Italian Grand Prix

Okay guys, let's forget everything else and get back to the racing :redface:

After the first qualifying session Montoya holds the poll, provisionally anyway, so now we have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.

After Qualifying 1:

1. M MONTOYA 1'20"656
2. B BARRICHELLO 1'20"784
3. B M.SCHUMACHER 1'21"268
4. M DA MATTA 1'21"829
5. M WEBBER 1'21"966
6. M RAIKKONEN 1'21"966
7. M TRULLI 1'22"034
8. M ALONSO 1'22"103
9. B FRENTZEN 1'22"203
10. M PANIS 1'22"372
11. B BUTTON 1'22"495
12. B HEIDFELD 1'22"547
13. B VILLENEUVE 1'22"858
14. M COULTHARD 1'23"154
15. M WILSON 1'23"609
16. M FISICHELLA 1'24"179
17. B BAUMGARTNER 1'24"872
18. B KIESA 1'26"299
19. M R.SCHUMACHER 2'00"000
20. B VERSTAPPEN 2'01"000

In the light of the tyre controversy some red team sparked, I added the tyre manufacturer after the position.

So what does everyone think/hope for this weekend?

Had to miss Friday qualifying :( What happened to Ralf and DC?

Had to miss Friday qualifying :( What happened to Ralf and DC?

German Ralf Schumacher, who returned to the cockpit earlier in the morning for the first time since his heavy testing crash here last week, saw his lap cancelled out because he cut across the chicane and he was classified 19th

http://f1.racing-live.com/en/headlines/news/detail/030912153049.shtml

I don't know what happened to Coulthard, except perhaps the fact that it's Coulthard? :dunno:

EDIT: I found Coulthard's "excuse" :

We had a productive morning session, but on my qualifying lap I made a mistake at the second chicane. The rear axle locked as a result of the automatic downshift cutting in and I had to drop my speed, which lost me a lot of time. Overall I think we are in reasonable shape and if we have a trouble free session tomorrow we should qualify well.

http://f1.racing-live.com/en/headlines/news/detail/030912164738.shtml

First practice of the day:

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P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Times Ave/Gaps Laps
1. 1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'21"623 255.502 Km/h 13
2. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'22"146 + 0'00"523 15
3. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'22"552 + 0'00"929 17
4. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 1'22"642 + 0'01"019 19
5. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'22"646 + 0'01"023 18
6. 4 M.GENE Williams BMW M 1'22"685 + 0'01"062 21
7. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'22"718 + 0'01"095 14
8. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'22"731 + 0'01"108 18
9. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'22"735 + 0'01"112 16
10. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'23"120 + 0'01"497 19
11. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'23"312 + 0'01"689 12
12. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 1'23"572 + 0'01"949 17
13. 15 WILSON Jaguar Cosworth M 1'23"955 + 0'02"332 16
14. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'24"134 + 0'02"511 13
15. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'24"454 + 0'02"831 17
16. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 1'25"194 + 0'03"571 12
17. 18 KIESA Minardi Cosworth B 1'25"870 + 0'04"247 18
18. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 1'25"934 + 0'04"311 15
19. 36 BAUMGARTNER Jordan Ford B 1'26"295 + 0'04"672 17
20. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1'34"100 + 0'12"477 4

Very impressed by Gene. But, as I said in another thread, I like him, so I'm biased :)

The second practice session was (is as I type) redflagged because Panis, after setting 7th fastest time blew the engine, dropped a lot of oil and stopped on track. 3 or so minutes to go in the session, JPM, MS, KR leading at the moment.

Final practice session results:

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P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Times Ave/Gaps Laps
1. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'21"468 255.988 Km/h 11
2. 1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'21"586 + 0'00"118 13
3. 4 M.GENE Williams BMW M 1'21"928 + 0'00"460 15 ;)
4. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'22"091 + 0'00"623 13
5. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'22"108 + 0'00"640 14
6. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'22"134 + 0'00"666 9
7. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1'22"321 + 0'00"853 14
8. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'22"333 + 0'00"865 16
9. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 1'22"378 + 0'00"910 18
10. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'22"399 + 0'00"931 16
11. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'22"906 + 0'01"438 15
12. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'23"195 + 0'01"727 17
13. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'23"294 + 0'01"826 22
14. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 1'23"461 + 0'01"993 20
15. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'23"846 + 0'02"378 14
16. 15 WILSON Jaguar Cosworth M 1'24"239 + 0'02"771 21
17. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 1'24"688 + 0'03"220 15
18. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 1'25"749 + 0'04"281 15
19. 36 BAUMGARTNER Jordan Ford B 1'25"916 + 0'04"448 14
20. 18 KIESA Minardi Cosworth B 1'26"160 + 0'04"692 11

DC behind MG?

