Into our fourth podcast of the day and we’re still going strong. This is F1 Debrief, otherwise known as Sidepodcast Weekly, otherwise known as the Sunday Show, otherwise known as… no, I think that’s it actually.
We’ll be discussing the race we’ve just witnessed in Italy, but there’ll be all the other good stuff as well, such as Good Week / Bad Week, News and Views, and of course, your feedback.
The wet, wet weekend continued into the race, and made things fascinating when it came to tyre strategy. Hamilton could have pulled off a master stroke, but Vettel kept his head.
Starting behind the safety car could have been a bad omen, but thankfully it wasn’t. It was all about grip, tyres, and who was brave in the lack of visibility. Overtaking was plentiful, most of it down to the one guy.
All decide it was a tough day, which, given the conditions, is hardly surprising. Alonso feels they surpassed their expectations, as does one half of Toro Rosso, but others, such as Williams could have done with a better day.
Everything that has gone before comes down to this moment, race day. All we can talk about is the chances of Vettel managing to keep his lead for the distance, and what the weather is going to be like. One of them directly affects the other.
Let’s look at the weather first. It appears to be raining, or if it’s not raining right now, it just has been and probably is about to. Will the drivers have to start on intermediate or extreme wet tyres? Will they run out of tyres? The questions begin to pile up. Can Massa hold his own in the wet weather and prove that he does know how to drive in the rain? Will there be any major chicane cutting incidents on a circuit that is full of that type of corner.
Secondly, let’s talk about Vettel. It would be incredible for the Toro Rosso driver to become the youngest pole sitter and the youngest race winner in the same weekend. He’s worked hard all season and this could be his chance to shine before he moves up to the big team. If he decides that a Red Bull move is the right way to go, of course, having completely outshone his destined team this weekend.
Drivers always say that being in the mid-field is dangerous because there are so many drivers scrapping for positions, that there’s bound to be a collision or two. What will happen with the midfield drivers now they are at the front of the pack? And can Lewis and Kimi fight their way through the field. So many questions, and only one race can answer them all. I can’t wait.
The wet weather continued into Day 2 at Monza, so that Free Practice 3 was a washout, but Qualifying was something to behold. Fisichella and Vettel both making history on the same day.
It certainly wasn’t an easy start to the day, with only time for limited wet weather running before the rain really kicked in. A few brave drivers attempted some laps towards the end of the session, but it wasn’t the most action packed session we’ve seen.
You couldn’t make predictions for qualifying at all today. You wouldn’t have guessed that Hamilton and Raikkonen would be stuck in Q2, you wouldn’t have thought Fisichella would be the one getting out of Q1, and our pole-sitter Vettel? What were the odds?
Force India’s progress has been a long running source of discussion during live commenting qualifying sessions, as Vijay Mallya’s team have struggled to match their own lofty goals of making the Q2 cut on a Saturday afternoon.
Aside from Mallya himself, Colin Kolles and Mike Gascoyne have also expressed their aspirations of getting a car into the midfield action, and on a couple of occasions they’ve come pretty close.
Look back through any of the live qualifying sessions and you’ll likely find much discussion relating to FIF1’s chances of achieving the Q2 cut followed by inevitable disappointment as the team fails to flatter once again. There appears to be a lot of love for Force India within the F1 community, and thus all of our hopes get pinned on the first 15 minutes of Saturday afternoon track action.
Stuart is being our man on the ground in Italy this weekend, and has already given us a weather update for the morning.
Not looking great out there at the moment. Track temp is 20 and air temp is 22. There was a thunderstorm overnight but the track surface is drying already.
On the other hand, there’s barely any wind so there may not be much change.
Hopefully it won’t be like yesterday, because although it was quite amusing to see a river pouring down the pit lane, it wasn’t particularly helpful. When we did get some sensible running in FP2, it appeared that Ferrari may have had the upper hand with Kimi on top. McLaren have been keen to point out they were running heavy fuel loads, concentrating on race setup, and not that bothered about grabbing any headlines.
FP3 usually sees a lot more experimentation with the tyres, as the track is the closest it’s going to be to qualifying before the afternoon. Last year we had the soft and medium compound, but this year Bridgestone has moved one step up and brought along the hard and medium tyres this time round. This will no doubt be helpful for riding the kerbs, and avoid any blistering that might become a problem.
Formula 1 is set for one last hurrah in Europe, before departing for the four long haul races that will see the 2008 championship out. The destination for this last stand also happens to be the fastest track on the calendar.
This week Inside Track catches up with Jarno Trulli to get his thoughts on racing in his home country. We take a flying lap around Autodromo Nazionale Monza and also refresh our memories of how exactly the championship tables stack up post Spa Francorchamps.
Rain doesn’t fall at Monza that often, but as the saying goes, when it rains it pours. Today saw Sutil take P1 for a session, and that’s almost all you need to know about Free Practice. The rest you can learn in today’s F1 Digest.
Have you ever seen such monsoon weather? The drains were flooding into the McLaren garages, and Sutil ended the day on top, followed by a Honda. Bizarre goings on in Italy.
Things seemed to take a much more natural shape with Raikkonen leading the way, although he wasn’t the only one to hit P1, in a session that saw a lot of chopping and changing.
Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting that! A bit of rain, I said, and what do we get? Thunder, lightning and a torrential downpour. Still, it certainly livened things up for the short while cars were out on track.
Then the session was red-flagged and that was it, Sutil was on top.
So, is there any point in making predictions or introducing Free Practice 2 in the same way? In the Live Comments, Scott pointed out that from here on in, it looks like rain, rain and what else? Oh yea, a bit of rain.
It was dark as anything, as Stuart’s pictures from the circuit show, and the pit garages were flooding. If it’s still raining, they might all be underwater by now. I pity the poor spectators, sitting in that downpour.
We didn’t learn that much in FP1, except that Nakajima had the biggest off on the damp track. He headed straight back to the garage, and shamefully faced Sam Michael. He needn’t have worried though, plenty of drivers were taking a closer look at the gravel traps.
Whoever sorts out the calendar really needs to have a good, long, hard think. I know you can’t predict things like this latest Hamilton-gate, but to have such a gap after the snooze-fest of Valencia, and then be thrust into another race weekend before we’ve digested Spa is just, plain wrong. Also, back to back races, can we stop doing those? I don’t think there’s enough unnamed energy drink in the world.
Anyway, Free Practice 1 is upon us, whether I like it or not, and so we must look forward. It looks like there’s less chance of rain today than was earlier predicted, although there could be thunderstorms at some point before qualifying tomorrow. As ever, the weather keeps us guessing, but it’s not as likely to be raining as it was at Spa.
The teams tested at Monza very recently, just before the Belgium GP, so Friday could be a quiet day for us. The morning, in particular, will probably be lacking in action, as everyone keeps their cards close to their chest, and doesn’t feel the need to get any extra running in.
We’ve got a few drivers that need to have a good weekend. Heidfeld finally appears to have pulled his socks up and improved his performance, but it looks like the BMW bosses still haven’t made up their minds (waiting on Alonso, perhaps), so he still needs to work hard. Likewise, team mate Kubica has said that he might just still be thinking about the championship, despite the massive point deficit he holds to the leader at the moment. I guess if Raikkonen won’t give up until the end, and Kubica above him on points at the moment, it’s only fair for the BMW to keep up the challenge.
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