Lap 41: After lapping slower than Massa in the Ferrari in front of him
for a good few laps, Hamilton’s McLaren is suddenly flying. He sets the
fastest lap of the race – he’s still the best part of eight seconds behind
Alonso though.
Lap 39: It’s Vettel, Button, Alonso, Massa, Hamilton – with Massa
having pitted just once.
Lap 36: Vettel’s pit stop takes all of 2.9 seconds. Jeepers. And Button
passes Alonso out of Curva Grande. Alonso’s losing time drastically coming
out of the turns. Button is 15 and a half seconds off the lead…
Lap 35: Alonso pits; the McLarens react immediately – Hamilton’s in and
out in four seconds, but still emerges behind Barrichello, who he has to
lap. Button emerges from his stop even closer to Alonso than when they
pitted – half a second or so.
Lap 33: Button’s now losing time to Alonso – a second and a half is the
gap. Vettel’s stretching his lead effortlessly. Here’s Webber in the pits: “We’re
all battling for second now. Seb needs to have an incredibly disappointing
end to the season for anybody to take the championship from him at this
point.”
Lap 30: Button’s 0.4 seconds or so behind Alonso, almost close enough
to have a shot at a pass but not quite. Hamilton eight and a bit seconds
behind. Vettel maintaining a gap of 14 seconds or so.
Lap 28: Finally, Schumacher backs down. He’s heard the warnings, and
this time Hamilton just has too much speed coming out of the first Lesmo. He
yields, ending on his own terms what was in truth a pretty entertaining
duel. Massa is 14 seconds behind him in sixth.
Lap 27: Button is a second a bit faster per lap than Hamilton, who’s
still spitting blood in frustration as he can’t get by the wily veteran in
front of him.
Lap 25: Mercedes GP principal Ross Brawn tells Schumacher to “leave
room” on Ascari. A not so subtle hint: you’re risking a penalty. And a
public announcement to the FIA: we’re right with you on this, honest. The
order on the track:
Vettel
Alonso
Button Schumacher
Hamilton
Massa
Perez
Di Resta
Alguesuari
Buemi
Maldonado
Kovalainen
Trulli
Glock
Kobayashi
Ricciardo
Lap 23: Vettel sets a new fastest time to stretch his lead yet more,
but Alonso’s losing ground rapidly to Button in third place. 1.6 seconds
now.
Lap 22: McLaren calm down a frustrated Lewis Hamilton, telling him
they’ve already dobbed Schumacher into the FIA. Vettel is 11 seconds out in
front. Jenson Button, though, is just a couple of seconds behind Alonso…
Lap 20: Hamilton has pitted, and they’re out in the order in which they
went in: Button, Schumacher, Hamilton. It’s the same story: Hamilton’s
desperately trying to get by Schumacher but hasn’t got the speed. Schumacher
tests the officials’ patience once more, this time making two clear blocking
moves as Hamilton makes yet another rule around the outside coming out of
the breaking zone. The rule is you get one defensive move and that’s it.
Lap 18: Button pits and comes out in fifth, leaving Hamilton in third
place, seven seconds behind Alonso. Schumacher’s obduracy – and let’s face
it, his skill – held up the McLarens for the first quarter of this race as
they came up against the top speed enforced by their gear ratio time and
time again.
Lap 17: Schumacher pits for a new set of soft tyres.
Lap 16: Ah, there’s the Michael Schumacher we know and… know. He
refuses to yield as Hamilton tries to get by on the inside coming out of
Ascari, forcing him onto the grass. But then Button manages to get by
around the outside, taking advantage of Schumacher’s obliterated tyres.
Lap 15: The gap between Alonso and Schumacher is four and half seconds.
Vettel’s miles in front, most likely humming a little satisfied tune to
himself.
Lap 13: Now Button’s right behind Lewis Hamilton, who has been totally
flumoxed by Schumie’s superior straight-line speed and refusal to yield.
Sheer frustration for McLaren.
Lap 12: Now the gap at the front is 7.1 seconds. Meanwhile, there’s a
1-and-a-bit second gap between Hamilton and Button. What’s Button’s game –
is he slower, or is he just staying clear of trouble? Hamilton has another
go, having a look around the outside of Parabolica this time. No dice.
Lap 11: Hamilton has a look around the outside – I think of the Curva
di Lesmo. Schumacher used his one legal defensive move well and Hamilton
didn’t have the pace to make it stick.
Lap 9: “Lewis, your end-of-straight speed is fine, Schumacher is
just very high.” That’s the word on McLaren FM. In other words: don’t
worry, he’s just faster than you.
Lap 7: Vettel is setting fastest laps. He’s streaking away from the
string of champions behind him – it’s a gap of four seconds now. So far
Hamilton hasn’t shown the straight-line speed to get into Schumacher’s
slipstream. The first non-World Champion in the race is Pastor
Maldonado, who’s holding on to sixth quite comfortably. Not sure how he got
there, having started on the seventh, row, but good job Pastor.
Lap 6: Massive fight now for second place between Alonso, Schumacher
and Hamilton – still in that order. Then a little gap before you get to
Button.
