Hamilton and Mercedes on Top but Ferrari Posts Strong Qualifying Result at Monza

Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG

 

Predating the Formula 1 championship and a part of the series since the inception of the tour in 1950, the 2015 Italian Grand Prix is the 84^th time some of the world’s best racers will compete in the iconic country. All-but one of the Italian Grand Prix races involved in the Formula 1 championship has taken place at Monza. Viewed as the fastest circuit for which Formula 1 currently competes, the Autodromo Nationale di Monza consists of a 11-turn 5.793-kilometer track that severely tests race cars (especially engines). The 11^th race in the 2015 Formula 1 season, conventional wisdom suggested Mercedes-Benz powered teams would have the advantage in competition through the Italian Grand Prix race weekend. However, qualifying for Sunday’s Monza event showed at least one competition may for narrowing the gap on the Silver Arrows

Following the first practice, the Mercedes AMG race cars driven by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were alarmingly faster than the rest of the field. Propelled by a new-spec Mercedes-Benz power unit for the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton’s top time was more than 1.5 seconds faster than the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. However, in Saturday’s time trials, the performance gap had narrowed to a point where a viable fight between the Mercedes AMG and Ferrari teams could take shape.

Surviving a valiant effort from the Scuderia Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton defended the Mercedes AMG’s undefeated streak of poles for the season. Taking the top spot on the grid with a 1-minute, 23.397-second lap time, the victory for the Silver Arrows consisted of a concerted threat from the Prancing Horse. On home soil, Ferrari mounted an impressively close performance with the Mercedes AMG cars. For the Italian Grand Prix qualifying, it was Kimi Raikkonen sitting on the front row of the grid. Taking the spot from teammate Sebastian Vettel late in Q3, Raikkonen was 0.234 seconds slower than Hamilton.

The result in qualifying was only the third time this season that an all-Mercedes AMG front row was broken up. In the other two occasions, it was Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari that took the second position on the Formula 1 race grid. Mercedes AMG’s streak of one-two front rows has ended after seven races but the team’s consecutive poles have grown to 23 races. A top spot at the next race in Singapore will tie a series record.

Both Ferraris split the Mercedes AMG duo in Italian Grand Prix qualifying by a narrow time margin. Starting third after teammate Raikkonen took the front row spot, Sebastian Vettel returns to the track where he won his first Formula 1 grand prix in 2008 driving a Toro Rosso powered by a Ferrari engine. Vettel’s top time was only 0.054 seconds off the pace of Raikkonen and 0.288 seconds slower than Lewis Hamilton. Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes AMG car is starting fourth. While both Mercedes AMG team cars received new spec power units, trouble in practice caused the team to revert to older components that were previously used in Belgium.

In the third row, the Williams Martini Racing team has Felipe Massa on the same row with Valtteri Bottas. Earlier this week, Williams confirmed that both drivers will return to the organization for the 2016 season. Revelling in a positive run at the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks ago, Sergio Perez starts seventh for Force India. The second Force India driven by Nico Hulkenberg and the Lotus race cars complete the top-10. In all, 8 of the top-10 starters are powered by Mercedes-Benz engines.

McLaren, Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing teams have both been levied with grid position penalties for changes made to Renault and Honda powerplants. Starting at the back, the Toro Rosso-Ferrari driven by Max Verstappen had one of the wildest qualifying efforts of the session. During qualifying the engine cover of Verstappen’s machine came off at speed sending debris onto the racetrack.

 

2015 Formula 1

Italian Grand Prix

Starting Grid

Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz	Mercedes-Benz
7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	Mercedes-Benz
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	Renault
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz	Mercedes-Benz
19	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes-Benz	Renault
77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams F1	Renault	Mercedes-Benz
11	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes-Benz	Mercedes-Benz
8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz	Ferrari
27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes-Benz	Renault
13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz	Ferrari
12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari	Ferrari
9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	Ferrari
28	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia	Ferrari	Honda
98	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia	Ferrari	Honda
22	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	Ferrari
14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	Ferrari
55	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault	Renault
26	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	Renault	Renault
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	Renault	Mercedes-Benz
33	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault	Mercedes-Benz

Viva Vettel! Red Bull Racing Driver Wins Monza F1 Race

Photo Credit: Pirelli Photo Service

The conclusion of the European tour of the 2013 Formula 1 championship, the Italian Grand Prix at the historic Monza would be the ideal stage for Ferrari's Fernando Alonso to pull closer to Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel in the overall drivers' standings. Following a race at the Belgium Grand Prix, Vettel has continued to stretch the margin between himself and second place in the World Championship points. With eight races remaining in 2013, opportunities are quickly slipping away for anyone wanting to challenge the Red Bull-Renault driver's pursuit of a fourth-straight drivers' title. In Ferrari's home country, a strong effort in Italy could provide a serious symbolic message to Vettel and Red Bull Racing.

