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

The Inexhaustible Smile of Driver Justin Wilson

Photo Credit: IndyCar

Monday night, sadness fell over the entire motorsport world as a competition embraced for its excitement and action claimed a great athlete. 37-year-old British driver Justin Wilson succumbed to a head injury suffered in a late-race incident at the Verizon IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway.

A penultimate round in the open wheel racing series for 2015, optimism for seeing a great battle for championship and race position was overshadowed quickly after a series of crashes proved evermore worrisome. On lap 180, a crash by leader Sage Karam into the turn 1 wall showered the track with debris. A nose cone compartment of Karam's #8 car is believed to be the piece that flew up and hit the #25 Andretti Autosport car's driver Justin Wilson in the helmet. Despite receiving swift attention from IndyCar's safety crew, the unconscious Wilson could not be revived at the scene and needed to be airlifted to an offsite hospital. Announced to be in a coma Sunday night, Justin Wilson's passing was announced at 9 pm Eastern time Monday night.

The 37-year-old British racer spent 28 years demonstrating incredible versatility behind the wheel of a vehicle. Moving from karting and eventually transitioning through the ranks of European open wheel racing, he reached the ceiling of the sport at the age of 24. He spent one full season in Formula 1 competing with two teams. Afterwards Wilson found success in American open wheel racing winning on the Champ Car World Series as well as in IndyCar. Justin Wilson will forever be remembered as a driver who battled hard simply to be part of big-time auto racing. Through every challenge he faced, a vibrant, warm personality was beamed outwards.

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy via Screenshot from Low-Res Video

At the age of 13, the future racing star was diagnosed with the learning block dyslexia after long-running scholastic struggles. In the process of overcoming the hurdle that challenged him in school, Wilson was gained notoriety on the race track. As his career grew, the driver committed himself to share lessons of fighting dyslexia publicly.

As Justin Wilson grew up, his physical stature also became a tricky hindrance. Growing to be a 6-foot, 4-inch man, a jockey-like size sought by major Formula 1 teams kept him out of consideration. Fortunately, Wilson's talent and determination towered over his own size enough to open the door with the European Minardi team for the 2003 Formula 1 season.

Like is often the case for Formula 1 drivers, money was needed to race on major grand prix tracks weighed on Justin Wilson. In order to raise funding for the 2003 season in Formula 1, his name was added to the London Stock Exchange in order to attract investors. Practically a Kickstarter campaign before it existed, Wilson and his management team succeeded in their goal of securing the funding needed to for the 2003 season in Formula 1. Running for the European Minardi team for the first 11 races, Jaguar Racing picked him up for the remaining five events where he scored a championship point in the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. Following the 2003 season, Wilson ultimately left Formula 1 due to losing the fight for sponsorship dollars against other funded drivers.

Taking the trip over the Atlantic Ocean, Justin Wilson's new career in the Champ Car World Series started in 2004 with Conquest Racing. Picked up by RuSPORT for the 2005 season in the series, he captured his maiden victory in major American open wheel racing on the streets of Toronto. While the Champ Car World Series was prominently competed on circuits in the United States, all four career victories on the tour occurred on tracks outside of the country (twice in Canada as well as in Mexico and the Netherlands). Wilson's first win in the United States in major open wheel racing occurred in 2008 in Detroit as part of the reunified IndyCar Series driving for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

Photo Credit: Michael Levitt via IndyCar

In 2009, Justin Wilson once again challenged astronomical odds partnered with Dale Coyne Racing. A single-car operation against the superteams of Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing, Wilson pulled-off a popular victory at Watkins Glen in the #18 car. The win was Dale Coyne's first in major open wheel competition since entering team ownership in the 1980s. Running with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for 2010 and 2011, Wilson returned to Dale Coyne Racing where they won the 2012 Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway (the driver's one and only oval victory).

Also part of the 2012 calendar year was Wilson's participation in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series' crown jewel round, the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Part of the #60 Michael Shank Racing, Justin Wilson paired with A.J. Allmendinger, Oswaldo Negri and John Pew in a Ford-powered Riley. A race that ended with a tight battle for the lead in the Daytona Prototype class, the #60 car pulled-off a popular win at the prestigious event. In 2013, the Grand Prix of Baltimore event presented Justin Wilson with the opportunity to race alongside his brother Stefan.