Lap 5: So close at the front between Vettel, who’s so much faster than
the Ferrari so far. Vettel is having a look around the outside – and he gets
past! And Webber’s out! He clipped Massa on the second chicane, trying to
get around on the outside.
Lap 4: Hamilton’s sleepy at the restart and the two cars in front of
him get the jump on him – and Schumacher gets by! At the front, Vettel is
all over Alonso but unable to pass so far.
Lap 3: It was Liuzzi who caused the melee. He was forced onto the grass
to the right of the track after just a few seconds, and slid magnificently
across the curve to rejoin the track side-on to start a dodgem scenario at
the chicane.
Lap 2: The other car’s Liuzzi – heavy damage to his car and Rosberg’s.
It was wheelspin off the start that did for Vettel. He and Hamilton were
wheel-to-wheel – any collision and it would have been bad news for Alonso
behind them and passing on the right; as it was they kept apart and he got
by.
Lap 1: It looks like Petrov, Rosberg, and… A.N. Other who crashed at
the chicane. The safety car’s out. Alonso leads from Vettel, with Hamilton
behind, then Schumacher, who made an awesome start.
Lap 1: Alonso leads! He, Hamilton, and Vettel are alongside going into
turn one – and there’s a three-car pile up to boot! Carnage!
13.00 The cars are out and warming up. According to the bookies, Vettel
and Hamilton are just about joint favourites for the race at about 4 to 1.
For Hamilton, the first objective has got to be: get to the finish line.
12.57 It’s almost time: here are the starting positions.
1st row
Sebastian Vettel (GER/Red Bull-Renault)
Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes)
2nd row
Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes)
Fernando Alonso (ESP/Ferrari)
3rd row
Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull-Renault)
Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari)
4th row
Vitaly Petrov (RUS/Lotus-Renault)
Michael Schumacher (GER/Mercedes)
5th row
Nico Rosberg (GER/Mercedes)
Bruno Senna (BRA/Lotus-Renault)
6th row
Paul di Resta (GBR/Force India-Mercedes)
Adrian Sutil (GER/Force India-Mercedes)
7th row
Rubens Barrichello (BRA/Williams-Cosworth)
Pastor Maldonado (VEN/Williams-Cosworth)
8th row
Sergio Perez (MEX/Sauber-Ferrari)
Sebastien Buemi (SUI/Toro Rosso-Ferrari)
9th row
Kamui Kobayashi (JPN/Sauber-Ferrari)
Jaime Alguersuari (ESP/Toro Rosso-Ferrari)
10th row
Jarno Trulli (ITA/Team Lotus)
Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/Team Lotus)
11th row
Timo Glock (GER/Virgin-Cosworth)
Jerome d’Ambrosio (BEL/Virgin-Cosworth)
12th row
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Hispania-Cosworth)
Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA/Hispania-Cosworth)
12.48 Lots of the talk – in addition to the usual DRS/tyres/fuel
chatter – is about Red Bull’s choice to send Vettel out with a short gear
ratio. That strategy helped deliver a qualifying lap half a second faster
than Hamilton’s, but Vettel’s rivals will be hoping he’ll struggle to defend
his lead in the race.
Personally, I see this decision from Christian Horner and co as a vindication
of my own strategy in old F1 racing games – sacrificing straight-line speed
for acceleration always worked for me on the N64, too bad these
multi-million pound constructors are only just catching on.
Jenson Button: “It’s every man for himself,” he says coolly
when asked if he and Hamilton will be working together to beat Vettel. “We’re
pretty intelligent, we won’t get in each other’s way.”
12.30 Let’s leave Red Bull and their 13 consecutive pole positions
aside for a moment. As Jenson Button (perhaps a bit optimistically) said
yesterday, pole might not be as important this time around as it has been
recently as Monza. “I think we’re going to have a lot of fun tomorrow,”
he said. Monza certainly promises fun for the spectator as F1 wraps up its
summer in Europe. Drivers spend three quarters of the race at full throttle,
and DRS should ratchet up the overtaking even more.
And although Vettel’s second championship is all-but assured – he can finish
fourth for the rest of the season and still retain his crown – further down
the field the drama is hotting up. Fernando Alonso will be eager to produce
an upset to satisfy the tifosi and Ferrari’s top brass alike – and then
there’s the intensifiying competition for the title of top Brit. Button is
just three points ahead of Hamilton – who has finished all of his four
seasons in F1 as top dog on his team. The title race might be a formality,
but the battle’s far from over.
Monza facts and stats
- Venue: Circuit length: 5.793 km / 3.599 miles
Laps: 53
Race distance: 306.720 km / 190.586 miles
Lap record: 1min 21.046secs (Rubens Barrichello, 2004)
Tyre compounds: Medium/soft
Bumpiness: Medium
Overtaking chance: Good, into turn one
Engine severity: Very high
Brake severity: Medium
Average speed: 158 mph – the fastest course of the season
Full throttle per lap: 83%
Gear changes per lap: 46
Has been won from pole seven times in the last 10 years