Italian GP Thread - Contains Practice/Qualifying/Race spoilers - Sponsored by Romain Airways

[Fernando]

First topic message reminder :



Italy will host the 13th round of the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship with the teams making the trip across the Alps to the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. Coming only a few days after an incident-packed Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, the season moves directly to another classic track for the final European race of the year.

Since the redesign of Hockenheim, Monza has stood alone on the F1 calendar as an ultra-high speed circuit. Low-drag aero packages will be on display as teams set up their cars to go faster than they have before this year. But it isn’t all about the figures at the end of the straight. Sebastian Vettel proved that last year; winning from pole at Monza despite being consistently toward the bottom of the speed traps times. Instead he was able to carry more speed through the chicanes and corners onto the straights.

Monza will see the first driver change of the year with Jérôme d’Ambrosio confirmed by Lotus as their replacement for the suspended Romain Grosjean. The Belgian driver competed for Marussia in the 2011 Italian Grand Prix and qualified 22nd. His race ended abruptly with a gearbox failure in the opening minutes. He has happier memories from Monza in 2010, when he finished the GP2 Series sprint race on the podium.

Fernando Alonso goes to Monza with his lead in the Drivers’ Championship greatly reduced after a first-lap retirement in Belgium. His advantage over reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel is down to 24 points. Both men are Italian Grand Prix winners with two victories apiece – though with the grandstands certain to be swathed in Ferrari red, there’s no doubt who the crowd will be supporting this weekend.

Length of lap:

5.793km

Lap record:

1:21.046

(Rubens Barrichello,

Ferrari, 2004)

Start line/finish line offset:
0.309km
Total number of race laps:
53
Total race distance:

306.720km
Pitlane speed limits:
60km/h during practice; 100km/h during qualifying/race



Changes to the circuit since 2011


► The wall on the driver’s right approaching Turn One has been moved closer to the track and an additional marshal post provided 150m before Turn One.
► The track has been resurfaced from the exit of the Ascari chicane (turn 10) to a point after the exit of Parabolica (turn 11)..
► The pit wall fence has been renewed.

Italian GP
Fast Facts
► The Italian Grand Prix is one of only two ever-present races on the Formula One World Championship calendar, the other being the British Grand Prix
► The 1971 Italian Grand Prix won by Peter Gethin is regarded as the closest contended finish in F1 history. Gethin beat Ronnie Peterson by 0.01s. François Cevert was third at 0.09s, Mike Hailwood at 0.18s and Howden Ganley at 0.61s. In 2002, when F1 had moved to a timing regime with three decimal places, the gap between Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher at the end of United States Grand Prix was timed at 0.011s, Ferrari staging a formation finish.
► Ferrari have dominated the Italian Grand Prix with 18 F1 World Championship victories. They are one of four Italian teams to have won, the others being Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Toro Rosso.
► The race has been held at Monza every year except 1980. That year the Italian Grand Prix was held at Imola. The decision to move the race stemmed from safety work being done to improve Monza in the aftermath of the terrible first-lap multi-car crash of 1978.►
► Winning at Imola gives four times Italian Grand Prix winner Nelson Piquet (1980, ‘83, ‘86, ‘87) the distinction of being the only driver to win the race on two different circuits.
► Michael Schumacher has one more win that Piquet, having won the Italian Grand Prix five times (1996, ‘98, ‘02, ‘03, ‘06). Behind them on three wins come Juan Manuel Fangio (1953, ’54, ’55), Stirling Moss (1956, ’57, 59), Ronnie Peterson (1973, ’74, ’76), Alain Prost (1981, ‘85, ’89) and Rubens Barrichello (2002, ’04, ’09).
► Alberto Ascari and Tazio Nuvolari also have three Italian Grand Prix victories. Ascari’s wins in 1949, ’51 and ’52 straddle the eras before and after the creation of the World Championship. Nuvolari’s (1931, ’32, ’38) came much earlier.
► Since 1922, when the original circuit was constructed, racing has taken place in the Royal Park at Monza. The early F1 years were characterised by the race switching between the road course – the forerunner of the track used today – and the full circuit, including the high-speed sections of track, incorporating Monza’s famous banking.
► 1961 saw the race last run on the full circuit, with Phil Hill taking his second of back-to-back Monza victories. Moss and Fangio have the distinction of having won on both the road course and the full circuit.
► Since the 1950s the road course has undergone many changes – almost all of them related to improving safety: a series of chicanes have been installed to bring speeds down; the long, sweeping curves have been tightened to allow for the creation of gravel traps and, most recently, gravel has given way to asphalt run-offs around some parts of the track.

Source:FIA.com

[dyrewolfe]

Even though Alonso has extended his championship lead it felt like a massive swing in Hamilton's favour this weekend. One thing is for sure, Lewis is coming........

@dyrewolf - you said Button would of got 2nd place if he had not retired with a fuel issue but do you think he would of held off Perez in the final stages, I don't think so. After his stop he was clearly 8 or so seconds off Hamilton and seeing as Perez finished only 4 seconds off Hamilton seems to suggest Perez would of just overtaken him at the end. Just shows that if a driver/car combination gets into that 'tyre window' they are pretty much unstoppable.

Er no, I said Button was denied a fairly certain 2nd place due to his fuel system failure.

Perez may well have caught him, but Hamilton was able to manage the gap between them. He said in the post race interview he could have gone faster if he'd needed to, but did just enough to make sure he brought the car home in one piece. There is no reason to think Button couldn't have done the same.