[954Stealth]

Here is the Monza thread! Enjoy!
I'm anxious to see how the Mercedes duo handle themselves this weekend...

“Monza is the home of speed” -- Jean Alesi
Ah, here it is the one and only, the Temple of Speed, one of the few original tracks still on the calendar...Monza








The thread is late (where you at, @E90Slam ?) so here are FP results already:





Vettel's helmet:



Track:


Circuit Name: Autodromo di Monza
First Grand Prix: 1950
Number of Laps: 53
Circuit Length: 5.793 km
Race Distance: 306.720 km
Lap Record: 1:21.046 - R Barrichello (2004)






TIMETABLE:
Friday 05 September 2014
10:00 11:30 FORMULA ONE - FIRST PRACTICE SESSION
14:00 15:30 FORMULA ONE - SECOND PRACTICE SESSION

Saturday 07 September 2014
11:00 12:00 FORMULA ONE - THIRD PRACTICE SESSION
14:00 15:00 FORMULA ONE - QUALIFYING SESSION

Sunday 07 September 2014
14:00 16:00 FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX

Transcript of yesterday's press conference: http://www.fia.com/2014-italian-gran...ess-conference

[ashtaron14]

Sweet!

Vettel's Helmet is like them Prototype Cars

[954Stealth]

It's only FP and too early, but notice who is fastest?? Could this be tied to the secret Mercedes punishment? (Which I think is no more data sharing...)

[954Stealth]

FP2 is on and Lewis's car won't fire up...

[954Stealth]

A quick look at the map of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza circuit, where the Italian Grand Prix takes place this weekend, makes the track seem simple. It’s got a bunch of long straightaways and just a few turns. But a closer look reveals that racing a Formula One car here is far more complicated than it seems. Monza, one of only four circuits from the inaugural 1950 season still used today, pushes drivers to some of their fastest speeds of the year. Those straightaways earn Monza the nickname “Temple of Speed,” but it’s the 11 corners that make getting the most out of the car tough for even the world’s best drivers.

In order to take advantage of the long straights, teams adjust their cars’ front and rear wings to provide less downforce than at any other track. That increases the top speed, but makes it harder to brake: With less force pushing down on the car, slowing down takes longer. By the end of the distances, the cars will see some of their fastest speeds of the year, up to 223 mph. “At those speeds,” says former F1 racer Jean Alesi, “you feel that the car is about to lift off from the track. It’s something that you only find in Monza; sometimes it even feels quite hard to keep the car in a straight line on the straights.”

But the really difficult part is turning after building up all that speed. “You’re coming down to that first chicane at the highest speed an F1 car will reach all year and you’re braking into one of the tightest corners you’ll take all year,” says Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo. “Added to that you’re doing this with the least amount of downforce you’ll have all year—which means the car tends to slide around quite a bit as well as taking longer to stop.”

In the heaviest braking zones, drivers will drop their speed by more than 150 mph in just a couple seconds, enough to generate 4.5 G’s of force. Because the corners are taken so fast, and with so little downforce to keep the cars grounded, cars are much more likely to suffer oversteer (rotating too much, with the rear end sliding out to the side) as well as understeer (just the opposite, when the wheels are turned but the car keeps going straight). There’s a greater risk of locking up the tires while slowing down (F1 regulations don’t allow anti-lock braking), which can lead to flat spots: flattening out part of an otherwise round tire, which slows down the car. These conditions can be adjusted for, especially by talented F1 drivers, but it adds to the overall challenge and charm (at least for the fans) of Monza.

On top of all that, Monza feature especially high curbs on the corners (the orange bits in the above photo) that punish both tires and drivers if they take the corners too sharply. Cutting the corner entirely results in a car traveling over the black and yellow speed bumps, with potentially disastrous results for the underside of the car.

