2012 Italian Grand Prix - Monza

[raymondu999]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbtRtoDVFL4[/youtube]

Race should be a cracker tomorrow. My crystal ball is still malfunctioning, and the last thing it showed was a T1 pileup, so let's see.

[marcush.]

let´s see if rb is good for more than a very few points..Alonso will be the strong mover as he has the speed to win .Question is just how quick his move will be .With everyone trying to make do with the absolute minimum tyre changing all has to be done in the DRS zone .So why should the RB package work ? if you got the quickest car it can as seen last year but now this strategy is worth nothing.
So Vettel on 1 or 2 points

[SamH123]

I keep thinking about Schumacher's excellent race stint on Friday - he was pretty much the quickest of all!
I really hope the mercs don't disappoint tomorrow

And also, considering Spa and the Friday sessions, no way do the mclarens romp away from Massa tomorrow IMO

[Unc1e_M0nty]

Vettel will get eaten alive before lap 5. There is no way he is pulling away when he is sandwiched, he doesn't have the dragless EBD anymore... his DF to drag compromise is just the same like any other car now.

This^
So the RB is around 10kmph down on top speed to the front runners, his DRS is not going to make any difference, maybe he can conserve his tyres a little better them most but I expect Fred to beat him tomorrow.

Massa does seem to make silly errors, he just can't seem to keep up a consistent pace throughout the race these days, he's always hitting curbs or spinning out, he may split the Macca's into the first corner but i think a one two is nailed on for them.

Mercedes are the dark horse for me, if they can work the tryes, if not then they'll fall away as usual

[zyphro]

I keep thinking about Schumacher's excellent race stint on Friday - he was pretty much the quickest of all!
I really hope the mercs don't disappoint tomorrow

And also, considering Spa and the Friday sessions, no way do the mclarens romp away from Massa tomorrow IMO

Quite, lets hope we have a great race instore tomorrow.

[foxmulder_ms]

Biggest surprise for me was Lotus. They were slow. However, Raikkonen may still finish in front of RBs and Alonso so it may be a good weekend overall.

Bar an accident or mechanical failure, I don't see anyone who can pass Mclarens here.

[stefan_]

My bet is that Massa will gain at least 1 position at the start and he will finish on the podium.

I hope Kimi and Alonso can somehow get into top 5.

[ajdavison2]

At least maldonaldo is more or less out of the way of the exciting stuff

[SamH123]

These are the times that the principal drivers have done today in their long respective simulations.
The best times are for Michael with a descent tire degradation. I think that he and Rosberg are the favorites for this GP.

This seems a little too good to be true for the mercs
Do you think they might have been doing a lower fuels stint...

[dren]

I too expect a race victory challenge from Schumacher tomorrow. His practice times looked excellent.

[alvinkhorfire]

^
+1. =D>
Along with China and Monaco, Monza suits Mercedes AMG F1 W03 the best compared to remaining race tracks in 2012. During race, Schumacher will certainly utilize every opportunity he has to mount a serious race victory challenge. Hopefully, he emerges in a podium, if not winning the race. [-o< A bit ambitious my hope may be. Judging from his excellent high fuel run in Friday, anything positive is possible during race day.

[zyphro]

Difficult to say, we'll have to wait and see. It can go very well or horribly wrong with Merc.

[alvinkhorfire]

@zyphro
I concur with your opinion. My motto is "hope for the best; prepare for the worst". I try not to get ahead of myself and am mentally prepared for any outcome in the race.

Race Report from Spa:
Source: http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/09/a ... -of-field/
The Mercedes was relatively fast on full tanks, but as we have seen often this year, the competitiveness didn’t continue as the car got lighter and the tyre wear increased.

If the tyre wear does get worsen during race, I hope Brawn will shiftly change Schumi to a 2-stopper. There is no point going on 1-stopper, if the car has high tyre wear. Hopefully, during the race, the tye wear is manageable for Schumacher without him sacrificing too much of his race pace.

[zyphro]

@zyphro
I concur with your opinion. My motto is "hope for the best; prepare for the worst". I try not to get ahead of myself and am mentally prepared for any outcome in the race.

Race Report from Spa:
Source: http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/09/a ... -of-field/
The Mercedes was relatively fast on full tanks, but as we have seen often this year, the competitiveness didn’t continue as the car got lighter and the tyre wear increased.

If the tyre wear does get worsen during race, I hope Brawn will shiftly change Schumi to a 2-stopper. There is no point going on 1-stopper, if the car has high tyre wear. Hopefully, during the race, the tye wear is manageable for Schumacher without him sacrificing too much of his race pace.

Tyre wear is relatively low here - Pirelli are expecting one stopping.

Schumacher's not ruling out challenging for the race victory though:

"We need to see how the day tomorrow will develop, because we are not that far off," said the seven-time world champion.

"But we might be just enough behind that it might be difficult to challenge them. If you take the qualifying performance and you extract that to the race, maybe that's not completely true. It's something to prove tomorrow."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102373

[raymondu999]

Biggest surprise for me was Lotus. They were slow.

Indeed.

I find it interesting that Renault engines bookend the field (Lotus up top, Red Bulls down low) but neither are truly competitive. I guess the engine really is down on power.