Domenicali: I’m sure Sebastian didn’t intend to jeopardise Fernando’s race

There is barely time to draw breath in this very busy season of Formula One, the longest in the history of the sport and the team is already at work preparing to the minutest detail for the next round, in Singapore

After Monza, Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo had a long meeting with Team Principal Stefano Domenicali both to take stock of the immediate future  the final leg in the championship  and to discuss the mid-term, examining the Scuderia’s plans for development and moving forward on all fronts.

For Scuderia Ferrari the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix was like a rollercoaster ride. It was a relentless flow of emotions, difficulties, disappointments, hopes and, in the end, satisfaction with a team result that was the best of the day.

There was also satisfaction regarding the situation in the two championships that on one side – the drivers, has returned more or less to how it was ahead of the summer break (but with two more grands prix completed) and on the other – the constructors, has been completely opened up again thanks above all to Red Bull’s failure to score and the reliability problems that affected other title contenders.

It was in fact the duel with one of the Red Bulls, that of Sebastian Vettel, that led to one of the most crucial moments of Fernando’s race yesterday afternoon.

Domenicali said, “It was a hard battle and I believe the Stewards’ decision was right, above all given the clarification that was given out by the FIA after the last Bahrain Grand Prix. I’m also sure that Sebastian didn’t have any intention of jeopardising Fernando’s race: the German is a driver who is firm but fair.”

The chief of the Maranello team continued: “This will be a very intense week because there will also be action on track at Magny-Cours, where there is a young drivers’ test going on. For us there will be Jules Bianchi and Davide Rigon, who will take turns at the wheel of the F2012. One of the priorities of the test will be to fine-tune the correlation between the simulator and the track, a crucial aspect of modern-day Formula One.”

While the sound of the V8s returns to France for the first time in more than four years, the work will continue unabated in the simulator and on the test benches at Maranello.

One man who will be getting used to the surroundings inside the Sporting Department tomorrow will be Sergio Perez, who will be making a visit to Maranello in accordance with an appointment that has been planned for months as part of his programme of work as a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy. Then on Thursday and Friday it will be Felipe Massa’s turn to proceed with the ‘virtual’ development work on the F2012.

Source: YallaF1

Video: Sky Sports - Italian GP - Kimi - Car performed to the max

Lotus' Kimi Räikkönen believes he and the team performed to the max at the Italian Grand Prix - The Finn moves into third position in the World Championship standings



Source:  SixtySixBucks

Video: Sky Sports - Italian GP - Parade lap with Fernando Alonso

Source: SixtySixBucks

Räikkönen disappointed in loosing to Alonso - "not a complete catastrophe"

Kimi's comments:

- Alonso, who is leading the series, got more points than us. That is never a good thing. It doesn't matter if you're second, third or fourth if the top guy runs away in points, Räikkönen said to MTV3.

- Not the easiest weekend, but at least we got something done so that it didn't turn out a complete catastrophe, Kimi continued.

- Our pace just isn't enough in the straights. I couldn't compete against them. I had to try to do only one stop. We barely were able to keep the fifth spot. It was a relatively difficult weekend, but the main thing is that we got some points and we didn't lose that much points against Alonso, Räikkönen said.

The topspeed-tracks Spa and Monza are now over. Räikkönen hopes that the tracks in the rest of the season are better for the Lotus-car.

- They are more normal tracks. I hope that our cars would work better in them or otherwise we don't have chances of any kind.

Source: MTV3
Courtesy: Leijona

Alonso: Nothing to say about Seb

Fernando Alonso has refused to slam Sebastian Vettel after their on-track tussle damaged his F2012 in Sunday's Italian GP

Fighting over fourth place around the Monza circuit, Alonso was stuck behind Vettel despite appearing to have the faster car.

The Spaniard tried several times to look up the inside or around the outside before finally opting for the latter at the Curva Grande.

But instead of taking fourth, Alonso got a face full of dirt as Vettel pushed him wide and off the track.

Telling his Ferrari mechanics that "that's enough," Alonso overtook Vettel two laps later at the same spot while Vettel was then called into the pits for a drive-through penalty.

Asked about the incident, Alonso said: "Nothing really to say."

"I lost 10 laps behind him, after the incident, and for sure the car is damaged because at 330km/h you are jumping on the gravel so I don't think the floor and everything will be fine after those jumps."

Alonso, who had started tenth after car troubles in Saturday's qualifying, went on to finish in third place having been overtaken by Sergio Perez in the final ten laps.

