We are rapidly running out of sessions this season, as more than half of the Italian GP weekend has now elapsed leaving only the race tomorrow afternoon to bid farewell to the European season. Things have been a little more orderly away from the rained out practice sessions of Belgium and the fun that caused come race day. Even the GP2 race that has just finished was abnormal levels of sane and orderly, a reflection on the fact the the series has come in for some stick from the folk in the top division. Complaining that the drivers were being a little too crazed, and keeping that craziness into F1. We can assume that the penalty that was thrown at Grosjean was aimed as an overall warning to all drivers that all this lunacy from the likes of him and season villain Maldonado with more personal penalties than brain cells. Here's hoping GP3 does too.... and miraculously they too have got through the Retifilo without crashing, I don't think I can cope with all this sanity - but as they are running on most straights 3-4 wide it won't last.
Anyway as hilarious as the support races are, well traditionally are, today less so - this corner of the internet on a Saturday afternoon is directed more towards the session to decide the grid. Where some interesting performance developments throughout the session, as straight line speed issues are hurting the Renault powered cars, because there are not enough corners to make up the speed elsewhere, like there was at Spa allowing Vettal and Raikkonen to get onto the podium with the weaker engines. This means that Mercedes powered cars have a greater advantage this weekend, in some cases with a 10mph advantage on the main straight. So if you have a Mercedes engine and a decent car you are in for a decent chance, Then there are the Ferrari powered teams, not quite the same power as the Germans but also beating the Renaults in the extreme speed that is Monza, so how did the battle shape out this afternoon.
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| credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk |
Across the practice sessions reliability was starting to become a problem with technical difficulties for Alonso on Friday in his Ferrari - not something that will please the armies of supporters at the track. But further difficulties were faced by Maldonado and that German bloke who suffered another of those alternator failures that took away has race win in Valencia. Additionally gearbox problems for Paul Di Resta have landed him a 5 place grid penalty from this final positioning at the end of the session.
On to Q1, having managed to time the toastie production correctly, where the first car to leave the pit lane was Torro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo pursued by Grosjean 2.0 and Paul Di Resta having the circuit to themselves. Out of that opening three contenders is was the Mercedes power of the Force India that took the initial lead, and the team could do with a goo session on that side of the garage, as it wasn't working out on the other side. Nico Hulkenberg was pottering around on his warm-up lap as is the general idea, everything going to plan, but as he reached the first chicane on the car stopped functioning. Slowing to a very gentle and civilised, but clearly terminal stop in the middle of the Retifilo and ending his session rather earlier than he had planned. You know things have gone wrong it my toastie has lasted longer than your qualifying, and I was feeling rather hungry.
This turned the session into more of a formality, because with Nico out and the inevitable relegation of the bottom three teams everyone else was safe. However Grosjean 2.0 came quite close to losing his position in the next round, under pressure from the Caterham driver Heikki Kovalainen leading the battle of the lower division teams. But the Caterham is a Renault powered car and therefore at a disadvantage to the Ferrari power of the Torro Rosso. Despite the session being already decided there was an interesting development in the bottom zone, a development that David Croft got perhaps a little too excited about... Narain Karthekeyan out-qualified Pedro De La Rosa. On the surface that merely seems like a shift in form, within the team, but according to the commentary team it is the first time Narain has out-qualified a team-mate in 7 years, which is rather remarkable.
Moving swiftly on to the second session and once again it was the Force India of Paul Di Resta taking to the track and setting the initial pace, but his time was rapidly erased by the local team and it's lead driver Alonso. Very closely followed by Spa winner Button crossing the line 0.013s behind the championship leader, demonstrating that this central phase of qualifying was going to get rather close, and a couple of tenths would put someone close to relegation. A problem that was starting to effect the Red Bull team, a car with intrinsic downforce and a lower power engine was starting to hurt them more than anticipated, as both cars were on the edge of the relegation zone. Another team having difficulties were Sauber, a long way off the form they showed in Spa struggling to make it through as well.
