For the drivers, street circuits provide a different challenge to traditional permanent facilities like Monza, with Monaco being not only one of the biggest challenges for a racing driver, but also (and arguably) the sport’s flagship event. However, Valencia hasn’t provided quite the same thrill in terms of racing spectacle and Singapore, while better, really has only one or two things going for it, chiefly the fact it is currently Formula One’s only 100% night race.

Although street circuits offer drivers, teams and fans a different type of grand prix, the traditional venues like Silverstone, Spa Francorchamps (which is now a permanent facility, I believe) and Monza are required to add contrast to the championship calendar. Generally faster with more variety in corners and overtaking possibilities, the old autodromes of Europe are still massively popular and make up the foundations of Formula One’s character.

The deal to keep the Italian Grand Prix at Monza is a wise move from Bernie Ecclestone and although the track may not be able to boast the kind of facilities that Abu Dhabi can, the circuit can easily offer more in terms of character, appeal and racing. Autodromo Nazionale di Monza has hosted the Italian Grand Prix since the championship’s inception in 1950, with the sole exception of 1980 event which was held at nearby Imola.

More information on Autodromo Nazionale di Monza can be found on the Italian Grand Prix page.

Image © HondaF1.

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza Retains Italian Grand Prix Until 2016

Monza 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
Ferrari
Giancarlo Fisichella	Soft	Medium (30)
Kimi Raikkonen	Soft	Soft (19)	Medium (37)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Soft	Medium (15)	Medium (34)	DNF (53)
Heikki Kovalainen	Medium	Soft (28)
BMW
Robert Kubica	Soft	Medium (10)	DNF (16)
Nick Heidfeld	Soft	Medium (31)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Soft	Medium (27)
Romain Grosjean	Medium	Soft (34)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Medium	Soft (35)
Timo Glock	Soft	Medium (38)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Jaime Alguersuari	Medium	DNF (20)
Sebastien Buemi	Medium	Soft (36)
Red Bull Racing
Mark Webber	Medium	DNF (0)
Sebastian Vettel	Medium	Soft (28)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Medium	Soft (5)	Soft (17)	Soft (41)
Kazuki Nakajima	Soft	Medium (35)
Force India
Adrian Sutil	Soft	Medium (18)	Soft (37)
Vitantonio Liuzzi	Soft	DNF (23)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Soft	Medium (28)
Rubens Barrichello	Medium	Soft (29)

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Monza 2009 Race Results		Laps Completed	Time Race Length	Points Earned
1.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	53		10pts
2.	Jenson Button Brawn	53		8pts
3.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	53		6pts
4.	Adrian Sutil Force India	53		5pts
5.	Fernando Alonso Renault	53		4pts
6.	Heikki Kovalainen Ferrari	53		3pts
7.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	53		2pts
8.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	53		1pt
9.	Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari	53
10.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	53
11.	Timo Glock Toyota	53
12.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	52		Accident
13.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	52
14.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	52
15.	Romain Grosjean Renault	52
16.	Nico Rosberg Williams	51
17.	Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India	23		Gearbox
18.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	20		Retired
19.	Robert Kubica BMW	16		Retired
20.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	0		Accident

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2009: Race Result

Monza 2009: The Grid Inclusive of penalties given.
1		Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m24.066s
			Adrian Sutil Force India 1m24.261s		2
3		Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m24.523s
			Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 1m24.845s		4
5		Rubens Barrichello Brawn 1m25.015s
			Jenson Button Brawn 1m25.030s		6
7		Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India 1m25.043s
			Fernando Alonso Renault 1m25.072s		8
9		Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1m25.180s
			Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1m25.314s		10
11		Jarno Trulli Toyota 1m23.611s
			Romain Grosjean Renault 1m23.728s		12
13		Robert Kubica BMW 1m23.866s
			Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari 1m23.901s		14
15		Nick Heidfeld BMW 1m24.275s
			Timo Glock Toyota 1m24.036s		16
17		Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1m24.074s
			Nico Rosberg Williams 1m24.121s		18
19		Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m24.220s
			Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m24.951s*		20

*Jaime Alguersuari received a 10-grid slot penalty after taking a new gearbox prior to qualifying. The Spanish driver qualified last though, so no effect is seen.