"It was a difficult race starting from 10th but we knew we had possibly the quickest car this weekend," said the Spaniard.

"We had the pace to recover the position so it was a good result for us."

Alonso's 15 points mean he now holds a 37-point advantage over Lewis Hamilton with seven races remaining.

Source: Planet-F1

Italian GP: Hamilton Claims First Monza Win

Lewis Hamilton led from lights to flag as he dominanted the Italian GP, taking an easy win ahead of the late-stopping Sergio Perez

Hamilton got off the perfect start especially as Felipe Massa took second, putting a buffer between Hamilton and his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button. Button's challenge ended on lap 34 when he parked his McLaren on the side of the track with a suspected fuel pick-up problem.

Button's demise freed up the Ferraris with first Massa and then Fernando Alonso leading their charge. However, the Ferrari drivers were quickly picked off by Sergio Perez as the late-stopping Sauber driver took first Massa and then Alonso as he put his much-fresher Pirellis too good use.

Perez, though, didn't have enough laps to catch Hamilton as, despite being a second per lap quicker, he was 11s behind when he climbed to second place.

Hamilton eventually crossed the line 4.3s in front of the Mexican driver, taking his third win of the season and the much-needed 25 points.

Alonso completed the podium, bagging another 15 points towards his Championship lead, which increased to 37 points over Hamilton and an additional one ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and two ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

The Red Bull racer had a difficult day as he was slapped with a drive-through penalty for pushing Alonso off the track at the Curva Grande and then broken down five laps from the end. He stopped on the side of the track after being told quite frantically to "stop the car, we need to save the engine."

Massa was fourth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Mark Webber was a late retirement, pulling into the pits on the penultimate lap, elevating Paul di Resta to eight.

Race Results

01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h19:41.221
02. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 4.356
03. Alonso Ferrari + 20.594
04. Massa Ferrari + 29.667
05. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 30.881
06. Schumacher Mercedes + 31.259
07. Rosberg Mercedes + 33.550
08. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 41.057
09. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 43.898
11. Senna Williams-Renault + 48.144
12. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 48.682
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 50.316
13. d'Ambrosio Lotus-Renault + 1:15.861
14. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
15. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
16. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
17. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 2 laps
21. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 3 laps
22. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 6 laps


Did Not Finish
Button McLaren-Mercedes 32
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8

Source: Planet-F1

Räikkönen lost the highest top speed

After qualification Räikkönen seemed to be more pissed than usually. 

Why didn't the speed on the straight reflect as top times in the temple of speed, Monza?

– Our top speed is okay here, but some cars find their top speed faster than we do. After that it doesn't mean a thing even if we had a 20 km/hour better top speed than earlier when we still can't get one lap faster, Räikkönen grunted.

– Here we would have needed either Merc's of Ferrari's engine.

Alonso's problems in a bad time

Räikkönen's strategy to drive only one time in Q3 didn't fall in place due to the stabilizer-problems Fernando Alonso suffered from. Kimi wasn't aware of that and of course he was bugged when the lap suffered because of Ferrari.

– I don't know what it was with Alonso, but all of a sudden he didn't go as fast as he did in the beginning. I got too close to him in the last corner. Then again I wouldn't have been able to go much faster anyway, Räikkönen thought.

According to Mark Slade Kimi lost about 0,15 seconds due to Alonso which would have been enough for the 5th grid.

- We were stuck in the position we have been in all weekend. 6th or 7th. Hopefully we are stronger in the race. Last race showed again that anything can happen, Kimi said.

Because of Paul di Resta Räikkönen climbed up to 7th grid.

What chances do you have?

- I'm not a fortune teller. We see it on Sunday, Räikkönen snapped.

We can expect only one pitstop for nearly everybody. The critical moment is the start, since the first shicanes usually aren't crash-free.

Turun Sanomat, Monza

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Video: Sky Sports - Italian GP - Räikkönen's Lotus at maximum

Kimi Räikkönen admitted his Lotus was at it's maximum capability during qualifying for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, but was not surprised about ending the day in seventh position on the grid



Source: SixtySixBucks

Fernando Alonso says pole was possible

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso said he believes he could have taken an "easy" pole position at the Italian Grand Prix without problems with his car

The world championship leader qualified 10th after a mechanical failure in the final part of qualifying. He had been fastest in the first and second parts.

He said: "Maybe today was an easy pole. It's never easy but it was a good chance - the car was performing well.

"We need to take this potential into the race and recover some positions."

The 31-year-old Spaniard is behind all but one of his world championship rivals on the grid.

The McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button qualified first and second, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel will start fifth and Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen seventh. Only Red Bull's Mark Webber is behind him in 11th.

Continue reading the main story

“In Q2 the car felt perfect, then when I pushed for the first attempt in Q3, I felt something wrong”

Fernando Alonso

Asked if he could have battled for pole, Alonso said: "I have no doubts this time.

"Sometimes you never know, but this time we were [one minute] 24.1 with the hard tyre, we were 24.0 with the medium tyre in Q2 with an easy lap, and then in Q3 we know we have always three or four tenths in the pocket."

Hamilton's pole time was a 1:24.010.

Alonso said Ferrari knew something had broken in the rear suspension, but that they would not know exactly what until the car came back from its official checks.

The team said they suspected a broken rear anti-roll bar.

"In Q2 the car felt perfect," Alonso said. "The out lap in Q3 it felt good and then when I pushed for the first attempt in Q3, I felt something wrong and I said on the radio we need to check the car.

"They found more or less the problem on the data but they said: 'There is no time. There is four minutes left in Q3, so we just go out and we see what we can do.'

"We hoped to complete one lap and maybe overtake some cars that were not going out, but everybody went out so we did not take any advantage of completing the lap. Nothing we can do now, I think for tomorrow everything will be OK."

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said: "Of course I am extremely disappointed, because this was one of the easiest situations in my career, which started in 1973, to get a pole position in Monza.

"Alonso was absolutely the quickest, the car here is extremely competitive.

"To start 10th instead of first, we have to be disappointed, particularly because this happened after what happened in Spa, when we lose all the points, and in front of Monza and at a very important point in the championship.

"Felipe has a huge opportunity to win the race tomorrow, for him, for us, for his future.

"And you know and we know how strong is Fernando in the race. I hope tomorrow we will see a different situation."

Source: BBC

Hamilton: This is a fabulous day for McLaren

Lewis Hamilton: We're in the best possible position to score maximum points tomorrow

Lewis Hamilton has thanked his team after giving him a car capable of securing pole position today for the 2012 F1 Italian Grand Prix.

Hamilton has been on the pace all weekend and after setting the best time on Friday, he was again quickest this morning in final practice - although only just, with Fernando Alonso just 0.001 seconds back for Ferrari. Hamilton and Alonso continued their battle in Q1 and Q2 too, but while the Spaniard was best in those two sessions, in the all-important top ten shoot-out, Hamilton came through on top, 0.123 seconds up on his team-mate Jenson Button, while Alonso slipped to tenth due to a technical problem.

“This is a fabulous day for the whole team – they've done a fantastic job to get our car into this position, so I want to say a huge thanks to them. The whole Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team deserves this result,” Hamilton said.

“It's going to be a fast, tough race tomorrow. Jenson and the Ferraris are very quick, but we've got a good car and a good set-up, and we're in the best possible position to score maximum points tomorrow.

“This is a beautiful track; it's so fast that you really need to respect it. Monza has such great history too, and, at some stage, I'd love to become part of that history. For the moment, though, I'm just looking for a strong, consistent race tomorrow, because I need to score some good points.”

Button meanwhile was also pleased, even if he did have to settle for second and he will be now looking to repeat what he did in Belgium last Sunday, when he took a dominant victory.

“It's been a really good day for us. Congratulations to Lewis and the whole team – they've done a fabulous job to get us in this position and we've got to build on that tomorrow,” Button added. “Happily, we're in the best position possible: the past few races have really shown the strength of our car.

“We didn't consider trying to tow each other around as some of the others did – it's a difficult thing to get right and if you get it wrong you end up being compromised elsewhere around the lap.”

“I'm extremely proud of the entire Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, all of whose members have worked incredibly hard to develop our car so well over the year. Today's front-row lock-out is an appropriate reward for all their efforts,” summarised McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh. “In fact, I'm told that we now hold the record for the highest number of front-row lock-outs in F1 history, which is quite an achievement. So I want to say a big 'well done' not only to the men and women who have worked so hard to make our car quick here today, but also to the men and women who have worked equally hard, going back through 46 long years, ever since McLaren first entered a world championship grand prix in 1966.

“But tomorrow is what counts, and I'm glad to say that we got quite a lot of race prep work done yesterday, so we're hoping to be in pretty good shape for the race. Returning to today, though, both Lewis and Jenson drove immaculately, capitalising on our car's impressive pace in sectors one and two, and optimising its capabilities also in sector three, where it was slightly less competitive relative to our opposition. Doing that may have looked easy for them, but it wasn't. In fact they both had to keep their nerve towards the end of their fastest laps. Well done, boys.”

Source: Crash.net

Qualifying: Hamilton leads McLaren 1-2 at Italian GP

Lewis Hamilton continued McLaren's strong form at Monza on Saturday as he claimed his fourth pole position of the campaign ahead of Jenson Button

Hamilton put in a 1:24.010 to set the pace while Button was one of the last to cross the line, just 0.123s behind his team-mate. Felipe Massa managed P3 for Ferrari while red hot favourite for pole, Fernando Alonso, suffered a suspected anti-roll bar failure and could manage just 10th place. That after he had set a 1:24.175 on the slower tyre in Q1!

Qualifying 1
The session started with Monza bathed in sunshine and an ambient of 27C with the track at 39C. Sebastian Vettel was thankful that his alternator failure had come ten minutes before the end of Free Practice 3 and not in the first minutes of Qualifying.

Daniel Ricciardo set the first P1 time at 1:26.760, this was razored by Paul DiResta with a 1:25.384. Force India were having mixed fortunes because while Paul was setting the P1 time, team-mate Nico Hulkenberg stopped on track before even setting a time with what were either electrical or gear selection problems.

That meant that the front runners and mid-grid could breath easily in Q1 as they wouldn't come under pressure from the new teams. Fernando Alonso re-set P1 at 1:24.540 and then lowered that to a superb 1:24.175 (which would have been good enough for P3 on the final grid).

The Mclarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were faster than the Ferrari in the first two sectors of the lap, but lost time in the final sector around the daunting Parabolica curve.

Even though it was supposed to be easy getting into Q2 without Nico Hulknberg, Belgian driver Jerome D'Ambrosio, standing in for the banned Romain Grosjean at Lotus, was still behind a Caterham going into the final five minutes. The positions were: 16.Vergne, 17.Kovalainen, 18.D'Ambrosio, 19.Petrov, 20.Glock, 21.Karthikeyan, 22.de la Rosa, 23.Pic, 24.Hulkenberg.

D'Ambrosio, who Lotus team boss Eric Boullier expected to be about 0.6 behind Kimi Raikkonen, finally put a lap together for P17 - it was 0.6 ahead of P.18 man Kovalainen and 0.7 behind Raikkonen. As an undramatic session ended, the places were: 18.Kovalainen, 19.Petrov, 20.Glock, 21.Pic, 22.Karthikeyan, 23.de la Rosa, 24.Hulkenberg (no time)

Qualifying 2
Paul DiResta set a very good early benchmark in Q2 with a 1:24.668 for 'Captain Gloomy' (as he's been dubbed by Offonf1.com). He would have to take a 5-place grid deduction for a change of gearbox on Saturday morning, but he already knew he would be starting in front of his team-mate.

Felipe Massa overdid it into the first chicane and lost aero pieces off his Ferrari going over the kerbs, while Michael Schumacher also misjudged his braking there.

Fernando Alonso then took over in P1 with a 1:24.242 and Jenson Button slotted into P2. Hamilton could only manage P3 and radioed back: "I got held up".

Sergio Perez kicked up the dust at Parabolica in his attempt to make it into Q3 while Michael Schumacher was determined to make what could be his last Italian GP memorable by pushing his Mercedes to the very edge of the track on his way to P7.

Running into the final five minutes the positions were: 6.DiResta, 7.Schumacher, 8.Raikkonen, 9.Vettel, 10.Maldonado, 11.Senna, 12.Perez, 13.Webber, 14.Kobayashi, 15.D'Ambrosio, 16.Ricciardo, 17.Vergne

Out the cars came for one final try and although for a time it looked as though the Top 5 would stay in the garage, Paul DiResta came out towards the very end of the session to take P3.

Perez jumped to P10, Maldonado improved to P9 pushing Sebastian Vettel into P10 which became P11 seconds later when Kobayashi took P8. Mark Webber was now down in P14.

Vettel improved to a tenuous P9, Kimi Raikkonen grabbed P10, but Mark Webber could only manage P11 on his final lap and was out: 11.Webber, 12.Maldonado, 13.Perez, 14.Senna, 15.Ricciardo, 16.D'Ambrosio, 17.Vergne.

It was the third race in succession that one of the Red Bulls had failed to get into Q3, last time out it had been Vettel.

Qualifying 3
In morning practice the Ferrari team had practiced giving each other slipstreaming tows to improve time and now they headed out on track to see if they could make it work when it really counted. Massa was the beneficiary first time round putting in a 1:24.436 for provisional pole, less than a tenth quicker than his Q2 time.