Not all the turns are so tough, but that actually makes the race more complicated. “Every range of cornering speed is covered,” says Alesi, so drivers must continually change their approach throughout each lap. And the low number of corners makes mastering each one critical. On Sunday, the drivers who best time their braking and reapplication of the throttle when exiting each corner (without spinning their tires too much) are likely to come out on top.

www.wired.com

[954Stealth]

I'm only going to put up a couple of photos, don't worry guys lol

[954Stealth]

FP 2 is now done....


1. Nico Rosberg 1m 26.225s 41 laps
2. Lewis Hamilton 1m 26.286s 16 laps
3. Kimi Raikkonen 1m 26.331s 31 laps
4. Fernando Alonso 1m 26.565s 26 laps
5. Valtteri Bottas 1m 26.758s 34 laps
6. Jenson Button 1m 26.762s 34 laps
7. Sebastian Vettel 1m 26.762s 27 laps
8. Kevin Magnussen 1m 26.881s 44 laps
9. Felipe Massa 1m 26.935s 33 laps
10. Daniel Ricciardo 1m 26.992s 37 laps
11. Sergio Perez 1m 27.079s 42 laps
12. Nico Hulkenberg 1m 27.227s 39 laps
13. Daniil Kvyat 1m 27.476s 37 laps
14. Esteban Gutierrez 1m 27.840s 33 laps
15. Jean-Eric Vergne 1m 27.929s 33 laps
16. Adrian Sutil 1m 28.029s 35 laps
17. Jules Bianchi 1m 28.659s 34 laps
18. Pastor Maldonado 1m 28.700s 42 laps
19. Max Chilton 1m 28.786s 29 laps
20. Romain Grosjean 1m 29.085s 29 laps
21. Kamui Kobayashi 1m 29.178s 32 laps
22. Marcus Ericsson 1m 29.275s 37 laps



Rosberg pips Hamilton in FP2

By: Laurence Edmondson at Monza


Nico Rosberg topped the second practice session at the Italian Grand Prix after Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton was hamstrung by an electronic issue for the first half of the session.

Rosberg's session appeared to run smoothly as he notched up 41 laps and clocked a 1:26.225 during his early run on the softer medium tyres. Hamilton had to wait nearly an hour for his Mercedes could be fired up after some sensors were changed, limiting him to just 16 laps and a fastest time 0.061s off Rosberg. In the grand scheme of the championship it may only be a minor bump in the road for Hamilton's title chances, but with a 29-point gap to Rosberg in the championship and limited time to find a set-up for Monza's unique layout it will have been felt in the cockpit.

Read more at http://en.espnf1.com/italy/motorspor...v0vbh07Iij8.99

[954Stealth]

Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed a laborious Friday: Engine problems thwarted its first session, in the afternoon he struggled to P10.

[954Stealth]

New rumours say Montezemolo stepping down

Could the Ferrari boss be looking at leaving his post?

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ne...-stepping-down

[954Stealth]

Reliability issues haunt Hamilton at Monza



(grandprix247.com)

Electrical gremlins held up Lewis Hamilton in Italian Grand Prix practice on Friday after the Mercedes driver had lapped more than half a second quicker than anyone else in the morning session.

The Briton, who retired from the race in Belgium 12 days ago after team mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg hit the back of his car, missed an hour of the afternoon running as mechanics replaced sensors on his car.

Hamilton was still fastest overall on the day, with a best time of 1:26.187 seconds set before lunch. Rosberg was top of the afternoon timesheets with a best of 1:26.225, just ahead of his team mate.

Jenson Button, Hamilton’s former team mate at McLaren, was second fastest in the morning in 1:26.810 with Rosberg – who has never been on the Monza podium – pushed back to third in 1:26.995.

Hamilton is 29 points behind Rosberg in the championship with seven races remaining and is determined to claw his way back against his German rival, who was punished by the team for the Spa collision.

Ferrari‘s Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest in both sessions with Williams‘ Valtteri Bottas fifth in the second practice after a quiet morning. Button was sixth for McLaren, who last won a race in 2012.