Choosing to send a message of his own in qualifying, Sebastian Vettel placed his car on the pole position as part of a Red Bull Racing 1-2 joined by Mark Webber. The Monza circuit serves as one of the fastest courses for drivers and cars. Requiring low downforce aerodynamic packages and peak engine performance, racing at Monza has the habit of producing unusual circumstances where mid-marker Formula 1 teams can operate at the front. In 2007, Sebastian Vettel's first pole and grand prix victory came at Monza driving a Ferrari-powered vehicle for the smaller Scuderia Toro Rosso organization. In this year's qualifying session, Nico Hulkenberg driving for the Sauber F1 Team sailed around the Monza track with a third-fastest time. Hulkenberg does have a Formula 1 pole earned in 2010 when he drove for the Williams F1 Team. While the Sauber is propelled by customer Ferrari engines, the factory team drivers rounded out the top-five. Felipe Massa was only 0.010 seconds slower than his teammate Fernando Alonso.

A few raindrops in the very early staging of the Italian Grand Prix sprinkled onto the Monza track just before the start of Sunday's 53-lap event. However, this rain never materialized into a major race-defining story. Prepared for a dry race, the 22-car grid started with Sebastian Vettel leading the way early. The only driver not to make it to lap one was Paul di Resta when his Force India-Mercedes collided into the back of the Lotus-Renault of Romain Grosjean.

Photo Credit: Sauber Motorsport AG

The pattern for the Italian Grand Prix was a one pit stop strategy with teams starting their cars on medium compound Pirelli slick tires before switching to hard tires. Three drivers outside of the top-10 in qualifying (Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Esteban Gutierrez) started the grand prix on hard compound tires. Two of the three drivers electing to start the race on hard compound Pirelli tires wound up in trouble through the course of the event. A tire puncture on the Mercedes AMG car of Lewis Hamilton drew in the former world champion onto pit road on lap 12. Relegated to a two-stop plan that cost him track time, Hamilton struggled to finish ninth place. Kimi Raikkonen was the second driver on hard tires who coincidently suffered problems. A collision with Sergio Perez's McLaren-Mercedes on the opening lap forced the Lotus-Renault to the pit to repair damage. Like Hamilton, Raikkonen and the Lotus F1 Team had to abandon their plans of a single pit stop at Monza. Raikkonen finished 11th missing the Formula 1 championship points for only the second time this season. Driving a Sauber-Ferrari, Gutierrez was the only driver who started on hard tires to wind up sticking to the one-stop strategy. He finished 13th after starting 16th on the grid after 53 laps.  

Photo Credit: Pirelli Photo Service

Preserving a small lead and battling concerns with a tire at the beginning, Sebastian Vettel won the 2013 Italian Grand Prix. In post-race, Vettel commented on the win and his early challenges. "It’s fantastic to win this event again. I just managed to make turn one! I locked the front right and it just didn’t seem to come back. I had a big flat spot, which I felt straight away and I wasn’t sure if the tyre would survive, but fortunately I managed to make it round and have a strong first stint." said the 2013 Italian Grand Prix winner.

Ahead by 5.4 seconds, the winning Red Bull-Renault crossed the line with the Ferrari of rival Fernando Alonso next to see the checkered flag. Taking maximum points, Vettel's lead in the 2013 Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship now stands at sizable 53 points. Joining Vettel and Alonso on the podium was the second Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber. The result was Webber's fourth podium of the season as he concludes his 2013 stint with Red Bull Racing as a future part of the Porsche sports car prototype team awaits him in 2014.