When it was Alonso's turn the following lap something went wrong, as he could only manage a 1:30.976 and headed back for the pits instead of continuing for another lap.

Jenson Button slotted into P2 behind Massa and then Lewis Hamilton took provisional pole with a 1:24.010. Vettel managed P4. These five cars would have two attempts at grabbing pole while Rosberg, Schumacher, Kobayashi, DiResta and Raikkonen would try once.

Rosberg came out for his lap and took P4 off Vettel and then team-mate Michael Schumacher showed that there is life in the old dog yet taking P4 off his team-mate.

Paul DiResta, fired up by his five-place grid penalty set the fastest Sector 1 time so far before slotting his Force India into a superb P2 - then it was McLaren time. DiResta's fastest first sector had been 27.2, both McLarens came through in 27.0.

The Ferraris were out again but although Massa was going quicker (without the tow this time) Alonso was well down on pace. Massa grabbed P2 off DiResta but his team leader could only manage P10. Hamilton failed to improve, but Button came through just a tenth off Hamilton to make it an all-McLaren front row.

Investigations later showed that it was a suspected broken anti-roll bar that cost Alonso time and although it can be fixed before the race, starting P10 is disastrous in a GP which has been won by the polesitter nine times out of the last ten.

Though Hamilton and Button will be pleased with their performance it is a long run down to the first corner and the fast-starting Felipe Massa (P3) still has every chance of leading the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix. However qualifying performance of the day came from Paul DiResta who would have been starting from P4 had it not been for a precautionary gearbox change from the team. With a lot of speed in the first sector, the Scot can make up places in the race tomorrow.

Vettel recovered to P6 and will start P5 after DiResta's move backwards , and Kimi Raikkonen will start from P7 with DiResta moving back to P9 ahead of Alonso. Thus providing us with a lot of championship action in the top 10 places.

Times
01. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.010
02. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.133 + 0.123
03. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m24.247 + 0.237
04. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m24.304 + 0.294
05. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m24.540 + 0.530
06. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m24.802 + 0.792
07. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.833 + 0.823
08. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m24.855 + 0.845
09. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.109 + 1.099
10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m25.678 + 1.668
11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m24.809 + 0.567
12. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m24.820 + 0.578
13. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m24.901 + 0.659
14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m25.042 + 0.800
15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.312 + 1.070
16. Jerome d'Ambrosio Lotus-Renault 1m25.408 + 1.166
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.441 + 1.199
18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m26.382 + 2.207
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m26.887 + 2.712
20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.039 + 2.864
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m27.073 + 2.898
22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m27.441 + 3.266
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m27.629 + 3.454
24. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes

Source: Planet-F1

Practice Two: Hamilton leads McLaren 1-2

Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets at Monza on Friday afternoon, edging Jenson Button in a closely-fought practice session

With the track temperature up to a sweltering 40'C, Jerome D'Ambrosio, filling in for the banned Romain Grosjean, got proceedings underway with a 1:30.609. The Belgian was quickly down the order as the drivers did not waste any time getting down to business.

Kimi Raikkonen set the early pace with a 1:26.093 but was soon dropped as Belgian GP winner Jenson Button hit the front before he too lost out, this time to Nico Rosberg, while it was Fernando Alonso who was leading the way after the first 30 minutes with a 1:25.350.

Mercedes ran into a few problems when both Michael Schumacher and Rosberg suffered DRS problems with their rear wings. Merc revealed that Schumacher would run without the device for the rest of the session.

Despite swapping to the medium compound tyres just before the halfway stage, Alonso's first lap time was slower than his best on the harder Pirellis. This was repeated by others with Serio Perez and Rosberg also slower on their first attempts.

Alonso soon headed back into the pits have told his Ferrari team that something "broke" on the left front of his Ferrari, which was reported to be brake related. The Spaniard was still in front at the halfway point.

While the Spaniard was in the pits Button hit the front with a 1:25.328, the first driver to improve his time on the medium tyres. He was overhauled by his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was 0.038s quicker.

With 30 minutes remaining it was McLaren, McLaren, Ferrari, Ferrari, Mercedes, Lotus. The big omission is that mix: Red Bull. They were 11th and 13th with Mark Webber ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

More problems for Alonso as he returns to the pits, this time it was his gearbox. It seemed to be game over as he climbed out of his stricken Ferrari. Narain Karthikeya joined Alonso on the sidelines with HRT reporting a "small" technical problem with his car.

