.:: 2010 Italian GP - 10-11-12 September ::.

.:: GRAN PREMIO SANTANDER D'ITALIA 2010 ::.

Welcome to the 2010 Italian GP Thread. cjek and mjk1 will keep the thread updated with the latest times as they happen.

RANDOM FACT

Ricardo Patrese's 50th GP start took place at the only World Championship Italian GP not to be held at Monza.

CIRCUIT STATS

2010 Race Number: 14
Circuit Event Number: 60
Circuit Length: 3.600 miles
Number of Laps: 53
Lap Record: 1:21.046 (R.Barrichello, 2004)

2009 Podium:
1. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP)
2. Jenson Button (Brawn GP)
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

POINTS OF DISCUSSION

1. After being taken out of the Belgian GP, is this weekend Button's last chance to turn things around or is it already too little too late to retain his crown?
2. Can Vettel win a World Championship in the near future, or does his racecraft when not in the lead need more work first?
3. Can Alonso make the most of the Tifosi being on his side on Ferrari's home soil to get himself back in the Championship, or will the Mercedes-powered cars prove too much?
4. Last year, Hamilton crashed out on the final lap after losing out to a race strategy by the Brawns. Can he rectify that this year?
5. How much inspiration can Webber take in to these final 6 races knowing this may be his one and only chance to win the title?

SCHEDULE FOR WEEKEND

Fri 10 Sep: Practice 1 0900-1030; Practice 2 1300-1430

Sat 11 Sep: Practice 3 1000-1100; Qualifying 1300

Sun 12 Sep: Race 1300

WEEKEND WEATHER

FRIDAY: Sunny, Max. 23 deg. cent.
SATURDAY: Sunny, Max. 23 deg. cent.
SUNDAY: Sunny, Max. 23 deg. cent.

PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

THURSDAY:Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Jenson Button (McLaren), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) & Jarno Trulli (Lotus). 1PM GMT.

FRIDAY:Aldo Costa (Ferrari), James Key (BMW-Sauber), Paddy Lowe (McLaren), Sam Michael (Williams) & Adrian Newey (Red Bull). 2PM GMT.

QUALIFYING:Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Jenson Button (McLaren) & Felipe Massa (Ferrari).

RACE: TBC

BBC CIassic GP's
1987 | 1991 | 1996 | 1998 | 2009
Extended Highlights: 1991 | 2009

The Red Light: Italian GP Preview

BBC Presents the 2010 Italian Grand Prix: The Race

PREVIOUS SESSIONS
Friday Practice 1
Friday Practice 2
Qualifying
Race (Unavailable)
Forum (Unavailable)

Monza kerbs modified for GP

Modifications have been made to the kerbs at the first and second chicanes at Monza ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix to minimise the chances of cars becoming airborne.

The layout of the Rettifilo and Roggia chicanes have always been an issue at Monza - with it proving far from easy to design the kerbs in such a way that it prevents drivers taking advantage by cutting them but without causing any unnecessary dangers

Although speed bumps across the run off areas have proved a success in discouraging drivers from cutting the corners completely, the focus for this year has been in tweaking the kerb designs.

For this weekend's race, the areas behind the apex kerbs of the two chicane entry corners have been laid with a ramped concrete section - to ensure that if a car is out of control it does not get launched into the air by a sudden contact with the kerb edge.

SOURCE: Autosport.com

ED: I swear i posted exactly the same story last year

OMG! Stupid questionsXSamFisherX

Glad to see I'm not the only one to think they were then :lol:

Fittpaldi rejoins stewards for Monza

Brazilian former world champion Emerson Fittipaldi will fill the role as the stewards' advisor at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

The FIA has confirmed that the 63-year old, who held the same capacity at the Canadian Grand Prix in June, will return to the stewards' team.

Fittipaldi, who took the drivers' world championship titles in 1972 and 1974, is one of several former Formula 1 legends to assist the stewards as the FIA seeks a 'driver's perspective' on racing incidents.

