone]

So Max Verstappen beats Sergio Perez 10 times in a row. Not the achievement it’s made out to be.

Send a memo to Christian Horner

 

[cider_and_toast]

I put it on to record because I was out until 4pm. I started watching and lasted until lap 40 when I hit the fast forward button until the end.

A boring race with another boring result.

In years gone by, Verstappen would have won the title by now and put the season to bed but no, we have 8 more races of this pure bloody purgatory to go.

 

[F1Brits_90]

what a farce that start was. I'm not sure what on earth they were trying to do or what they were waiting for. because when sainz had past tsunoda's stricken car the 2nd time. it was clear to everyone that they are going to have throw a red flag. because you cant have the cars stuck on the grid overheating while they rescue tsunoda.

the inevitable happened but at least we had 15 laps of a race & sainz defending, but where jean louis schessler when you need him, but as usual we had a lull in the middle but at least we had some good racing behind, many wheel to wheel racing. they get a lot of critsitm but i dont what role they played or if it was in spite of them, but what brilliant entertainment seeing sainz & leclerc going at it. the only shame was they didnt have a camera on vassuer having a heart attack

Hamilton will be disappointed but then we saw he went straight to apologise to piastri,

although i think we've jumped the shark on drivers complaining & wish they'd shut up they make some premier league footballers look normal in comparision. if you get passed, deal with it & if you drive into wedge that was always going close because thats the racing line. stop complaining & perez apart from that embarrassment from russell. that message "sainz is giving me no space" what did you expect Perez. for him to wave you through, your racing a ferrari at monza of course he going to fight tooth & nail

 

[Il_leone]

I put it on to record because I was out until 4pm. I started watching and lasted until lap 40 when I hit the fast forward button until the end.

A boring race with another boring result.

In years gone by, Verstappen would have won the title by now and put the season to bed but no, we have 8 more races of this pure bloody purgatory to go.

And more hearing sh1t from Horner how much he loves Max more than Geri and from Max himself gloating about his Sunday drive

 

[F1Brits_90]

im going to stick my head above the parapet here, because i was think about this in the wake of Verstappen domination. & 10 in a row, although max is lucky that the season ended because only reason why 10 in row wasnt done in 2013 was because the season ended. but i was thinking the top 3 teams pre cost cap were spending around a billion dollars to produce 6 cars for 1 season. which proved back then how expensive it is to bring time to the car

i think before red bull overspent by 2.2m dollars. i cant see how that illegal advantage has made them this dominant & gained them this much of an advantage, there has to be something different because surely its impossible to say if they car had cost $144.9m it would be 7 tenths slower on race pace than the current car that cost $147.2m. its 1.6% of their budget. everyone who be at the front if you could find a second of lap time for 1.6% of your budget

thats why i cant be upset at red bull, for me the crap season lays solely at the door of ferrari, who had great car but couldnt develop it & mercedes who carried on down the wrong road for far too long wasting 2 seasons & writing this season after qualifying for the opening round of the season. theyve made it easy for red bull

 

[Chris Tea]

And the overspend was due to not submitting some customs/tax deduction or something. They would have been fine, or over the budget by way less if they did the paperwork correctly...
No, all the catering jokes are just frustration. RB and Newey did an amazing job, and Max is driving the wheels off that car...

 

[Il_leone]

im going to stick my head above the parapet here, because i was think about this in the wake of Verstappen domination. & 10 in a row, although max is lucky that the season ended because only reason why 10 in row wasnt done in 2013 was because the season ended. but i was thinking the top 3 teams pre cost cap were spending around a billion dollars to produce 6 cars for 1 season. which proved back then how expensive it is to bring time to the car

i think before red bull overspent by 2.2m dollars. i cant see how that illegal advantage has made them this dominant & gained them this much of an advantage, there has to be something different because surely its impossible to say if they car had cost $144.9m it would be 7 tenths slower on race pace than the current car that cost $147.2m. its 1.6% of their budget. everyone who be at the front if you could find a second of lap time for 1.6% of your budget

thats why i cant be upset at red bull, for me the crap season lays solely at the door of ferrari, who had great car but couldnt develop it & mercedes who carried on down the wrong road for far too long wasting 2 seasons & writing this season after qualifying for the opening round of the season. theyve made it easy for red bull

I find it odd Honda quit but actually are still producing the engine under a different name and RB have the engine freeze in their favour. Mercedes have lost quite a few personnel poached by Red Bull