Official 2014 Italian Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS with minimal downforce***

2014 Italian Grand Prix


Previous Winners
2004 - Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari)
2005 - Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren Mercedes)
2006 - Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)
2007 - Fernando Alonso (McLaren Mercedes)
2008 - Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso - not Rossi - Ferrari)
2009 - Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP Mercedes)
2010 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
2011 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault)
2012 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes)
2013 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault)

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2014 12:20AM by EC83.

Should be a fascinating weekend after Spa. Go Nico!

PS - that was the first time I've started one of these threads on a tablet.

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Yes really looking forward to this one & the high speed action.

hmm.... I wonder how much will Rosberg's confidence be shttered after the attitude from the fans in Belgium post race, and in particular by the way his Team treated him (some sources Report a 6 Digit nuber fine).

ferrari, as much as I would love to see alonso win here, will presumably be pathetic. Their Drivers have been complaining about lack of Speed during the whole season. Williams should be o.k. - but then again masssa has never impressed here really. And he is the Kind of Driver that goes welll at circuits he has won before, but goes not so well in the other Occasions.

RBR's trick with lower downforce will come to no effect here I believe. All Teams will have max drag/ lowest downforce Setup. Thus, the engine deficits of the Renault will be exposed.

Force India should be able to go a Little better here. In my view the race/ qualy will be something like

1 + 2 - MERC
3 + 4 - WILLIAMS
5 + 6 - some combination of Macca & FI

Word on the grapevine is Lotterer will race again!

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

EC83 Wrote:
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> Should be a fascinating weekend after Spa. Go
> Nico!
>
> PS - that was the first time I've started one of
> these threads on a tablet.

I did wonder what this "Toro Rossi" team was.

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It should be another interesting weekend. There is some chance of rain again, so it'd be foolish to automatically expect a Mercedes powered lock out of the top eight. Besides Red Bull have long been one of the slower cars in the speed traps and yet have still done well at Monza. Jenson Button didn't do too badly either with his higher downforce & F-Duct strategy in 2010. So Monza isn't always about ultimate top speed. It's also about traction and stability under braking. Plus... Don't forget who won at Montreal.

Having said that, I still expect Mercedes to be the clear favourite, with the outside chance of another constructor taking pole and making a fight of it in the race, possibly a Williams if they can build upon their overall form shown in Austria.

But the likes of Ricciardo and Alonso can not be relied upon to simply follow the form book, they could yet prove a big challenge.

Mercedes do need to focus here, if they let Hamilton and Rosberg obstruct each other then the team is more vulnerable to those behind... more so than at Spa, and even there defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory.

I think we ought to be set for some more brilliantly close racing, if previous races are anything to go by.

Incident 2k9 écrivait:
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> Word on the grapevine is Lotterer will race again!

He finally said "No" to Caterham for Monza because the team scheduled practice sessions for Mehri (even if we know today that he won't get his superlicence for Monza).
So, Lotterer said no because that he thought, as a rookie, that he had to drive all the sessions to improve his skill and feelings onboard the car before the qualifications and race...

Honestly, I doesn't blame him and I understand his decision. I would say he had some lucidity on this. Caterham doesn't look for a driver. They are looking for fresh money.
Why Lotterer should give 300 000€ for a week-end to drive only in quali and race sessions?

I just say Bravo to him and the best for the future...

Saying this, Kobayashi will probably take his seat back for Monza.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2014 03:52PM by Excalibur.

J i m Wrote:
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> I did wonder what this "Toro Rossi" team was.

Bugger. :P
I genuinely missed that one. I kinda remember typing it properly, so maybe it autocorrected, or maybe thoughts about the Marussia situation had found their way into my subconscious. Either way, I had a Piquet moment.


> I think we ought to be set for some more
> brilliantly close racing, if previous races are
> anything to go by.

It would be amazing if it was rain-affected. I've just been watching a re-run of the 2008 race on Sky tonight(I literally turned it on when I got home, and at the exact point in the race where Rosberg was battling with Hamilton. LOL) and something similar to that would be probably best for closing the Championship up.

I'm hoping for Williams to max out on their potential this weekend. It's their best chance to win a GP all year on pure pace(Although Suzuka should be good for them too), even if they'll still be relying on Mercedes @#$%& up somewhere. Some rain would provide them that opportunity too, mainly with Valtteri.

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If it rains I fear it'll be a Mercedes whitewash. Check the advantage Nico and Lewis had in quali in Spa, it'd be a similar story.

Williams in particular struggled in the rain, with both Bottas and Massa the best part of 2.5 seconds down on the Mercs. They both really struggled to get heat into the tyres in the cooler conditions, an issue that has plagued them all year long.

Just had confirmation that Kamui is confirmed at Caterham this weekend. By all accounts Lotterer was offered the drive but tuned it down.

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions

It'll be closer than Spa - Red Bull would have been well within a second had they not gone for the lower downforce setup (and it ultimately paid off, as they were far superior than anyone could have thought on such a high-speed track. Monza won't suit them as much, as it's all stop-start, but they'll still be top-6.

Mixed views on how close it will be.

Merc, Williams did not go for a low down force car at Spa and they will in Italy. What this will mean is they will be faster on the straights so I dont think anyone will get close to Merc. Plus even at Spa on the start of lap2 Merc were gone Vettel was about 1.5 behind. Yes he messed up on lap1 so its hard to tell but even when Nico had a broken wing they still could not pass him.

RedBull's best chance is to go ultra-skinny on wings, to the point of pushing the very limits. If they do that they could spring another surprise. It would be a nightmare to try and control in the corners though.

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Then you get the problem with gears, they are fixed so they could just hit the limit too early.

I can't see gears being a problem - they have eight of them, and the limited ratios should encompass all circuits. I read in the pre-season that they just use either end of the gears (1-7, 2-8) depending on the track characteristics.

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fernando at today's dirver press conference:

" i .hmmm... dont know why I have to answer so many questions".
(lauhgh)

"errrm..no i think i will not like to answer that question"



So funny

Did anyone else notice how the lower mounting and plates of the Caterham, and the lower part of the Williams moved around... a lot?

Don't get me wrong, I am not going down the flexing bodywork exploits path. They moved sideways in an rather erratic fashion, so I have trouble understanding why this wouldn't be really ineffecient. The Caterham rear wing moved around in Parabolica, and the Williams front wing at the end of the start/finish straight, especially under braking. Both situations call for all the downforce you can harness. I would think that you'd want a nice smooth and predictable airflow in these situations.

Is there anybody here that can shed some light on this and dispell some of my confusion?

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

Which parts are you referring to? Suspension and association bodywork parts?

(I just watched the session on a second screen at work, so wasn't paying an awful lot of attention)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2014 12:17PM by gav.

On the Williams it was the entire front wing shaking from side to side. I wondered if the onboard camera was not properly attached, but the nose didn't move at all, nor did the horizon. On the Caterham it was practically everything below the monkey seat, and to the rear of the car.

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2014 01:31PM by Morbid.

I didn't get a proper look at the rear of the Caterham again, but I did get onboard from the Williams. Something is definately going on there. Under braking at the end of the start/finish straight, the wing is very noticably oscillating from side to side. On top of that, the top winglets are flexing at least half an inch. I get why they would want the latter, but not the former.

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

Going by the P2 results, quali could be very interesting. The Mercedes teams were always likely to be this close, but it's interesting to see Alonso and Vettel so high up.

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