On the other side of the scale were the factory Mercedes team who were demonstrating a high speed setup, but both drivers were also spending a lot of time sliding through the run-off in the first chicane, trimming some of the polystyrene blocks in the process. On overall balance the McLarens and Ferraris were performing better overall, with Ferrari using their cars to draft each other down the main straight giving them a further speed advantage. As the session the cluster of drivers from 9th place down to 14th were all within a tenth intensifying the fight for progression. Strong laps from Raikkonen and Kobayashi moved them through, knocking Webber and Vettel out. Several position shuffling moments later and it was Vettel through and Maldonado out, and almost into the barrier visiting the grass on the exit of Ascari. One-Stop Perez also had a moment in Parabolica using some of the grass on the exit throwing a lot of dust, but wasn't able to qualify, along with Webber, Williams, Torro Rosso and Grosjean 2.0.
So, ten drivers remained with impressively Di Resta running as the second fastest car following the previous session, behind Alonso in the Ferrari, and it was the red team that headed out first in formation. Looking to use one car to offer a slipstream to the one behind, however the cars left the garage in the wrong order. It is well known that Ferrari have a favoured driver policy, and Alonso is their favourite, but he was sent out to help Massa on the opening lap. Fernando offered a token gesture of a tow to Felipe on the run down to Ascari sending him on his way to setting the fastest time. Massa's time was then surrounded by the McLarens, Hamilton first and Button in third - with Vettel in 4th.
The rest of the field headed out only opting to perform one run at the end of the session, headed by the Mercedes team who could only manage to be within 0.4s of the lead with Schumacher. But we were in for the first surprise of Q3, as Paul Di Resta set the second fastest time with a very impressive lap, only to be beaten by Massa's Ferrari. All was not well in the other red machine, as a broken anti-roll bar in Alonso's car was crippling his lap times, putting him 10th and last throughout the session. As the final flag fell on the afternoon, a couple of drivers were still on a flying lap, including Jenson Button, who was going rather quickly, not quite purple sectors, ending up in second. Resulting in a lockout for McLaren. Felipe Massa lines up third in his best qualifying of the season, Di Resta set the fourth fastest time but will be dumped back to 9th due to the gearbox penalty. Schumacher and Vettel made it an all German 3rd row with Rosberg in 6th. Raikkonen and Kobayashi lined up 8th and 9th with a damaged Alonso limping round to complete the top ten.
The Bonus Points Championship points winners
After what was a relatively close session on the high speed track, everyone was rather well behaved once more, likely after the telling off that was doled out in Spa, it is time to hand out the first points of the weekend to the following winners.
- 10pts - Narain Karthikeyan: For outqualifying someone in the same team for the first time since 2005
- 8pts - Paul Di Resta - An impressive job and the mid-field contender running up at the front
- 6pts - Felipe Massa - For being competitive in the Ferrari for once
- 5pts - Grosjean 2.0 - For not being last of the established cars on his temporary drive
- 4pts - Heikki Kovalainen - For coming within half a second of making it into Q2
- 2pts - Luca Filippi - For turning up for his first race in an entire season and dominating the GP2 field
- 1pt - Felix Da Costa - For bump drafting in an open wheel car, you mad, mad person
Because everyone has been well behaved so far across the board, even the support races haven't been a mad festival of destruction and mayhem as they have been in the past, especially on a track that encourages crashing and silliness. Although their championships saw some interesting developments with some key retirements and race winners. But on the whole there have been no driving penalties, or things that need shouting at or worth penalty points.
Looking to tomorrow
Well the grid we have been served with after this session does make for a potentially very interesting race, as there is some cars out of position further down the grid with the likes of Webber and Alonso on the edge of the top ten. Also we have a very fast car in the hands of Nico Hulkenberg sitting at the very back of the grid along with the season villain Maldonado. At least the mad Venezuelan has claimed he is going to be a little calmer from this point onwards - which should be a little more reassuring for all the drivers lining up in front of the Williams, and there is a few cars there at the moment.
One thing that does help the cars further back is that Monza is a place where drivers can overtake, or hit each other in the chicanes. But almost by magic both of the support races managed to fit a larger amount of cars through the Retifilo without contact and major damage. However they managed to get through La Source too and look how the F1 grid managed, and last year an errant HRT wiped out three cars in the first corner so nothing is assured. Here's hoping that the Italian GP gives the European season the send-off it deserves, so until tomorrow evening this is farewell from the blog.
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