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy

Parting with Dale Coyne Racing after a disappointing 2014 IndyCar season, Justin Wilson ran a partial schedule with Andretti Autosport for 2015. Originally only with Indianapolis races in mind, Wilson was brought back into competition for July. At Mid-Ohio Sports car course (one race prior to the Pocono event), Justin Wilson and team took the runner-up position. Racing against eventual winner Graham Rahal, Wilson maintained a selfless tone in a post-race interview. "I had one more push-to-pass left but Graham was too quick (haha) - all the credit to him today because he was on fire. We pushed as hard as we could. I have to thank everyone at Andretti Autosport and Honda for all the work they’ve done. I’m pleased to get Honda a 1-2 finish at their home track." said Wilson. Earlier this year, Justin Wilson also ran a race in the revolutionary new all-electric Formula E tour finishing 10th in the Moscow round.

Photo Credit: IndyCar

As is so often the case in auto racing, the spirit of community has united all parties involved in motorsports to honour a life. Andretti Autosport posted the following condolence on their Facebook page.

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Justin Wilson. He was a tremendous racer, a valuable member of the team and...
Posted by Andretti Autosport on Monday, August 24, 2015

Justin Wilson's car owner for four years in IndyCar competition Dale Coyne said, "Justin was the kindest, gentlest racer that we have ever known. His wife Julia and their adorable girls, Jane and Jessica, are shining lights of Justin's spirit." as part of a statement on the team's website.

Off the track, Justin Wilson was also a husband and father of two daughters. Wilson's family posted a statement following the announcement of their close, heartfelt loss. "The family would like to thank the staff at the Lehigh Valley Health Network Cedar Crest Hospital,  Pocono Raceway, Andretti Autosport, and the Verizon IndyCar Series as well as the entire racing community for the amazing outpouring of support from fans around the world". The family of Justin Wilson requests that in lieu of flowers, people wishing to bid tribute to the driver send donations to the Wilson Children's Fund.

Sixth Grand Prix Win of 2015 for Hamilton in Belgium

Photo Credit: Foto Studio Colombo Per Pirelli Media

 

Taking almost a month off since a late July race in Hungary, the 2015 Formula 1 season restarts with a little less than half of the events left to be run. Competing on the longest circuit on the active Formula 1 tour at 7.004 kilometers in length, the Belgian Grand Prix welcomes back some of the world's best open wheel drivers with a blend of high-speed sections as well as technical corners.

The winner of all-but 2 of the first 10 grand prix races on the 2015 Formula 1 tour, Mercedes AMG would appear to have a storybook season. However, after the British Grand Prix and the most recent Hungarian Grand Prix, the Silver Arrows appeared to firing more crookedly than usual. Almost losing the first race on a poor start by two cars and a series of miscues costing victory at the Hungoraring has been rare team-wide mistakes from the factory-backed German outfit. In fact, the Hungarian Grand Prix was the first race since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix where a Mercedes AMG team car did not obtain a podium spot. Receiving almost a month to put the lackluster effort in Hungary behind them, Mercedes AMG returned to competition by dominating practice. In qualifying, Lewis Hamilton topped teammate Nico Rosberg netting a 1-2 start for the team.

Restarting the 2015 Formula 1 season, it was again a moment for Mercedes AMG to either command a race right from the start or to surprise the grand prix audience with a struggle. When the lights went out for the start of the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix, both incidents occurred. While Lewis Hamilton had a sterling start, Nico Rosberg immediately fell three places dropping to fifth.

Early in the race, some under-appreciated effort in the 2015 season were presented with a moment to shine behind Hamilton. Sergio Perez was running second in the Force India-powered Mercedes-Benz as part of very stunning weekend at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Hovering around the top-5 in practice and qualifying Perez was enjoying a massive confidence boost. While the one Force India driver shined, the second vehicle driven by Nico Hulkenberg's Belgian Grand Prix didn't even start. From the warm-up lap, the German encountered a power unit problem leaving Sergio Perez as the team's one and only chance at greatness. Behind the Force India was the Red Bull-Renault of Daniel Ricciardo.