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2009: The Grid

Monza 2009 Qualifying Results		Q1 20 minutes	Q2 15 minutes	Q3 10 minutes
1.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m23.375s	1m22.973s	1m24.066s
2.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m23.576s	1m23.070s	1m24.261s
3.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m23.349s	1m23.426s	1m24.523s
4.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m23.515s	1m23.528s	1m24.845s
5.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m23.483s	1m22.976s	1m25.015s
6.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m23.403s	1m22.955s	1m25.030s
7.	Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India	1m23.578s	1m23.207s	1m25.043s
8.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m23.708s	1m23.497s	1m25.072s
9.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m23.558s	1m23.545s	1m25.180s
10.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m23.755s	1m23.273s	1m25.314s
11.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m24.014s	1m23.611s
12.	Romain Grosjean Renault	1m23.975s	1m23.728s
13.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m24.001s	1m23.866s
14.	Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari	1m23.828s	1m23.901s
15.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m23.584s	1m24.275s
16.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m24.036s
17.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m24.074s
18.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m24.121s
19.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m24.220s
20.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m24.951s

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2009: Qualifying Result

A Slow Start Leads To Lots Of Overtaking

With rain still hampering the preparations for the Italian Grand Prix in Northern Italy, it was decided by race control to start the grand prix under the controlled pace of the safety car. With standing water resting on the surface of the tarmac, the spray generated from the grid as twenty cars drop their clutches would have been unnecessarily dangerous. So as the cars sat on the grid, the teams bolted on extreme wet weather tyres and Bernd Maylander fired up his Mercedes-Benz AMG SL63 and led the pack off the grid.

Well, when I say the pack, I mean all but one. For it was to be a bitter-sweet day for Scuderia Toro Rosso as Sebastien Bourdais was left stranded in his grid slot, the engine seemingly not alive. The team tried to restart Bourdais’s car, but with the pack due to come back around in only a couple of minutes, Sebastien was pushed off the grid and into the relative safety of the pit exit. The team then appeared to mess around with the car for a lap before firing the Ferrari V8 into life and sending the French driver out. Bourdais’s only saving grace was the fact that the safety car did two laps at the start of the race to allow the drivers some time to familiarise themselves with the conditions, meaning Bourdais was able to make up some ground at the back before Maylander pulled into the pitlane.

On the third lap, the drivers were released and the real race began. Immediately Sebastian Vettel stamped his authority and with clear vision of the track ahead, the German driver started to stretch out a gap to Heikki Kovalainen from the offset. Generally speaking, the rest of the field showed respect for one another and little was made of the first few laps. On the fourth tour though, when all the drivers had become better aware of what their cars would do on the slippery surface, they started to harass their neighbours.

Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso were locked in a battle, the German managing to get ahead of the Spaniard, although it didn’t last long as Alonso came right back at Glock. David Coulthard passed Giancarlo Fisichella and Kimi Raikkonen was returned a passed position by Lewis Hamilton has the Briton skipped the chicane. The following lap Glock and Alonso were still arguing over positions and in the frantic attempts to gain places, Glock managed to spin his Toyota.

By the sixth lap, Vettel had a six second lead of Heikki Kovalainen in second, Mark Webber still in third and running relatively well. Further down the field though, Lewis Hamilton was pushing Kimi Raikkonen and the McLaren driver had another go at passing the Ferrari, this time at the Lesmos corners. However, Hamilton couldn’t carry enough speed and was forced to back out of the throttle and let Raikkonen continue. On lap seven, Raikkonen managed to put a small amount of air between himself and Hamilton, and passed Giancarlo Fisichella into the first chicane. It would only last for one lap though as Hamilton attempted a move on the Force India pilot going into the fast Parabolica corner. Again, Lewis backed out but got a superior run out of the important corner and was able to cruise by the Italian on the approach to Turn One.

Lewis wasn’t stopping at Fisichella though, and the championship leader got good traction out of the second chicane and was able to squeeze by the reigning champion going through the fast right-handers of the Lesmos. Felipe Massa was fairing better of the two Ferrari drivers, and the Brazilian took fourth place on lap 13 as he passed Nico Rosberg. Unfortunately, Massa couldn’t keep the car entirely on the black stuff and relinquished the place back to the Williams pilot. Massa made his move stick on the following lap.

