[deetjohn]

The Cathedral of Speed: Monza is the fastest circuit on the calendar and one of the most charismatic.

Originally Posted by Andrew Benson, BBC Sport

"All the greats have raced in Monza, and several have died, and that history has created an atmosphere like no other. Dappled early autumn sunlight through the ancient trees, the old banking that held grands prix in a former age spearing through the woods, the ghosts of former heroes all around. No wonder it's called La Pista Magica - the magic track.

"It should be sacrosanct, this place, but a shadow hangs over it this year, following Bernie Ecclestone' threats not to renew Monza' deal after 2016."

Speed: The fastest race in F1.


Juan Pablo Montoya set the fastest lap in Formula 1 history during pre-qualifying for the 2004 Italian Grand Prix. Driving for Williams, the Colombian lapped Monza at an average speed of 262.242kmh / 162.9mph. Soak in the grunt of that mighty BMW 3.0 V10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M2lcReHz8A

Atmosphere: The best podium and fans in F1


Setting and history - Monza is located in a beautiful park-like setting featuring century old forest trees and luscious green fields, offering ample shade and great picnic spots for the race goers.


The old banking: As you walk down the Pirelli circuit extension the banking looms in the distance, a vertical concrete slash through the trees.


On the reverse side you can see the bunker-like, steel-reinforced concrete underpinnings. Even architecturally it’s an incredible site.


Strategy is as important as straight line speed here. Monza has tended to be a one stop race, but this year Pirelli has been trying to encourage more stops with its tyre choices. Nevertheless it looks likely that one stop will be the target teams will aim for when evaluating the tyres during practice sessions.

With an 80km/h speed limit in the pit lane, a stop now takes 24-25 seconds which is quite slow and as the cars on track are travelling quickly, there is even more incentive to stop only once. With less downforce than in the last few years and the hybrid turbo engines, we are expecting to see top speeds on the straights of over 350km/h this weekend.

Track Layout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0Dwf0dQgIU

Race Strategy Briefing



Constructors Form Guide
Mercedes has dominated pole position, apart from Austria, where Williams came out on top. Williams has a low drag car and is likely to feature strongly this weekend. Red Bull has never had the best straight-line speeds, but managed to win the race in 2011 and 2013 due to clever gearing which kept Vettel ahead on acceleration out of the chicanes.

Weather Forecast
The weather forecast predicts a warm weekend with temperatures of 27-29 degrees, but there is a 40% chance of rain on Saturday morning.

Likely tyre performance and other considerations
Pirelli tyre choice for Monza: medium (white markings) and hard (orange markings). This combination of tyres was seen in Malaysia, Spain and Silverstone.

Monza is not particularly hard on tyres, as there are no high energy corners to speak of apart from the Parabolica. However as it is a low downforce circuit, the tyres will tend to slide more, especially under traction out of the low speed chicanes and this increases the degradation. Also with the biggest stop of the season from 360km/h down to 75km/h in Turn 1, with little downforce to help, it is easy to lock a wheel up and flat spot a tyre.

Another concern is that the very high wheel rotation speeds when the car is travelling at up to 360km/h, can cause blistering on the inside shoulder.

Pit Stops
The key factor in swinging this race towards just one stop is the slow pit lane time at around 25 seconds, combined with the speed of the cars out on track.
Last year most people did just one stop.

As always, if it turns out that drivers have to stop twice, the ones who plan it from the outset and space out the stops ideally will have an advantage over those pushed into it by fading tyre performance.

Chance of a safety car
The chance of a safety car at Monza is statistically very low at 43% and 0.4 Safety Cars per race.

Courtesy: JA on F1, speedhunters.com

[Blue_V]

Finally some sanity returns to the noses.

[mp417]

Great thread as always deetjohn.

Friday practice 1 is complete.
1. Hamilton (ahead by 0.6 sec)
2. Button
3. Rosberg
4. Alonso
5. Magnussen
6. Vettle
7. Raikonnen
8. Perez
9. Kvyat
10. Hulkenberg

McLaren in top two is a surprise.

[rshanker]

That looks *MUCH MUCH BETTER* than the hideous one they were running before!

[Bubby]

Originally Posted by naveenvenkatesh

Does anybody have a link/website were i can watch the races online? Something like streaming? I moved to the US last week and don't have access to TV yet! I don't want to miss the races.

You can watch the 'LIVE' stream here.

http://firstrowus1.eu/sport/motosport.html
http://www.techapna.com/formula-one-...streaming/740/

[Bubby]

Top 04 from FRI Practice 2, covered by 0.340 secs. Nice to see Ferrari's making some sort of progress.

Nico Rosberg
Lewis Hamilton
Kimi Räikkönen
Fernando Alonso

Hulk recorded the Top Speed of 348.8kmph for the session.

[tazmaan]

It is Hamiltons car again which is having technical issues. Random issues with only only one of he two drivers getting very consistent! An act of God or act of man? Or may be Hamilton is so aggressive on the car that he spoils it.

[zenren]

This is going to be an interesting weekend with most of the cars evenly matched and the lead Mercs not in the best levels of reliability. So anything can happen. I have a feeling Ferrari might be running a little low on fuel during practice sessions to give something to cheer for the home crowd. Q3 will show how much they've progressed.

Originally Posted by naveenvenkatesh

Does anybody have a link/website were i can watch the races online? Something like streaming? I moved to the US last week and don't have access to TV yet! I don't want to miss the races.

you can get a weekend pass in starsports.com for Rs.30 or so which allows HD streaming, though I'm not sure if it is available in US IPs. Worth checking out.

Originally Posted by tazmaan

It is Hamiltons car again which is having technical issues. Random issues with only only one of he two drivers getting very consistent! An act of God or act of man? Or may be Hamilton is so aggressive on the car that he spoils it.

Tables have turned. It is Rosberg's share of gremlins in FP3.

[deetjohn]

0.274 seconds on Nico. That's more like it. A stellar lap from Hamilton and he needed it very badly.

[Hatari]

Merc dominance shows itself.

Top 4 are pretty much sealed for the race as well. Hope we get an all out battle for the win without reliability problems. Should be a fantantic race. My money is on Lewis.

I have my doubts on Mclaren long run performance, but Alonso will have his work cut out to get them on the straights. Too many mistakes from Kimi.
Williams will collect a bunch of points tom in the Constructors.

Mclaren out developing Force India.

[F150]

Watched FP1 last night for this first time in this season, F1 has become boring, where is a engine roar, the sound was plain boring. The engine sound was terrible. I didnt enjoy it at all.

That said, we need to see how the rivarly between the Mercedes drivers unfolds.

[RishiSuri]

But the engine roars have replaced with amazing overtakes and competition for title .. For last few years it was like same old person way in front and wins it ..

[Nitrous Power]

Poor Alonso. His Ferrari's electronics gave up on him. It's again Mercedes running away with the top 4 positions.

1. Hamilton
2. Roseburg
3. Massa
4. Botas
5. Ricciardo
6. Vettle

[vb-saan]

Excellent race! Great recovery by Lewis after the dismal start. I have a feeling that Nico’s second off-track adventure was deliberate; to avoid the embarrassment of Lewis doing a proper overtaking move on him
And happy to see Massa back on the podium!

The two new talents of the season – Bottas and Ricciardo were really enthralling with their series of overtaking moves.

[tharian]

Did Rosberg do that on purpose by moving out to Lewis 'Hammertime' Hamilton.
Rosberg wasn't catching up to Hamilton either.
I was expecting a entertaining scrap between the two.