Red Bull‘s quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel, last year’s winner at the ‘cathedral’ of Italian motorsport, was sixth and seventh while Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo was 16th and 10th.

Ricciardo, as good as Italian to many of the home fans and chasing his third win in a row, was sidelined for some of the first session with a power unit problem.

At the slow end of the field, Spanish driver Roberto Merhi made his debut appearance at a Formula One weekend and lapped faster than regular race driver Marcus Ericsson in the other Caterham.

Merhi handed the car back to Japanese Kamui Kobayashi, returning after being dropped by the team for Spa, for the afternoon and rest of the weekend.

Spanish reserve driver Daniel Juncadella also had a stint with Force India while Frenchman Charles Pic was handed compatriot Romain Grosjean’s Lotus for the session. (Reuters)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Renault Sport F1 report from the first day of the Italian Grand Prix weekend, Round 13 of the 2014 Formula 1 World Championship, at Monza.

Key practice points:
◾F1 back at the ‘Cathedral of Speed’, the Autodromo di Monza, where over 75% of the lap is taken at full throttle
◾Monza places an emphasis on outright speed and top end performance, with the ICE put through its toughest test so far this year
◾The Renault Energy F1-2014 performed well. Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel demonstrated a strong relative long run pace and finished with the sixth quickest time in FP1 and seventh in FP2
◾High mileage count for Scuderia Toro Rosso at its home track, with over 800km completed
◾Reliable performances from Lotus F1 Team and Caterham F1 Team. Charles Pic deputized for Romain Grosjean at Lotus in FP1 while Roberto Merhi debuted in the morning, replacing Kamui Kobayashi

[SenorFunkyPants]

Hamilton probably would have been fastest in FP2 but caught traffic near the end of a fast lap when a couple of tenths up.

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

Electrical gremlins held up Lewis Hamilton in Italian Grand Prix practice on Friday after the Mercedes driver had lapped more than half a second quicker than anyone else in the morning session.

sabbo-tagee!!

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by Kyle B

sabbo-tagee!!

haha if only it were that simple

[NickyC]

Hooray, one of the REAL tracks left. I'm sure this is old news to everyone, but you can go on google maps or whatever and actually go around the track 1st person. It's funny how much smaller it looks in first person, and without all the billboards and advertisements (the google car looked like it was there in the winter), the track looks so tame.

[plien69]

What strikes me is how narrow it is compared to the modern tracks.

Here's the view down the main straight approaching the first chicane. Looks like a driveway.
http://goo.gl/SLZ5r3

[Sebringjetta]

Major traction issues with the smaller wings...

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by Sebringjetta

Major traction issues with the smaller wings...

Yep! Small wing, high speed, low downforce, narrowness, gearbox complaining.
Gotta love Monza

[Nick the Greek]

It's a mans track for sure!

[Elsabor67]

Going to be interesting tomorrow with 3 teams lining up the first 6 spots tomorrow. Mercedes (Ham/Ros) Williams (Bot/Mas) and McLaren (But/Mag) They all ran pretty strong. Alonso is the first non Mercedes power in 7th and Vet/Ric 8/9 with Perez rounding the top 10. Bottas is pretty close to both Mercs and would like to see him give them a good run for their money since Rosberg to me is not that good on takeoff.

[Arash007ir]

F1 1973-2013 - Parabolica (Monza)

[solstice]

Thanks for the effort to keep these threads going. The quali was a bit of a snoozer but I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow. Rosberg's "anything can happen" was priceless in the interview . The speeds at Monza is nuts and wheel to wheel racing if it comes to that between the Benz guys will be hairy stuff.

[SenorFunkyPants]

I like to watch the qualifying live with live timing on my tablet...it adds a little bit of extra interest watching the sector times. I'll miss watching the race live grrr but if its a dry race then I'll be surprised if its a cracker.