On lap 14, David Coulthard found himself behind Giancarlo Fisichella again, and as the Scot made a move up the inside of the first chicane, Fisichella turned and bumped his wing on the back of the Red Bull. Moments later, Giancarlo found himself in the barriers, the wing likely to have fallen off and reducing Fisichella’s front-end grip to nothing. Although not necessarily his fault, this was bump one for Coulthard in Italy.

Lewis Hamilton then had a moment with Timo Glock, the Toyota driver looking quite racey in the difficult conditions. Going into the first chicane, Glock defended the inside line and forced Hamilton to the outside. Hamilton duly took the outside line which became the inside for the return corner. Glock stuck with the McLaren and came back at Hamilton as the pair started to gently turn to the right and on to the mid-straight. However, Hamilton was either pushing his luck or simply didn’t realise Glock had managed to stay with him as the McLaren moved progressively over to the left, squeezing Glock right onto the grass and forcing him to jump out of the Toyota’s throttle.

Lap 17 and Hamilton, on a charge, passed Robert Kubica as race leader Vettel entered the pitlane for the first of two scheduled stops. Sebastian stayed on extreme wet tyres, despite a line emerging on the drying track. The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver had options still open to him though, the team opting for two stops this race. While Vettel was being serviced in the pitlane though, Hamilton was lining up Fernando Alonso for a pass, which he tried at Turn One. Although the pair came close, Hamilton made his move stick and a couple of laps later, Timo Glock followed the Briton through. Later on lap 21, Hamilton attempted a move on Jarno Trulli into the final Parabolica corner, but again was forced to back out of the throttle and tuck in behind the Toyota. This gave the McLaren driver a good exit though and in the run down to the first chicane, Lewis made another attempt. Trulli is a wise driver though and defended his line well, and Hamilton jumped over the chicane and once again relinquished the position back to the Italian. 90 seconds later, Hamilton proved to be more successful on the second attempt.

Hamilton On A Charge, Possibly On The Wrong Tyres

Around lap 28 most of the one-stoppers poured into the pitlane for fresh rubber and enough fuel to see them through to the end. The biggest question though, was which tyres to go for? The track was definitely drying and the extreme wets were overheating and blistering. Hamilton’s front-right was particularly worn when the mechanic took it off. Interestingly though, the McLaren driver opted to stay on the extreme tyre, the team believing that it may rain again before the end.

Nico Rosberg had a bit of a drama in the pitlane as the fuel nozzle got stuck in the car. Rosberg was given the order to go but sensing (or seeing in his mirror) that the refueller was still attached, the German pilot pulled his clutch and stomped the brake pedal almost immediately. This issue obviously hampered Nico, and a lot of time was lost while the team struggled to get the nozzle clear of the tank. Also drawing interest in the pitlane was David Coulthard. The Red Bull driver being the first among the field to opt for intermediate tyres. As the world watched Coulthard make his way back onto the track, everyone witnessed the Scot not even bother with the first chicane. Although David tried to slow his car down in time, his experience told him that after a certain point, there really is little point in continuing to try. Coulthard negotiated the slalom of barriers and returned to the track.

At this point of the race, Sebastian Vettel had one more stop to make, and Lewis Hamilton had to get to the end of the race with the extreme wet weather tyres. Or at least, that was likely to be the plan going around the McLaren garage. If it rained again, both drivers would be okay. Lewis’s tyres would last a little longer and Vettel could have taken a fresh-ish set at his final stop. If it dried though, and Vettel could get a set of intermediates on his STR, Hamilton would not be able to respond.

Mark Webber’s race comes to a conclusion at Variante Ascari – the third chicane – as after conceding his position to Felipe Massa, the Australian dropped his car on the exit and spun. Although Webber kept the Red Bull out of the barrier and would go on to finish the race, eighth place isn’t a great result from third on the grid.