Behind a solid effort from Felipe Massa in the Ferrari team's second car, Nico Hulkenberg crossed the Monza finish line fifth resulting in the strongest race effort posted in 2013 by the German driver and the Sauber F1 Team. Fellow German driver Nico Rosberg took sixth place to lead the Mercedes AMG teams effort. The whole Italian Grand Prix weekend effort from the Mercedes AMG organization was lackluster compared to the previous 2013 races. Contending for poles for much of this season, Rosberg's finish equaled his starting spot that served as the highest for Mercedes AMG while Hamilton stumbled for speed. Mercedes-Benz powered entry McLaren also faced difficulty finding race pace Sunday with Jenson Button holding on to a tenth place effort.

Leaving the European continent, the 2013 Formula 1 teams' next scheduled race is the night race at Singapore on September 22nd.


2013 Formula 1
Italian Grand Prix
Race Results

Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	Renault
2	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	Ferrari
4	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull	Renault
4	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	Ferrari
5	11	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber	Ferrari
6	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
7	19	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Ferrari
8	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Renault
9	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
10	5	Jenson Button	McLaren	Mercedes-Benz
11	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	Renault
12	6	Sergio Perez	McLaren	Mercedes-Benz
13	12	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber	Ferrari
14	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams F1	Renault
15	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams F1	Renault
16	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
17	20	Charles Pic	Caterham	Renault
18	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham	Renault
19	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia	Cosworth
20	23	Max Chilton	Marussia	Cosworth
21	18	Jean-Eric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Ferrari
22	14	Paul di Resta	Force India	Mercedes-Benz

Hamilton Blazes to Monza Pole for McLaren

Photo Credit: Pirelli

Last week's 2012 Formula 1 tour returned to action at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps after a in-season long hiatus. However, only one week separated to Belgian Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix weekends at another famed race course. A 5.793-kilometer Monza race course with a historic linage in Formula 1, the high-speed circuit is one track where teams trim out their race vehicles for minimal downforce.

A week after his McLaren F1 Racing teammate Jenson Button commanded the Belgian Grand Prix with a pole and flag-to-flag victory, Lewis Hamilton grabbed the top spot in Italy ith a 1-minute, 24.010-second lap in Q3 time trials. Hamilton is eager to turn around misfortunes of last year that concluded with an early exit from the Belgian Grand Prix after getting caught up in the first corner wreck in Belgium. Related to that incident, Lotus F1 Team's Romain Grosjean has been suspended for the Italian Grand Prix replaced by the team's third driver Jerome d'Ambrosio. Just over a tenth of a second slower than Lewis Hamilton in qualifying, Jenson Button produced an all-McLaren front row for the Italian Grand Prix.

While a Scuderia Ferrari car on the second row of a 2012 Formula 1 race grid is not an unfamiliar sight, previous events in the season would have the name of current drivers championship points leader Fernando Alonso mentioned. However, in a first time feat in 2012, Brazil's Felipe Massa will hold the top position for Ferrari in front of his teammate. Alonso's Ferrari starts in 10th place at the Monza circuit.

In fourth place for the start of the Italian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher drove his Mercedes GP car to an almost 0.26 second gap over Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull Racing entry. Despite turning over 20 laps a piece, the Red Bull-Renaults currently leading the Formula 1 constructor points were noticeably outperformed in qualifying. Sebastian Vettel qualified 5th for tomorrow's event while Mark Webber missed the final Q3 round of Saturday's time trials settling into a 11th place spot on the Italian Grand Prix grid.

Photo Credit: Mercedes GP

Though registering a fourth-fastest time in qualifying, Paul di Resta will start five positions deeper in the field in 9th place driving his Force India-Mercedes. Along with Schumacher as well as Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Kimi Raikkonen and Kamui Kobayashi were also promoted a position in the grid for Sunday's main event.

Set for 53 laps, the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza circuit is set to start at 8 am eastern time. Race conditions are expected to be sunny with temperatures up to 28 degrees Celsius possible.


2012 Formula 1
Italian Grand Prix
Starting Lineup

Pos #	Car #/ Driver/ Car
1	4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
2	3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
3	6 Felipe Massa Ferrari
4	7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP
5	1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
6	8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
7	9 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault
8	14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari
9	11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes
10	5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari
11	2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
12	15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari
13	19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault
14	16 Daniel Ricciardo Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari
15	10 Jerome d'Ambrosio Lotus-Renault
16	17 Jean-Eric Vergne Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari
17	20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault
18	21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault
19	24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth
20	25 Charlie Pic Marussia-Cosworth
21	23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT F1
22	18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault
23	22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT F1
24	12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes