If Silverstone is the ‘Mecca of Formula 1’, this weekend we are at the ‘Cathedral of Motorsport’ for round 13 of 2012 season. Moving across the Alps, the F1 bandwagon has reached Monza for the Italian Grand Prix just a weekend after Belgium where we witnessed chockfull of action. Like Silverstone it enjoys an iconic status among motorsport fanatics and will host the last race in Europe this year. Autodromo Di Monza is the fastest circuit on the F1 calendar with cars hitting top speeds of about 340 kmph and highest (as compared to any other track) average lap speed of around 250 kmph.

Monza’s a simple track giving drivers an opportunity to dash around in full throttle flashing the beastly potential of their fancy machines. Chicanes are far and few- a couple of Lesmos, Variante Ascari and the Parabolica and the circuit boasts of four long straights. The lesmos are fast corners and it can be little tricky coming out of the second one – driver can easily miss the line on the exit and run off the track effectively lowering the speed carried into the straight. The first corner at Rettifilo may provide some action in the opening lap as cars in the front brake hard coming out of the start-finish straight while the cars behind may still be clocking high speeds- though the starts in the previous years have been clean.

Car Setup

The cars are setup to push the limits in terms of raw pace extracting every bit of the track as far as riding the kerbs- low downforce settings with lean rear wings for reduced drag form the exclusive Monza package. While it looks simple for the drivers per se, the setup comes with a caution- figuring out your limits over and over again when you have a zippy car at your disposal. With this, the challenges here are unique- with an engine severity of 5 (on a scale of 5), Monza is the most demanding track of the season in terms of engine strength and reliability. The cars spend around 70% of the time on full throttle that brings sheer engine power to the display. The 14% of the time per lap spent braking looks deceptively low as the brakes are tested rigorously as cars decelerate aggressively from speeds of around 320kmph at the end of the four straights- of special importance is turn at Rettifilo where cars experience braking forces of around 4.5G. Along with the braking stability, a low downforce means a greater dependence on mechanical grip and car balance. Heavy braking from top speeds can cause flat spots on the tyre and hence nursing the tyres may play an important role for getting more out of the car. Plus, contrasting demands on the chicanes and the straights call for optimal tyre pressures.

Qualifying Report

For the first time since Valencia, we had completely dry Fridays much to the relief of the teams who had every opportunity to test all major upgrades after the mid-season break. While Schumacher topped Friday’s first practice session, it was Hamilton for Mclaren claiming the the top spot in the second and third practice sessions. The option tyre compound this weekend will be medium (white sidewall) while the prime compound will be hard (silver sidewall).

Q1: Ricciardo headed out first followed by the rest of the pack. Most of the teams opted for the prime compounds as they started their first hot lap. It was a rather early exit for Hulkenberg as he abandoned his Force India near the Rettifilo due to gearbox issues. He did not set any lap time and his participation tomorrow will be at the stewards’ discretion. All the front-runners made the cut and Ambrosio filling in for a suspended Grosjean took the last spot in his Lotus among the qualifiers. Alonso was the fastest followed by the Mclarens.

Taking no further part: 18. H. Kovalainen (Caterham) 19. V. Petrov (Caterham) 20. T. Glock (Marussia) 21. C. Pic (Marussia) 22. N. Karthikeyan (HRT) 23. P. de la Rosa (HRT) and N. Hulkenberg (ForceIndia)

Q2: Paul di Resta started the proceedings in the second session with the only ForceIndia participating today. He looked good in this session claiming the third spot as Q2 came to a close. The Redbulls seemed to be struggling with the pace of their car against the rest of the cars as Vettel barely made through while Webber pined away into relegation. McLarens showed good pace with Button coming through in second place but it was the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso which emerged at the top much to the delight of the Tifosi.

Relgated: 11. M.Webber (Redbull) 12. P. Maldonado (Williams) 13. S. Perez (Sauber) 14. B. Senna (Williams) 15. D. Ricciardo (Torro Rosso) 16. J. d’Ambrosio (Lotus) 17. J. Vergne (Torro Rosso)

Q3: The Ferraris headed out first in a bid to get a clean track ahead of them. Alonso followed by Massa started off on what looked like a hot lap for both of them but only Massa completed his while Alonso appeared to be a ploy to provide Massa a “slipstream”. Both the cars headed to the pits afterwards leaving just one lap to Alonso to put together his lap time which meant no errors. Meanwhile, the McLarens go full throttle with Hamilton claiming pole and Button slotting behind. Raikkonen did not look to threaten all day and struggled a bit with understeer even this session as he finished P8. Both the Ferraris headed out for Alonso’s hot lap this time as Massa provided him the slipstream but all he managed was a P10 clearly having issues with his car. Di Resta put up an impressive show slotting behind Massa at P4 just a week after Hulkenberg finished 4th at the end of Belgian GP.

Alonso’s bad luck seemed to continue from Spa- while he was cleaned up by an over zealous Grosjean in Belgiumin the first lap of the race, problems began just ahead of the crucial Q3 session as he looked all set for grabbing a pole. An unreliable F2012 costed him a potential pole as a problem with the rear anti-roll bar on his car ruined his final hot lap and more importantly it has provided the rest of the field a chance to slash some points off his lead. Di Resta qualified 4th for Force India, but he will be placed at 9th on the grid suffering a five place penalty due to a gearbox change. Maldonado has been penalized for his transgressions at Spa with a ten place deficit and he would line up 22nd on the grid.

Top 10: 1. L. Hamilton (McLaren) 2. J. Button (McLaren) 3. F. Massa (Ferrari) 4. M. Schumacher (Mercedes) 5. S. Vettel (Rebull) 6. N. Rosberg (Mercedes) 7. K. Raikkonen (Lotus) 8. K. Kobayashi (Sauber) 9. P. diResta (Force India) 10. F. Alonso (Ferrari)

McLarens have completely turned around their fortunes after an appalling performance in Silverstone and have been the team to beat since Hungaroring. They look the strongest outfit this weekend and Hamiltonwould like to cover some lost ground from last week’s early exit. Redbulls though low on raw speed are extremely competitive in the race trim and Vettel’s victory last year at Monzais ample proof of their capability. Raikkonen hasn’t looked to threaten throughout the weekend and but he can be very dogged in his pursuit of the eluding pole. Also, Lotus seems to nurse those Pirellis beautifully and might just be an advantage enough for Kimi to give the frontrunners a run for their money.

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