With drivers struggling to up the pace in the final few minutes, Practice Two ended with Hamilton quickest with his 1:25.290 ahead of Button and Alonso.

Times
01 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:25.290 32 laps
02 Jenson Button McLaren 1:25.328 0.038 35 laps
03 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:25.348 0.058 17 laps
04 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:25.430 0.140 42 laps
05 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:25.446 0.156 40 laps
06 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:25.504 0.214 41 laps
07 Paul di Resta Force India 1:25.546 0.256 40 laps
08 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:25.547 0.257 36 laps
09 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:26.068 0.778 32 laps
10 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:26.094 0.804 38 laps
11 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:26.104 0.814 35 laps
12 Jerome d'Ambrosio Lotus 1:26.157 0.867 35 laps
13 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:26.394 1.104 31 laps
14 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:26.404 1.114 41 laps
15 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:26.724 1.434 32 laps
16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:26.730 1.440 17 laps
17 Bruno Senna Williams 1:26.783 1.493 39 laps
18 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:26.841 1.551 39 laps
19 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:26.864 1.574 36 laps
20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:27.222 1.932 35 laps
21 Timo Glock Marussia 1:27.944 2.654 36 laps
22 Charles Pic Marussia 1:27.968 2.678 35 laps
23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:28.575 3.285 34 laps
24 Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1:28.779 3.489 21

Source: Planet-F1

Practice One: Schumi sets the pace

Michael Schumacher was the driver to beat at Monza on Friday morning while Ferrari had a few concerns after Fernando Alonso was forced to park his car

With the sun shining down on the Monza track, Practice One got underway for the Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari's Felipe Massa posting a 1:28.370 ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Pic. The trio, though, clocked their times in extended installation laps rather than while down to serious running.

After a brief lull in the action when the drivers reported back to their teams and were given last minute instructions the silence was broken by Kimi Raikkonen and Ma Qing Hua with the Lotus driver taking first place with a 1:28.175 and the Chinese debutant too much of the first chicane.

Hamilton was the next to lead the way before he was dropped by Fernando Alonso, who clocked a 1:26.072 to great applause from the gathered tifosi. His reign was short-lived as Michael Schumacher hit the front, 0.111s up on the Ferrari driver while Jenson Button put his McLaren into second.

That prompted a brief battle between the three as they traded positions ending with Schumacher top with a 1:25.422, Button 0.434s down and Alonso a further tenth off the pace as the trio back into the pits after their first run of the day.

With many drivers sporting scrapped bargeboards given the unforgiving Monza kerbs, there were a lull ahead of the final 30 minutes as they discussed various aspects with their teams and changes were made to the cars.

The drivers ventured out again in the final 30 minutes but the lap times were not as quick as earlier as they put in the mileage, still on the harder of the two Pirelli tyres. There was an early shower for Alonso as the Ferrari driver's transmission seemed to give up the ghost, forcing him to pull down an escape road and park it with six minutes remaining.

Alonso was joined on the sidelines by Pastor Maldonado as the Williams driver stopped on the side of the track and checked his rear wing before walking away from his stricken car.

The session ended with Schumacher quickest of all with a 1:25.422, 0.301s up on Button and a further 0.039s ahead of Rosberg.

Times
01 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:25.422 26 laps
02 Jenson Button McLaren 1:25.723 0.301 29 laps
03 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:25.762 0.340 26 laps
04 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:25.800 0.378 22 laps
05 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:25.861 0.439 27 laps
06 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:25.944 0.522 30 laps
07 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:26.046 0.624 25 laps
08 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:26.323 0.901 26 laps
09 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:26.390 0.968 24 laps
10 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:26.504 1.082 19 laps
11 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:26.508 1.086 18 laps
12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:26.518 1.096 21 laps
13 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:26.641 1.219 26 laps
14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:26.746 1.324 23 laps
15 Jerome d'Ambrosio Lotus 1:27.180 1.758 29 laps
16 Jules Bianchi Force India 1:27.192 1.770 22 laps
17 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:27.373 1.951 25 laps
18 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:27.789 2.367 24 laps
19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:27.855 2.433 27 laps
20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:28.578 3.156 20 laps
21 Charles Pic Marussia 1:28.751 3.329 26 laps
22 Timo Glock Marussia 1:29.207 3.785 21 laps
23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:29.331 3.909 21 laps
24 Ma Qing Hua HRT 1:31.239 5.817 26 laps

Source: Planet-F1

Video: BBC - Italian GP - Sebastian Vettel relishes Fernando Alonso pass at Monza

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel takes delight in his victory at the 2011 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Vettel performed an audacious overtaking move on Ferrari's Fernando Alonso to re-take the lead.