Damon Hill, Derek Warwick, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell are among those who have also worked with the FIA's regular race stewards this season, with Mansell making a particular impact at Spa with his tough stance on using the run-off at La Source and other issues.

SOURCE: Autosport.com

I know it should of been done from race 1, and since I've been reminded of my task for GP weekends, I shall now follow suit with this.

Kip's GP History, Round 14, Italian GP 2010

In the past, we've seen some real corkers around this circuit, Derek Warwick taking a tumble in 1992 coming out the parabolica, Hill spinning in 1996 to stop himself winning the title, Montoya's Fastest lap ever in 2004, the epic rains of 2008 which saw the Toro Rosso team, formerly as Minardi actually win a Grand Prix at the hands of Sebastian Vettel to show he had true talent to win at a top level, and 2009 where Barrichello showed the world at still a old age in F1 terms, he can still beat the younger guys when it counts.

This years race looks set to be McLaren's to lose, they've often been strong here as well, but don't ever count out the Ferrari's with the tifosi wanting a 1-2 finish from the scuderia, and Red bull wanting to have damage limitation, from here, if another set of DNF's come from, Alonso, Button and Vettel, it does look set to be a 2 horse race, but with the way the points system is shaking up, who knows what could happen, but with the end of the season getting ever nearer, and DNF is more and more dangerous, losing 25 points to your nearest title rival can be disasterous.

I look forward to clean racing, and hopefully another historic race I can add to the potofolio for next years race :)

Well not the bet set of questions but I won't be quite as blatently rude and am, after due consideration, going to answer sensibly :D

1. Personally I think it is too late for Button purely because Hamilton is a better driver so even on a circuit where the McLaren's can win he needs some luck to get Lewis out of the way. Since the same does not apply to Alonso I think Alonso has more chance than Button of winning the DC this year. That being said I think it is, baring major bad luck, now a 2 horse race
2. I personally don't think Vettel is as good a driver as everyone makes out. Even in, for most races, what has been the fastest car he is only coming 3rd behind, importantly, his team mate ( often said to be your only true competitor out there ) and behind the man who is probably the best current F1 driver who has been driving a significantly inferior car. Lewis scoring good points with a slower car in almost every race is what sets him apart and puts him in a class ( along with Alonso and maybe one or two others ) that Vettel can only dream about right now. If he works on his race craft then who knows but right now he is an arrogant German who isn't quite as good as the last one of those we had!!
3. See answer one. Crowds don't make the cars go faster so....As I said I think the championship is out of reach for Alonso now.
4. I think Hamilton has an excellent chance of winning this race - circuit suits the Mclaren and not so much the Red Bull so....
5. I think Webber is best placed to win the championship due to the most of the remaining circuits suiting the Red Bull and will be extra motivated due to events earlier in the season "not bad for a number 2 driver" etc. Since he has one more season with Red Bull I don't necessarily think it's his last chance BUT certainly his best chance!

Anyone else find it interesting Red Bull's wing doesn't flex anymore?Redders1989

Chickens!Redders1989

QUALIFYING

Pos  Driver         Team                    Q1        Q3        Q3
 1.  Alonso         Ferrari                 1:22.646  1:22.297  1:21.962
 2.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:23.085  1:22.354  1:22.084
 3.  Massa          Ferrari                 1:22.421  1:22.610  1:22.293
 4.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:23.431  1:22.706  1:22.433
 5.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:22.830  1:22.394  1:22.623
 6.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:23.235  1:22.701  1:22.675
 7.  Rosberg        Mercedes                1:23.529  1:23.055  1:23.027
 8.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth       1:23.516  1:22.989  1:23.037
 9.  Kubica         Renault                 1:23.234  1:22.880  1:23.039
10.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1:23.695  1:23.142  1:23.328
11.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1:23.493  1:23.199
12.  Schumacher     Mercedes                1:23.840  1:23.388
13.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:24.273  1:23.659
14.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:23.744  1:23.681
15.  Petrov         Renault                 1:24.086  1:23.819
16.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:24.083  1:23.919
17.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari          1:24.442  1:24.044
18.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:25.540
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth          1:25.742
20.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes    1:25.774
21.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth         1:25.934
22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth         1:25.974
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:26.847
24.  Yamamoto       HRT-Cosworth            1:27.020

