Monza Review

Credit - McLaren Media Centre

Monza review – Pitlane Magazine

In Italy, motorsport is a religion. And in that religion Monza is a temple, testament to the glories of power and speed.

For the motorsport fan, a trip to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza takes on something of the aura of a pilgrimage, of a quasi-spiritual experience. With the Italian Grand Prix in early September each year, a trip to Monza for Formula One is a visit that begins with an early morning walk through the pink-lit parkland, a light mist rising from the long grass.

With the roar of engines in the distance, and the prospect of a full day’s track action around the likes of Ascari, Lesmo, Parabolica, and the Curva Grande, there is no better place to be on a September morning.

Hot on the heels of a tumultuous Belgian Grand Prix, the 2012 Italian Grand Prix at Monza promised to be an exciting weekend. The paddock assembled on Thursday to the news that Lewis Hamilton might be departing McLaren for a different silver race suit. Fernando Alonso promised much pace at Ferrari’s home grand prix, but had a difficult qualifying. Instead it was up to beleaguered teammate Felipe Massa to have a season-best qualifying result and do the Scuderia proud.

Sunday’s race saw Hamilton on the front row for McLaren, with teammate Jenson Button alongside. Massa’s Ferrari was in P3, and the Brazilian driver was desperate to impress.

And off the start, it all appeared to be going well for Massa. The Ferrari driver passed Button seconds after the lights went out, and tangled with Lewis Hamilton going into the first corner, in a fight for the lead. But the McLaren stayed ahead of his rival from the Scuderia, and was able to command the race from start to finish, barring a brief interval after his only pit stop.

The Brazilian driver had a less successful afternoon, finishing the race in P4 having been passed for the podium by teammate Alonso, who was doing a better job preserving his rubber.

At the end of the day, it was a race characterised by numerous retirements, primarily of the mechanical variety. While Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne was out on lap 9 after a rear suspension failure that saw the Frenchman fly across the kerbs and into the gravel at the first chicane, it was higher up in the championship standings that the real troubles came.

First Jenson Button was sidelined with a fuel pick-up problem that saw the McLaren parked on the back straight on lap 34, and then on lap 48 Sebastian Vettel found himself victim to yet another alternator failure. The Red Bull driver retired from the lead of June’s European Grand Prix with an alternator failure, and despite Renault’s confidence that the issue had been resolved, the German retired early from FP3 in Monza following an alternator failure.

Shortly after Vettel’s retirement came more bad news for Red Bull: on lap 51, Mark Webber was forced to retire after serious tyre damage with only two laps to go following an impressive slide and save around Ascari.

But the long faces on the Red Bull and McLaren pit walls were matched by grins further down the pitlane as the mid-field teams realised that, with three established frontrunners out of the equation, a significant points haul was up for grabs. The main beneficiaries were Sergio Perez, Kimi Raikkonen, and Michael Schumacher, although it must be said that none of them would have been in a position to benefit from the retirements were it not for stellar performances earlier on in the afternoon.

When it comes to stellar performances little could top Perez’ drive to P2 on Sunday afternoon. The Sauber driver delivered yet another masterclass in tyre preservation, one-stopping his way onto the podium and past Fernando Alonso from a starting position of P12. Were the race but a few laps longer, the Mexican might well have been challenging for the lead.

Ferrari had struggles of their own on Sunday afternoon, when their telemetry on both cars failed in the middle of the pit stop window. The team had neither data nor a visual feed on the pit wall, and were forced to strategize based on advice being given over the phone from the factory in Maranello. Given the difficulty of their situation, the fact that the team were able to see Alonso onto the podium after a P10 start is little short of a Monza miracle.

When it comes to the Italian Grand Prix, there’s one thing you can be sure of: the gods of motorsport are always watching their temple in the royal park.

 

Kate Walker