The German driver is now 112 points clear at the top of the driver's championship



Source: SixtyBuckss

Senna rejoices after scoring first points

Bruno Senna believes he proved himself as an F1 driver after coming back from a difficult first lap at the Italian Grand Prix to score the first points of his career.

Senna started the race tenth and finished ninth, but a first corner pile-up and an early pit stop meant he raced into the points from 15th after the safety car period.

He started the race on the medium tyres but once he had lost positions in the first corner melee his team called him in for a set of soft tyres and he made three stops in total. Towards the end of the race he had a tyre advantage over Paul di Resta in eighth but couldn't quite close the gap before the chequered flag.

"I'm happy to score my first F1 points today, especially as it was only my second race for the team," Senna said. "Although I started 10th, it was not been an easy job to finish ninth. We suffered some bad luck in the first corner; everybody was cutting the chicane which forced me to drive on the outside, and in the process I lost all the places I had fought so hard for in qualifying. It makes me very happy to know that I am able to put myself in the position of scoring points, and also to fight with the guys who have been doing this for a long time.

"The pace of the car was clear for all to see, but I wish the race was just one lap longer because I may have been able to pass Paul (Di Resta) for eighth. The team chose a great strategy, the tyre was fast enough where I needed it to be and I am very happy to get my name on the points board. The team did a great job and I am really looking forward to Singapore."

His team-mate Vitaly Petrov was one of the casualties of the first corner crash and was sideswiped by an out-of-control Tonio Liuzzi. He had qualified seventh and said there were plenty of positives the team could take into the final six races.

"Naturally I am very disappointed with what happened today. I had a reasonable start and, as I was heading into the first chicane, Vitantonio's HRT came from nowhere and hit me big time, which brought my race to an end. There's nothing I could have done to avoid this. First of all, I'm happy not to be injured, as the impact was quite strong and it could have been a nasty accident. We have put in so much effort since Spa, at the track, Enstone and Viry, so I'm sorry that wasn't translated into points today.

"This is part of racing, but I can't help thinking that we could have secured a good result. We must now concentrate on Singapore, which will be a real test for us. We will be bringing another technical upgrade with us, before going on to quicker tracks like Japan and Korea, which should suit our car better. On the upside, the car has felt good since the first practice session here; we definitely made a step forward performance-wise and we should have a strong end to the season."

Source: ESPNF1

'FIA asked Schumi to be careful'

Ross Brawn has hailed Michael Schumacher's "fantastic" Italian GP, revealing that the FIA did ask the German to "be careful"

Schumacher had a storming start at Monza on Sunday, moving up to third place after overtaking Lewis Hamilton. He then spent the better part of the next 28 laps with the McLaren driver right on his rear wing.

Hamilton did manage to overtake Schumacher on lap 13 through Parabolica but the German fought back using his superior speed, thanks to his Mercedes engine, to retake the position around the Curve Grande.

There was, however, one indiscretion in the battle when, on lap 21, Schumacher made two moves to defend his place.

Hamilton was not happy and complained to his team over the radio with McLaren telling their driver that the FIA were aware.

This was followed by Brawn telling his driver several times to "leave room at Ascari."

The battle eventually ended on lap 28 when Schumacher left room at Ascari and Hamilton blasted by.

"Michael drove a fantastic race, we know we haven't got the fastest car but we have seen everything we know about Michael Schumacher," the Mercedes GP team boss told BBC.

"The FIA were watching it (the incident with Lewis Hamilton) and asking us to be careful.

"It is a balance between racing and not overstepping the mark.

"They asked us to be careful, which we were. It was great racing - and great for F1."

As for Schumacher, who finished P5, he said it was a "fun afternoon."

Asked if his racing was 'clean and fair', he said: "I think so. As far as I was concerned there was no request to see the stewards, so I guess all is in order."

Source: Planet-F1

Video: BBC - Italian GP - Lewis Hamilton has no complaints about Michael Schumacher

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton is not angry with Michael Schumacher for forcing him onto the grass during the Italian GP, saying it is all "a part of racing" in Formula 1.

The 26-year-old insists he "cannot complain" about his fourth-place finish at Monza as he is just happy to have secured points and completed the race.

Hamilton, who has crashed out of his previous two Monza races, admits he had a "good race" and "had fun chasing" Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who finished third.



