Italian Grand Prix 2010, Monza Circuit - Race 14/19

As much as I dislike Alonso and Ferrari, that was an impressive lap, congrats to the Spaniard driving an Italian car in Italy, lol

@Panzerbjorn, I think Button will have more traction off the line so he could well be leading at the 1st corner
 
button to lead into the first corner only to get mugged on the straight, but ultimately win.. Webber to bog down then blow up soon after. Ham to take Massa and come 3rd.

But to win by some margin on a long 1st stint 1 stopper with wAlonso and ham closer in 2nd and 3rd.

vettle to crash trying to overtake someone... maybe even massa
 
I thought Hamiltons McLaren looked fantastic today, shame it was crap :p. I think this should be a very interesting race, I'd be surprised if it goes wrong for Alonso, but buttons start will be interesting, and seeing if he will be overtaken on the straights also will be. I wonder if it will be possible for Lewis to get past Webber, I'm not sure what the top speed difference is between the two though.
 
One thing that does seem to be being overlooked by some, is that in almost every other grand prix, a straight line 10kph advantage, doesn't necessarilly mean the ability to overtake, after all, that is a 10kph advantage in clean air. Either way, I don't think that it is going to be much of an advantage.

Button is looking very good for this one I think, a clean start and he could well be in for the top step, especially if he can go longer than the rest of the pack.
 
Dutch Guy said:
@Panzerbjorn, I think Button will have more traction off the line so he could well be leading at the 1st corner
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How will he have more traction off the line, you don't gain dowforce by having a higher wing setting off the line. He will have to be nearer the 60-100mph mark before the extra wing starts to work for him.

People keep going on about it like it will help him get off the line, what he could gain from 60mph onwards can easily be made up with a good start and reactions. As I said Button hasn't started that well this year anyway.
 
Even brundle stated at one point that off the line, once he passes 50mph, the extra wing will play to his advantage, and the extra downforce will potentially give him an advantage come the first corner, after all, that was the tradeoff, better cornering, for slightly reduced straight line speed.

but, button haters will hate, button fans will fan, everyone else will stop being armchair drivers, and wait for tomorrow and see what happens..
 
Yes but Brundles comments do not take into account anything except a run through clean air. In clean air he will start to get an advantage at 50mph or so Brundle reckons, but he's also giving an advantage to the guys behind him that are punching into the whole in the air button is creating.

I personally think too much is being made of this slightly higher downforce setting, after all it's not the first time a driver has started beside another with more wing this year but all of a sudden this is big news and an advantage.
 
I bet Hamilton will finish comfortably ahead of Button tomorrow who'll magically develop "handling" problems.
 
Button did say that his higher downforce setup takes a lot more concentration in the corners, one mistake in getting the power down early will probably cost him and his ability to brake later won't help if someone sticks their car down the inside.

I may be wrong but I envisage him having to do a lot of defensive driving and covering of the inside, I'm interested to see how it pans out and one thing is for sure if it rains he'll be laughing.
 
dannyjo22 said:
I personally think too much is being made of this slightly higher downforce setting, after all it's not the first time a driver has started beside another with more wing this year but all of a sudden this is big news and an advantage.
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Agreed. The advantage that button will gain from having slightly more DF in the traction zone will be tiny and what he gains in traction he will lose in drag. The start will be no different to any other this year- it will be about nerve and luck.
 
Looking at the times set through qualifying it doesn't look so much like Hamilton had the wrong setup but that he fluffed getting a good lap in the last session.

Alonso, Button, Massa and Webber all set times about .3s faster in Q3 than Q2; whereas Hamilton was .3s slower in Q3 than Q2. If he'd improved like the other he'd be very close to Button, and 3rd on the grid.
 
mmj_uk said:
Button did say that his higher downforce setup takes a lot more concentration in the corners, one mistake in getting the power down early will probably cost him and his ability to brake later won't help if someone sticks their car down the inside.

I may be wrong but I envisage him having to do a lot of defensive driving and covering of the inside, I'm interested to see how it pans out and one thing is for sure if it rains he'll be laughing.
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You wrote exactly what I was thinking.

Bear in mind that Button's strength is not his outright speed, but his reliability and ability to avoid making mistakes. He is uber reliable, so if anyone can make tomorrow's strategy work, he can.

Button's problem is that if the car isnt working EXACTLY AS HE WANTS, he falls apart and loses massive chunks of time. So, if tomorrow, he finds the car not behaving exactly how he likes (as today), he is likely to get overtaken.

Oh and yes...if it rains, everybody else is going to fighting for 2nd place, as in all likelihood, he will be at least 1-2s/lap faster than everybody else, on the same tyre.

As for Alonso - this really is a must-win race for him. There are no excuses. He now has a car capable of winning and simply has to show that he is the top driver in F1.
 
Should be an interesting race tomorrow :)

Hope lewis can come through to get on the podium but can't see him finishing past 3rd,

Looked to me he really did fluff those last two laps. As long as he finishes ahead of Webber I will be happy :), Infact Alonso winning could well be interesting for the championship.
 
sunama said:
Oh and yes...if it rains, everybody else is going to fighting for 2nd place, as in all likelihood, he will be at least 1-2s/lap faster than everybody else, on the same tyre.
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Is there even the faintest hope of rain tomorrow?
 
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