Monza

[rob the knob]

Qualy: Hamilton takes pole, Kimi P2
2015-09-05 15:06:53 RSS
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Qualy: Hamilton takes pole, Kimi P2
It was all about Lewis Hamilton at Monza as the Championship leader stormed to his 11th pole position of this season while Kimi Raikkonen was second.

Hamilton went into Saturday's qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix as the only Mercedes runner using the new upgraded engine. Although the weekend began with it fitted in both W06s, an issue for Rosberg after FP3 meant he had to swap to the older spec engine.

As such there was little competition for Hamilton who was quickest in the first and second segments before crossing the line with a 1:23.397 to take pole position in Q3.

Kimi Raikkonen was second for Ferrari, 0.234s down, while Sebastian Vettel claimed third place. Raikkonen's P2 marked Ferrari's first front row start position at Monza since 2010.

Rosberg, with his older spec engine, slumped to fourth ahead of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Both Williams drivers were within a second of Hamilton's P1 time.

Earlier in Q1 Max Verstappen finished qualifying at the bottom of the timesheets as he only ventured out for one very late lap.

That turned out to be an eventful one as massive pieces of his STR10's engine cover were left lying on the track at the Curva Grande. It appears as if the bodywork was not properly fixed to the car after his earlier

McLaren and Manor joined the Dutchman in dropping out of Q1.

Q2 also saw a driver finish without a time; it was Daniel Ricciardo. Given his grid penalty for an engine change, he opted to save both tyres and engine life.

As a result he finished P15 with Pastor Maldonado, Felipe Nasr, Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat dropping out in Q2. The latter two also have grid penalties.

Times
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:23.397
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:23.631 0.234
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:23.685 0.288
4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.703 0.306
5 Felipe Massa Williams 1:23.940 0.543
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:24.127 0.730
7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:24.626 1.229
8 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:25.054 1.657
9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:25.317 1.920
10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:26.214 2.81
11 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:24.525
12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:24.898
13 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:25.618
14 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:25.796
15 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull no time
16 Jenson Button McLaren 1:26.058
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:26.154
18 Will Stevens Manor 1:27.731
19 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:27.912
20 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso no time

[diamondedge]

Woo Ferrari. Take that Prostberg

[phreezee]

Only two tenths down, if Mercedes didn't use their tokens we would likely have seen a Ferrari 1-2. Should be an interesting race if Lewis suffers the same issue Nico had with the new spec engine or doesn't get a good start. The tifosi would go crazy if a red car won the race.

[rage2]

Ferrari is on a higher downforce setup, slower straight line speed. While it works well in qualifying, it's always an inferior setup in race trim. Should be an interesting show.

[rage2]

Hamiltons pace is ridiculous. Old ass tires, faster than everyone else on new primes, including his teammate.

[speedog]

Tire pressure issues - link (http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/smedley-expects-mercedes-to-be-excluded) and another link (http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/headlines/2015/9/mercedes-under-investigation-over-starting-tyre-pressures.html) to related stories.

[rob the knob]

Last update 3 hours ago - Published on 06/09/2015 at 12:31

Lewis Hamilton has been accused of disrespect after failing to take off his cap during a minute’s silence for Justin Wilson.

The F1 world champion and his fellow drivers honoured Wilson, who died on 23 August in an accident at an IndyCar race in Pennsylvania. The Briton competed in 16 F1 races for Minardi and Jaguar in 2003. Hamilton was the only driver to leave his headgear on during the silence for Wilson.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CONxS1bWsAEilAr.jpg

[rob the knob]

Lewis Hamilton keeps Italian GP win after stewards' investigation

By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer at Monza
Italian Grand Prix on the BBC
Venue: Monza Dates: 4-6 September
Coverage: Highlights on BBC One. Full details here

Lewis Hamilton cruised to a dominant Italian Grand Prix victory to put a stranglehold on the world title - and was cleared of breaking tyre rules.

Hamilton's seventh victory this season puts him 53 points ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg as the German retired.

Mercedes were investigated on the grounds the tyres were below the minimum permitted temperature.

But the stewards allowed Hamilton to keep his victory after ruling Mercedes had followed safe operating procedures.

[Cos]

.

[rage2]

Engine failure from Saturday was a leak that contaminated Rosbergs new revised engine. Not sure if they'll be able to reuse it yet. They fit in an old engine with high mileage for the most taxing race of the year which was pretty marginal to begin with. Rosberg requested more power to attack vettel and it was cleared by the team. The engine disagreed with that decision. :rofl:

As for inflategate, yes, Hamilton was asked to drive balls out to get a 25s gap to Vettel in case he got a 25s penalty.

[Cos]

.

[phreezee]

There's hope for us gamers on making F1. :D

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120719?




Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen says practising overtaking moves on a computer game is helping his attack on track.

Verstappen joined simracing team Redline at the beginning of the summer and practised Spa and Monza before contesting the circuits' F1 grands prix.

During the Italian Grand Prix, the Dutchman, running soft tyres, passed Sauber's Felipe Nasr, who was on the mediums, around the outside at the first chicane.

It followed an impressive move on Nasr around the outside of Blanchimont at Spa a fortnight earlier.

Verstappen revealed he had completed both those exact moves on the racing game a week ahead of the respective races.

"It's always good because you know how much space you have," he said.

"Also on simracing, sometimes you go a bit too far and you know that you can't do it.

"I think it helps me. I mean I did it for Spa and I did it again for Monza and two times it worked on the real track.

"The overtake I did on Nasr, I did exactly the same in the sim again."

[phreezee]

News all seems to be around engine suppliers post Monza.

Red Bull considering Ferrari, after Lewis "veto"
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34188521

If Lotus gets bought by Renault, Manor could become Mercedes powered.
http://www.f1today.net/en/news/204795/manor-to-be-powered-by-mercedes?