2014 Italian GP - Monza, September 5-7

[iotar__]

FP3 decided qualifying, the rest predictable apart from rather slow RB drivers and Raikkonen even worse than usual (15+ million). Merc and RB treating green stuff at Parabolica like a track.

Best scenario: one of the Williams drivers nailing the start and leading, 1. We'll see how good their race pace is 2. Merc won't be able to play games with pitstops and team orders early in the race.

[Juzh]

Ros is apparently carrying less DF compared to Ham. Speed trap data would support that. Also, ros said in the press conference how he was always gonna be quicker in some places and slower in others. So, if ham somehow can't escape drs then ros has a slight advantage in a straight line.

[Shrieker]

I agree with the df part, Hamilton seemed to be making the most time thru ascari and maybe a little in parabolica too. That'll somewhat make it hard to overtake him, those two corners are the last ones before the drs section. Otoh, the straight is very long, we'll see how it goes.

[Jonnycraig]

Vettel out qualifies Ricciardo again. Seems to have been the norm since his first chassis change. That he's now back in the original chassis shows how much racing is mental.

[gray41]

FP3 decided qualifying, the rest predictable apart from rather slow RB drivers and Raikkonen even worse than usual (15+ million). Merc and RB treating green stuff at Parabolica like a track.

Best scenario: one of the Williams drivers nailing the start and leading, 1. We'll see how good their race pace is 2. Merc won't be able to play games with pitstops and team orders early in the race.

I guess we can just forget FP2 when Lewis lost also lost a hour of running time.

[Phillyred]

ROS quite fortunate that his gearbox "issue" didn't result in a grid penalty. I hope there are no reliability issues on either Merc so we can watch these two battle it out fair and square.

[langwadt]

Magnussen ahead of Button.. unexpected!

why unexpected? I believe Mag has now been faster than But 7 times in 13 qualifications

[mikeerfol]

Magnussen ahead of Button.. unexpected!

why unexpected? I believe Mag has now been faster than But 7 times in 13 qualifications

Because Button was always faster than Magnussen throughout the weekend, even in Q1 and Q2.

[zeph]

Massa FTW! If only to give Ferrari the finger on their home turf.

[SectorOne]

It seems the 3km/h deficit is down to running a gurney flap or not on the rear wing, with the addition of a minor front wing AoA tweak for balance. Not sure but i don´t think i saw it on ROS car.

Let´s just hope it´s a fair fight tomorrow with no collisions.

[henra]

Vettel out qualifies Ricciardo again. Seems to have been the norm since his first chassis change. That he's now back in the original chassis shows how much racing is mental.

Indeed. And it's constantly about 2 tenths since the last 5 or 6 qualifyings (and also in most FPs).
In the race, however, he accumulates bad strategy decisions, bad luck and mistakes by himself in such a way that Ricciardo always ends up in front of him at the end of the race. That probably has a mental aspect as well. But not exclusively.
Vettel was the undisputed master of EBD (probably the Driver who incorporated it the most in his style and therefore benefitted the most) which seemed to suit his style like a glove but it is clear to see that he struggles without it, high tyre wear being one of the symptoms of that. Ricciardo manages to drive smoother with the car, also resulting in less mechanical breakdowns/gremlins. That smoothness also helps him driving longer stints and being more flexible in strategy than Vettel. For qualifying Vettel seems to have found a brute force way to compensate for the lack of grip but since it seems not to be a harmonic way this comes at a price in the race where he overloads the rear tyres. These cars simply don't suit him. And I don't see that changing anytime soon. The twitchy Ferrari would probably kill his Performance completely. Should he ever decide to Change the Team he should definitely look for the car with the most planted Rear End.

[marcush.]

the situation at Mercedes seems not to help the team nor the drivers.i wouldn´t be surprised if this would play into the hands of the guys behind ,especially when the two Merc heros are NOT going to touch at any cost...so there must be a fairly wide path in between the two approaching turn 1? Let´s ses who is taking advantage of this ..
considering the pace of the Williams a lot hinges on the quality of the pitstops tomorrow -It´s crunch time for williams if they really want to take a win they need to match and beat Mercedes in that domain.Rob Smedleys recent comments about his displeasure to have not yet won with their current package should be enough to expect something special on sunday...
Bottas first win or a most romantic Massa reloaded...í´d be more than happy to see some of that.

[henra]

Bottas first win or a most romantic Massa reloaded...í´d be more than happy to see some of that.

Me too, as probably most would be unless they are dyed in the wool fanboys of Driver X, Y orZ.

[BanMeToo]

The start tomorrow will be huge, I am very excited. The perfect get-away just seems to elude Rosberg this season and it may play right into Williams' hands... though I don't think Mercedes showed us their true race pace in practise.

[Mattyw]

The start tomorrow will be huge, I am very excited. The perfect get-away just seems to elude Rosberg this season and it may play right into Williams' hands... though I don't think Mercedes showed us their true race pace in practise.

Dont quote me but im sure the stats shown on sky for hami's long run on the hard in the first stint of fp3 were 1.28's consistantly whereas ros low 29's with bottas and RB behind. Think merc have at least half a second in hand.