DC behind MG?

And Button. And Trulli. (if you're talking about Q2 that is live now)

What puzzles me is why Alosnso finished that lap he fudged up? :confused:

And Button. And Trulli. (if you're talking about Q2 that is live now)

What puzzles me is why Alosnso finished that lap he fudged up? :confused:

I don't know, but it's going to be fun watching him pass people!

What a great last part of the qualifying session!!! Wooohoo! The best qualifying of the season so far!!!

JPM was 0.003 seconds up on MS at the first split, then 0.076 on the second, but at the end lost out just by 0.051 of a second. Hope tomorrow's race is a worthy continuation of today's qualifying. Top speed befor the first chican was 362.5 km/h for MS and 357.8 km/h for Juan Pablo. Great stuff! Just when I was about to say that I'm bored with the F1 weekend so far. Bwah @ me! :)

Results:

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P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Times Ave/Gaps Laps
1. 1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'20"963 257.584 Km/h 3
2. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'21"014 + 0'00"051 3
3. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'21"242 + 0'00"279 3
4. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'21"466 + 0'00"503 3
5. 4 GENE Williams BMW M 1'21"834 + 0'00"871 3
6. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'21"944 + 0'00"981 3
7. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 1'22"301 + 0'01"338 3
8. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'22"471 + 0'01"508 3
9. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1'22"488 + 0'01"525 3
10. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'22"717 + 0'01"754 3
11. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'22"754 + 0'01"791 3
12. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'22"914 + 0'01"951 3
13. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 1'22"992 + 0'02"029 3
14. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 1'23"216 + 0'02"253 3
15. 15 WILSON Jaguar Cosworth M 1'23"484 + 0'02"521 3
16. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'23"803 + 0'02"840 3
17. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 1'25"078 + 0'04"115 3
18. 12 BAUMGARTNER Jordan Ford B 1'25"881 + 0'04"918 3
19. 18 KIESA Minardi Cosworth B 1'26"778 + 0'05"815 3
20. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'40"405 + 0'19"442 3

I'm quite disapointed in Wilson :( I was hoping h'd be closer to Webber. But the race's tomorrow. Gene did well, and the pleasant surprise is Button.

Nice and close! I bet Toyota was expecting more from their efforts at Monza.

Any thoughts on Marc Gene?

It looked like Alonso drove right into the Jag!

Can Rubens get around JPM?

The McLarens are hanging on, is Kimi in for a miracle win?

Looks exactly like Alonso did just that.

Rubens - I'd like him to, but I doubt he'd be able to. Kimi is actually closing on RB and JPM.

DC pits (and I thought he'd be on less stops than the rest!!!) 11th lap is awfully early.

Why did Da Matta continue so fast on that busted tyre, it appeared to ha already seperated yet he was still in the racing line and at speed? I didn't see any tyre debris in the braking zone.

So, no pit stops, probably, anymore today from the leaders. Straight fight to the flag!

Kimi is really close to Rubens. Why the latter is so slow I don't know...

Rubens is as quirky as DC as far as consistancy goes. :banghead:

JPM seems to have fallen back for some reason. Probably something wrong with the car. Now the question is whether RB can catch him before the end (wishful thinking). Was about to post that an interesting duel is developing between Gene and DC, but DC just retired.

Alonso got past Heidfeld on the last lap. The results are:

1. MS
2. JPM
3. RB
4. KR
5. Gene (didn't do as well as I hoped)
6. JV
7. Webber
8. Alonso.

Weeee! :) The race was quite tense for most of its duration, until Montoya dropped back. Now, I haven't seen a single overtaing maneuvre other than on the first lap (and of those a successfully defended maneuvre attempt was better than any of them) and Alonso on Nick (which I haven't seen).

This was also the fastest GP in history - 247.5 km/h ( :eek: ), with the first 6 finishers bettering the 1971 record of 241 km/h.

After all the setbacks, Alonso came out with a point!

After all the setbacks, Alonso came out with a point!

Would have been interesting to see what Trulli could have done 1f his car hadn't let go.

Great first lap with JPM having a go. Its good that they like to race properly every now and again.

I fell asleep laps 5 through 25 though, then saw 25 though 27 and turned it off.

Another glorius victory for the supreme and mighty Red Team.

A nice race to watch. Brilliant first chicane then it was a cat and mouse game, but the Ferrari was at home. JMP secured the points which is good for the championship but I would have loved to see it finished like it started. Good job from Alonso who still scored a point with a quite banged up Renault and stating from the end of the grid.