The Grand Finale

On laps 34 and 35 a lot of the remaining field – only Fisichella retired – pitted for their final stops. Lewis Hamilton threw down some fastest laps and Vettel, still the race leader, came in for his final glug of fuel on lap 37. The STR took a set of intermediates and as Vettel was released from his box, Lewis Hamilton peeled into his box for a set of intermediate tyres too. This effectively put a stop to Lewis’s race, but the McLaren driver had to change tyres if he was to minimise the damage from other drivers. If it had rained, then the story could have been different, but the gamble didn’t pay off and once again, McLaren’s choice of rubber has cost them.

Hamilton returned to the track behind Mark Webber and well down the order. Despite being on cold tyres though, Hamilton opened all the taps and started to charge forward. The McLaren driver passed Mark Webber at the second chicane, sliding his way through and barely keeping his MP4-23 pointing the right way. It wasn’t long before the Ferrari of Massa and the McLaren of Hamilton were in each others sights, the Brazilian having to look in his mirrors and defend his line to the Mercedes-powered car. Hamilton would spend a few laps all over Massa’s gearbox, harassing Ferrari’s champion-hopeful and looking for a way past. Alas, there was no way through and Lewis would end up looking at the rear wing of the F2008 until the chequered flag.

Just five laps from the end and Hamilton had backed away a little from Massa, allowing himself to be preyed upon from the catching Webber. On lap 48, the Australian seized the opportunity and made a lunge into Turn One on the outside. As they turned through the corner Hamilton squeezed Webber to the very outside of the track and the Red Bull was briefly lifted into the air when the wheels banged together. Kimi Raikkonen managed to set a series of fastest laps in the final few tours of Monza, but the result ultimately went to Sebastian Vettel, and Kimi Raikkonen had to settle for ninth. Or to put in the Finn’s language no doubt, last.

The dominant nature of Vettel’s win was inspiring, and the young German thoroughly deserved it after showing fine form for much of the year. With a contract for Red Bull Racing already in place, Vettel will become the team’s second winner to drive for them, Coulthard having won with Williams and McLaren before joining the squad. No doubt Gerhard Berger’s little squad has embarrassed Red Bull Racing, but after such a wonderful performance, in front of the boss of the owning company, Vettel was almost in a league of his own. Only a couple of seasons ago the car that has won in Monza today was called a Minardi, and they were fighting for their very survival, let alone race finishes and points. But today, in the new guise of Scuderia Toro Rosso, Vettel can claim to have won their maiden victory and he himself steps into the record books as the youngest ever grand prix winner.

Heikki Kovalainen minimised the damage to McLaren by coming home in second, some twelve seconds adrift of the STR, and Robert Kubica completed the podium after a sterling effort from eleventh on the grid. Fernando Alonso managed to claim fourth and some decent points for Renault while Nick Heidfeld crossed the line in fifth. Felipe Massa somewhat embarrassingly took sixth, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber. Kimi Raikkonen even more embarrassingly took ninth, although he was 15s ahead of Nelson Piquet Jr. Sebastien Bourdais in the second STR crawled home in eighteenth, managing to get himself ahead of Adrian Sutil, but failing to recover his lost lap. Giancarlo Fisichella was, quite surprisingly, the only retiree.

Vettel becomes the first German driver to win a race since Michael Schumacher retired, and to hear the Italian national anthem on the podium for the winning constructor, but not see any Ferrari driver present – it was something special. Not in a cruel way, just in a different way. Formula One needed a hero today, it needed spirits lifting and it needed someone to shake things up in a really positive way. Sebastian did that and totally deserved his win.

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2008: Sebastian Vettel Reminds Me Why Formula One Is Special

A full report will be posted later this afternoon.

Monza 2008: Race Results

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2008: Race Result

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2008: Race Live Blog

Renault’s Pitwall.

Fernando Alonso.

Giancarlo Fisichella.

Heikki Kovalainen.

Lewis Hamilton after being knocked out of qualifying.

Ferrari deal with a flooded garage.

Kimi Raikkonen.

Nico Rosberg.

Nico Rosberg.

A flooded road at Monza.

Toyota.

Timo Glock.

Rubens Barrichello.

Rubens Barrichello.

Sebastian Vettel.

L-R: Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and Heikki Kovalainen.

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2008: Photographs From The First Two Days

The 2008 Italian Grand Prix Grid

Inclusive of penalties given – none so far.