Source: SixtyBuckss

Alonso: I was a bit harder on Vettel

Fernando Alonso admits he defended harder than he usually would against Sebastian Vettel as he has "nothing to lose" in his fight with the German

Alonso took the lead of the Italian GP at the start, storming up from fourth place. However, Vettel, who had started on pole, fought back almost immediately but the battle was cut short when the Safety Car was deployed after a first corner crash.

When the race resumed after lap three, Alonso did all he could to hold onto the lead as Vettel stuck to his rear wing.

The reigning World Champ eventually pulled off a brave move that saw him put two wheels on the grass at the Curva Grande.

Vettel went on to win the Italian GP while Alonso finished in third place.

"We have nothing to lose in the battles with Sebastian," said the Spaniard.

"He is leading the Championship by 100 points so when we have to defend we will be a little bit harder with him."

The double World Champ, who was also overtaken by Jenson Button, admitted he was also "a little bit lucky" to finish on the podium thanks to Michael Schumacher holding up Lewis Hamilton for the better part of 28 laps.

But when the McLaren driver was finally released he set about closing the gap to the Spaniard, who succeeding in holding onto third place by just over half a second.

"It was close, I think one or two more laps and probably we'd lose the podium. We were a little bit lucky with Michael and his battles because Lewis lost 20-30 seconds in the first laps, so we managed that gap."

Source: Planet-F1

Button: We need to sort out 'little things'

Jenson Button admits McLaren need to work on "the little things" if they want to challenge Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel

The 2009 World Champion claimed another impressive podium at the Italian Grand Prix, finishing second behind runaway leader Vettel. The McLaren driver started third on the grid, but a poor getaway saw him drop to seventh. His poor start though did give him an opportunity to show off his overtaking skills as a series of impressive passes saw him move up to P2.

Although delighted with the result and his 'fun' with some of the drivers, Button concedes McLaren need to iron out a few things.

"It was a really fun race actually, fighting with Lewis (Hamilton), with Michael (Schumacher) and with Fernando (Alonso)," said Button. "It was a good race, not for the lead which was a shame but it was always going to be very difficult when we were down in seventh at one point, and sixth after the start.

"I had a tough start to the race, but a lot of fun and the atmosphere here is fantastic, it's electric. So another good race, we've just got to get everything together on race weekends and then we'll hopefully challenge Red Bull and Seb. It was a great job by the team, it's just the little things we need to work on."

Although Button's pass on Alonso for second place appeared to be easy, the Briton says he it wasn't quite so straightforward.

"It's a weird thing with the DRS. We get to a point on the straight where we don't go anywhere, we sit on the limiter. I made a mistake at Ascari, and Fernando got a gap and I couldn't get any closer, but on the hard tyre Fernando was struggling for grip," he said.

"That is the good thing about KERS: you can catch people out if they make a mistake. It was a tense moment but I eventually pulled a gap and easy to settle into the race."

Source: Planet-F1

Vettel Takes A Dominant Italian GP Win

It took only five laps of the Italian GP before the winner was decided as Sebastian Vettel took the lead and pulled away from the field

A chaotic start, the result of Tonio Liuzzi touching the grass, sliding along it and rejoining the race sidewards in the middle of the field, put four drivers out of the grand prix before lap one was completed.

The Safety Car came out for two laps as marshals cleared the debris and for two more the tifosi had the chance to celebrate Fernando Alonso's P1 position.

However, the Spaniard was soon overtaken by Vettel in a very brave move and from there it was game over as the Red Bull driver extended his lead lap by lap.

He was given a helping hand by Michael Schumacher, who held up Lewis Hamilton for 28 laps in some great driving that was reminicent of the Schumacher of old. This allowed Button to catch Hamilton and overtake him. He also made short work of Schumacher, something Hamilton could not do.

But, once free of the Mercedes GP, who yielded and was not overtaken, Hamilton found his pace and began to chase down the podium.

Button meanwhile overtook Alonso for second and pulled away while in the latter stages of the race Hamilton was able to close up on Alonso. But, once again, he couldn't overtake.

Times
01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h20:46.172
02. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 9.590
03. Alonso Ferrari + 16.909
04. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 17.471
05. Schumacher Mercedes + 32.677
06. Massa Ferrari + 42.993
07. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
08. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
09. Senna Renault + 1 lap
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
14. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
15. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps

Did Not Finish
Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 40
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 34
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 23
Sutil Force India-Mercedes 11
Webber Red Bull-Renault 6
D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 3
Petrov Renault 1
Rosberg Mercedes 1
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1

Source: Planet-F1