Photo Credit: Force India F1 Team

After the first round of pit stops for the leaders, Nico Rosberg was able to climb his way back into the runner-up spot behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton. While neither Mercedes AMG parted from each other over the course of the event, Hamilton retained a comfortable gap of several seconds over his fellow team car.

Seeking to follow-up on success in Hungary, Daniel Ricciardo's race went south after 19 laps. Minutes after almost loosing his car in the Eau Rouge section of Spa-Francorchamps, the Red Bull-Renault dropped out of the event for what was accounted as an electrical fault. The Australian's retirement from was from a race he won in 2014. Overall official retirements in the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix was limited to four cars. In addition to the already-mentioned Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo, Pastor Maldonado slid out of the grand prix after just two laps while Carlos Sainz Jr. suffered a loss of power to the Renault-propelled Toro Rosso.

While the Mercedes AMG cars held the first and second place spots without harassment in the late laps, a daring plan was undertaken by Ferrari to score a podium finish. Attempting a one-stop strategy in a 44-lap race in Belgium, Ferrari launched their lead pilot Sebastian Vettel into third place. With two laps remaining, the right rear Pirelli tire failed on the Ferrari resulting in Vettel needing to surrender his podium spot late. With Vettel upset with the failure costing him third in the race, Pirelli released a statement implying the reason for the tire failure was excessive distance. The tire provider for Formula 1 claimed they wanted to institute a maximum distance for Pirelli racing slicks.

Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG

Winning his 39th career Formula 1 event, Lewis Hamilton won the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix by 2.058 seconds over teammate Nico Rosberg. The sixth win for Hamilton this season, the reigning drivers' champion holds a 28-point lead in the championship. While Mercedes-Benz has won at Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps track six times with McLaren (including a 2010 win by Hamilton), the last factory Silver Arrow machine to take the checkered flag was accomplished in 1955.

Behind the Mercedes AMG squad's most recent 1-2 performance this season at Spa-Francorchamps, there was a member of season-topping runs mounted by some competitors including the man who claimed the remaining podium spot. In third-place Romain Grosjean brought his Lotus-Mercedes across the finish line in a dazzling performance aided by Sebastian Vettel's late problems. The third place run was the first for Grosjean since the 2013 United States Grand Prix. The effort by the Frenchman and the team could also be much-needed medicine after recent legal issues for the Lotus F1 Team organization. The dispute relates with former 2014 test driver Charles Pic and has bailiffs threatening to seize race cars and equipment. The financial state of the Lotus F1 Team has been a measure of stipulation for years and this latest legal chapter has involved a certain that a seizure of the team's cars could have taken place following the Belgian Grand Prix.

Photo Credit: Foto Studio Colombo Per Pirelli Media

Backing up a first-ever podium finish accomplished by Daniil Kvyat overcame an early race misadventure to place just outside of the top-three. Kvyat's fourth-place finish came in a race where he briefly slid his Red Bull-Renault into a run-off area. The Russian driver carved his way up from a 12th place starting position to be the high-placed Renault powered machine at the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix.

After a hard-fought effort throughout the weekend, Mexican Sergio Perez rewarded himself as well as his Force India teams with a fifth place finish. The run was Perez and Force India's best result of the season as well as pairing the pair's first top-five grand prix finish since Bahrain of 2014. Closely behind the Force India-Mercedes was the Williams-Mercedes driven by Felipe Massa. The effort for the Williams Martini Racing team was a double-point finish that occurred despite an unusual error in the race. During a pit stop, Valtteri Bottas' car received two different tire compounds. Required to serve a drive-through penalty for the mistake, Bottas still managed a ninth-place run.

Rounding out the top-10 for the Belgian Grand Prix is Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen and Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson.

The next Formula 1 race is the Italian Grand Prix at the very fast Monza circuit.

2015 Formula 1

Belgian Grand Prix

Race Results

Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams F1	Renault
3	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz
4	26	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	Renault
5	11	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
6	19	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes-Benz
7	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari
8	33	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault
10	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari
11	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari
12	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari
13	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda
14	22	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda
15	98	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia	Ferrari
16	28	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia	Ferrari
17	55	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault
18	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	Renault
19	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz
20	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes-Benz