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2008: The Grid

Q1

With the rain falling the first part of qualifying proved to be very interesting with all cars spending as much time on the track as possible. It was unknown when the circuit would be at its fastest so all the drivers wanted to maximise their chances. It was Heikki Kovalainen though who seemed to be having the most fun, the McLaren driver setting a very quick lap at a time when others appeared to struggling. Kovalainen’s time remained although team mate Lewis Hamilton soon caught him up by the end of the 20 minutes to be just 0.1s behind.

Kimi Raikkonen was clearly struggling with his Ferrari and by the end of the running the Finnish driver was close to the dropzone. However, a last-chance lap brought the world champion up to eleventh and relative safety. Both Hondas were relegated to the warmth of their motorhome’s for the rest of the day, as was Kazuki Nakajima and Nelson Piquet Jr. Force India enjoyed a better day, and although Adrian Sutil was knocked out, Giancarlo Fisichella finally fulfilled the squad’s ambition of getting into Q2. Fisichella just got through with a lap tim of 1m35.464s.

Q2

The track conditions worsened during the second part of qualifying, and once again most drivers went out early to set a lap when the track was at its fastest. Lewis Hamilton however waited in the garage with intermediates on his car. The Briton didn’t venture on to the track until ten minutes to go and with rain still falling, Hamilton changed to full wets and had lots of fuel pumped into the McLaren. However, he just couldn’t find any pace. The track worsened and McLaren missed their opportunity with the championship leader. Heikki Kovalainen once again popped in a quick lap and lead for most of the fifteen minutes until Sebastian Vettel went 0.006s faster to head the tables.

Kimi Raikkonen experienced a huge moment at Variente Ascari – the fast left-right-left that leads onto the back straight. Coming out of the final turn the Ferrari aquaplaned on the standing water and Raikkonen did well to keep his car out of the wall. Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica suffered a similar fate at the same corner, also saving their cars from the bite of the barrier. Although they won’t be able to prevent the bite of their bosses; Hamilton, Raikkonen and Kubica were all knocked out of Q2. David Coulthard will line up thirteenth and Giancarlo Fisichella posts Force India’s highest qualifying position in twelfth.

Q3

Early on in the ten-minute finale, Sebastian Vettel looked quick and the young German set a good lap from the offset. With four minutes left on the clock, Vettel was still 0.3s faster than second-placed driver Heikki Kovalainen. Mark Webber was running well but with the rain falling heavier and heavier, the times were changing quickly as some drivers were finding grip where others weren’t. It seemed though that Heikki and Sebastian had the front row fight to themselves as the rest of the runners squabbled for third and fourth.

It would appear that Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso, Timo Glock and Nick Heidfeld have fuelled their cars heavy, perhaps to counter the inevitable attack from Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen from behind. But at the top of the tables, Nico Rosberg managed a quick lap towards the end to go third, but his time was soon surpassed by Sebastien Bourdais, and then Mark Webber with a storming last lap when the track was saturated.

A lot of drivers had moments in the slippery conditions, but Bourdais had the most graceful of spins at Variente Ascari. Losing the rear of the STR coming out of the final left turn, Bourdais went through 180 degress, missed the wall and slid back over the track, spinning around again before avoiding the opposite wall and finishing sideways on the track.

All eyes are on the number-15 Scuderia Toro Rosso car, who managed to be highest qualifying Ferrari-powered car today. Also, it is worth mentioning that the little team from Faenza (who were once Minardi) have beaten the primary team to pole position. Red Bull Racing have visited the podium in the past, but the pole position still eludes them. I wonder what the chances of Vettel or Bourdais beating the Red Bull team to the win are?

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2008: Sebastian Vettel Takes His Maiden Pole Position

A full write-up will follow.

Monza 2008: Qualifying Results

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2008: Qualifying Result

Despite the improving weather though, there were spins aplenty as Kubica, Adrian Sutil and Nelson Piquet Jr. all performed moves that aren’t condusive of a good lap time. Sutil managed to miss the pitlane entry on his final run and Piquet beached his car on the kerbs, forcing him to the bottom of the tables and limiting the running the Renault driver was able to complete.