All Timing Unofficial

AUTOSPORT 

Not a bad race, kicking myself for not putting more faith in Ferrari for the predictions championship :( Hamilton made a silly mistake running into a gap that was rapidly closing. Otherwise nothing really of note in my eyes, except maybe Hulkenburg's driving.

DotD: Vettel, good effort to come back from his bad start - ran 52 from 53 laps on a single set of soft tyres at racing speed no less and managed to get 4th good effort.

SotD: Alonso, started from pole made a poor get away but hounded the bejaysus out of Button and then managed to pull out a gap when he got the winning position in the stops, strong race.

F1 2010 Italian Grand Prix
RACE RESULT

DotD: Vettel. Did a great job to finish 4th after engine troubles and a poor start.

SotD: Ferrari pit crew. Perfect stop at a critical moment.

Amatuer Video showing the incident involving Yamamoto and the radio man who got knocked over.

Edit: Don't bother clicking. It got removed. :(

DotD: Hulkenberg

SotD: Ferrari pit crew

Gutted about Hamilton but on to Singapore :(

Disappointing to see such a schoolboy error from Lewis, and gutting that JB lost out on a race he could've so easily won, but Ferrari just struck it perfect today.

DotD: Alonso
SotD: Vettel

Quite an intense and enjoyable race. Crazy that Vettel lasted so long on 1 set of tires and recovered from his "engine trouble". Alonso was on Button the entire race and pounced when his pit crew gave him a blistering stop. Going to be a big party in Italy today!

DotD: Vettel
SotD: Alonso

Vettel hit by brake issue, not engine

Red Bull Racing has confirmed that it was a brake problem - rather than an issue with the engine - that slowed Sebastian Vettel down early in the Italian Grand Prix.

Vettel lost seventh position to team-mate Mark Webber on lap 20 of the Monza race after slowing on the run from the Ascari Chicane to Parabolica.

After seeing his pace drop, Vettel radioed to his team to say that he believed he had an engine problem - prompting fears that he would be forced to retire from the race.

However, analysis of Vettel's engine telemetry by the team indicated that there was no issue with the power unit and the German recovered to finish fourth after opting for a late tyre stop.

Red Bull Racing was initially unsure about what caused the problem, but a post race analysis indicated that one of the brakes had remained locked on briefly after the Ascari chicane.

SOURCE: Autosport.com

DRIVERS OUT OF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENTION

Adrian Sutil (Force India) - Italy
Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) - Italy
Karun Chandhok (HRT) - Belgium
Sakon Yamamoto (HRT) - Belgium
Bruno Senna (HRT) - Belgium
Lucas di Grassi (Virgin) - Belgium
Timo Glock (Virgin) - Belgium
Jarno Trulli (Lotus) - Belgium
Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus) - Belgium
Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) - Belgium
Pedro de la Rosa (BMW-Sauber) - Belgium
Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) - Belgium
Nico Hulkenberg (Williams) - Belgium
Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) - Belgium
Vitaly Petrov (Renault) - Belgium
Kamui Kobayashi (BMW-Sauber) - Belgium
Rubens Barrichello (Williams) - Belgium

CONSTRUCTORS OUT OF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENTION

Renault - Italy
HRT - Belgium
Virgin - Belgium
Lotus - Belgium
Toro Rosso - Belgium
BMW-Sauber - Belgium
Williams - Belgium
Force India - Belgium

Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) - ItalyRedders1989