2012 Italian Grand Prix - Monza

[crbassassin]

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.

last year at monza they were superb. but i think could argue that it was due to their superior aero though.

[NathanOlder]

Does anyone know the top speeds of the Mclaren, Mercedes ,Ferrari or Lotus without using their DRS ? In other words how fast is the Red Bull with DRS wide open up against the other front runners without using their DRS?

[turbof1]

Does anyone know the top speeds of the Mclaren, Mercedes ,Ferrari or Lotus without using their DRS ? In other words how fast is the Red Bull with DRS wide open up against the other front runners without using their DRS?

it is around 10km/h less. Red Bull will have better end acceleration with DRS open but eventually they'll hit the limiter and will have a harsh time passing cars.

[Javert]

Where was time lost with respect to last year?
1.8s is much ... New asphalt in Parabolica?

[marcush.]

@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.

the analysis does not match up with the times posted .Mercedes did not suffer from slow speed at the end of the race compared to others -Schumachers car had lost an important gear and he had to carry the car to the finish....
But still the strategy was wrong as can be seen by the gap towards Hülkenberg ,who had simi9lar tyre degradation than Scumacher he did not just look at his own pace (degradation) but also what speed a set of fresh tyres would give him...which was a crucial performance step .So nursing the tyres was a WRONG choice on MGPs strategy and they tried it for whatever reason on both cars.Schumachers advantage had evaporated already to basically zero after Hulks second stop
so all the nursing resulted in 4 seconds advantage but one third of the race still to go...no chance to maintain that on aging tyres..So too much ambition for what you got as a weapon.You just cannot compare to Mclaren or RB who had much better
speed over a stint.
Let´s see if they learned from Spa-even though Monza is favouring less stops.

[zyphro]

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.

last year at monza they were superb. but i think could argue that it was due to their superior aero though.

They had drag-free DF: EBD.

[Mestrades]

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...

Nope, these times have been done with full fuel tanks. The team has confirmed it. The question is how much more or less fuel was carried by the Mercedes cars comparing with the rest of the cars. I've been analyzing Friday times since the start of the season, the Mercedes car has never been the fastest one on this analysis, Monza has been the first time. So I think that Michael has a chance to get a podium (or why not to dream whit a victory?) if the team doesn't do something strange with the strategy like the last races.

[atanatizante]

the analysis does not match up with the times posted .Mercedes did not suffer from slow speed at the end of the race compared to others -Schumachers car had lost an important gear and he had to carry the car to the finish....
But still the strategy was wrong as can be seen by the gap towards Hülkenberg ,who had simi9lar tyre degradation than Scumacher he did not just look at his own pace (degradation) but also what speed a set of fresh tyres would give him...which was a crucial performance step .So nursing the tyres was a WRONG choice on MGPs strategy and they tried it for whatever reason on both cars.Schumachers advantage had evaporated already to basically zero after Hulks second stop
so all the nursing resulted in 4 seconds advantage but one third of the race still to go...no chance to maintain that on aging tyres..So too much ambition for what you got as a weapon.You just cannot compare to Mclaren or RB who had much better
speed over a stint.
Let´s see if they learned from Spa-even though Monza is favouring less stops.

Very wise analysis Marcush!
On other forum people are speaking that an internal MGP source told someone that they have learned a lesson at Spa and now for Monza they opted for a two stop strategy ... and that`s the reason that they are suddenly so strong without any big upgrades ... so the Friday FP time was on half tanks, unfortunately ...
There are at least 4 reasons to do this 2 stop strategy:
1. last weekend Spa lesson
2. their poor tyre management
3. same tyres here
4. and due to the fact that there will be higher temperatures their tyres will be worse ... bear in mind Budapest.
This will put them in a good position for the race and if anything goes wrong at the first corner maybe we could see a Michael`s win. Only God knows ...

Another 2 stop contender is Di Resta and ... Alonso, due to his yesterday mechanical failure and relative poor top speed.

I`d aspect a long first stint for Vettel and Raikkonen, with a very good recovery for the latter in the second stint of the race.

[SamH123]

^ That's a bit of a downer

Surely they can't win with a 2 stop because tire wear is low :/

edit: which other forum may I ask?

[Spankyham]

^ That's a bit of a downer

Surely they can't win with a 2 stop because tire wear is low :/

edit: which other forum may I ask?

I wouldn't write off 2 stop strategy, especially if it gets someone out in clean air early on, so they can do consistent/good times. Plus, and its a big plus, think SC

[SamH123]

^ That's a bit of a downer

Surely they can't win with a 2 stop because tire wear is low :/

edit: which other forum may I ask?

I wouldn't write off 2 stop strategy, especially if it gets someone out in clean air early on, so they can do consistent/good times. Plus, and its a big plus, think SC

Wouldn't a SC help 1 stoppers because it would make it easier for the 1 stoppers to get to the end?

[beelsebob]

^ That's a bit of a downer

Surely they can't win with a 2 stop because tire wear is low :/

edit: which other forum may I ask?

I wouldn't write off 2 stop strategy, especially if it gets someone out in clean air early on, so they can do consistent/good times. Plus, and its a big plus, think SC

Wouldn't a SC help 1 stoppers because it would make it easier for the 1 stoppers to get to the end?

Depends when in the race... If before the 1 stop, sure, if after the 1 stop but before the second of a 2 stop, then you give a free stop to the 2 stoppers, and put them on the tail of the 1 stoppers with fresh tyres.

[Spankyham]

Wouldn't a SC help 1 stoppers because it would make it easier for the 1 stoppers to get to the end?

@Beelsebob is right

Depends on when the SC comes out But with a 2 stop strategy you just get better chances to take advantage because you're going to stop twice and because you've got much bigger windows of when you can stop. 1 stoppers will have very tight windows to change.

[zyphro]

Formula 1 teams expect Monza tyre dilemma

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102394

This may be the reason why Mercedes saved a set of mediums.

[myurr]

Don't know why but I'm really nervous about this start. Hope it's a clean one.