Honda improved, but with the slightly different conditions, the expectations of the Brackley team shouldn’t get too high. Also running well were the Force Indias, with the morning fastest – Sutil – managing ninth in the damp-dry conditions. Giancarlo Fisichella slotted into thirteenth ahead of both Renault’s; Fernando Alonso only managing eighteenth. The McLarens didn’t fair too well either, with Lewis Hamilton in fourth and Heikki Kovalainen ending his day in seventh.

Monza 2008: Friday Free Practice Two

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2008: Friday Afternoon Practice

The practice run was red flagged four minutes from completion due to the severity of the rain making running very dangerous. The drains in the Monza pitlane became overwhelmed and even the drivers sheltering in the garage ended up getting wet feet as water trickled in from all quarters. Kazuki Nakajima experienced the most notable incident, sliding off at the first Lesmos and bouncing over the gravel, although Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Adrian Sutil and Nelson Piquet Jr all spun or took the scenic route around corners.

Monza 2008: Friday Free Practice One

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2008: Friday Morning Practice

Fisichella’s surprise lap was only added to by Kazuki Nakajima, who managed to haul his Williams into fourth with a 1m23.634s, just 0.002s shy of the Italian in the Force India. Jenson Button propped up the tables once again in the under-performing Honda RA108 while Robert Kubica had limited running after an off-track excursion early in the day meant his BMW spent much of the afternoon in the garage being repaired.

David Coulthard set a reasonably respectable fifth placed time while Fernando Alonso followed behind in sixth. The drivers were once again fine tuning their set up for the Italian Grand Prix in mid-September, Alonso saying he was pleased with his testing and worked hard on getting the suspension settings right as using the kerbs at Monza is important for a quick lap. Sebastien Bourdais and Timo Glock filled in seventh and eighth on the tables.

Monza Test: Day Three Times

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza Test Day Three: Hamilton Returns With Top Time

Sebastian Vettel equalled his impressive run from yesterday by going fourth once again, and after a strong run in the morning, the car was handed to the German’s team mate, Sebastien Bourdais. The French driver lapped 0.9s slower than Vettel, but Bourdais could have been trying out different strategies with the Scuderia Toro Rosso. Also sharing a car were Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button. The pair propped up the timing sheet, going eleventh and twelfth respectively. As with Scuderia Toro Rosso, the post-lunch driver set the slower time.

Fernando Alonso was out in force for Renault and managed to get himself into sixth, just 0.2s down on Felipe Massa in the Ferrari. Also testing today today was Adrian Sutil for Force India and Jarno Trulli once again in the Toyota. Mark Webber was the busiest man of the day, completing 101 tours of Monza and settling for eighth in the Red Bull. The times were not as close today than they were yesterday, with the difference between the fastest and the slowest being 2.4s. On Wednesday, the difference was only 1.1s.

Monza Test: Day Two Times

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza Test Day Two: Heidfeld Responds By Going Fastest

Not only was Rosberg impressive in the Williams (although fuel-loads were unknown), Sebastian Vettel ran well in his Scuderia Toro Rosso and completed 99 laps to go fourth on the timing sheets. Nick Heidfeld was driving for BMW and received a wake-up call from his bosses in Munich and Hinwil. It is thought, although not confirmed, that BMW have retained Robert Kubica, but are waiting to see if Heidfeld has fully overcome his mid-season wobble before venturing into the negotiating room with him.

Only one test driver was out on the track today – Vitantonio Liuzzi for Force India. The Italian completed 99 laps and went eighth fastest out of ten runners. Liuzzi’s fastest tour of the track was 0.8s shy of Felipe Massa’s pace-setting time, although once again, relative fuel levels and other factors may have skewed the car’s real pace. Despite this though, the ten drivers were all relatively close to one another, hopefully meaning that the final push of the season will be an even closer fight. first to tenth today was separated by only 1.1s.

Lewis Hamilton was not driving today having admitted that he was suffering from flu and neck spasms during the European Grand Prix in Spain. The McLaren driver has been told to rest but he should be in the car later in the week. McLaren’s managing director Martin Whitmarsh said that Lewis Hamilton should be ready to test at Monza and will therefore be ready for the upcoming back-to-back races in Belgium and Italy.

Monza Test: Day One Times

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza Test Day One: Massa Continues Valencia Form