Italian Grand Prix 2015 - Qualifying Analysis. Raikkonen and Vettel split Mercedes dominance.

Qualifying for the 2015 Italian Grand Prix took place yesterday and Ferrari proved that they could rise to the occasion and pressure of the Tifosi at Monza. Ferrari took there best qualifying of the season with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively behind a very dominant Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes.

Tensions were high heading into qualifying as Nico Rosberg took an engine change which saw him use a fairly worn engine instead of the new prototype Mercedes were testing this weekend. Due to the engine being an older one Rosberg will not incur any grid penalties. Lewis Hamilton will continue to run the prototype engine.

Polesitter Lewis Hamilton

As Q1 rolled around all cars took there first runs on the white striped medium (Prime) tires except for both McLaren's and Manor-Marussia's. At the session started work was still being done on the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull. They looked unlikely to post times.

There was an early frustration for Nico Hulkenberg as he was twice held up by Marcus Ericcson on a flying lap (at Parabolica and the 2nd chicane). Towards the end of the session it looked as though 1 McLaren-Honda would make Q2, but Daniel Ricciardo spoiled the party as he managed to get out of the garage and set a lap time good enough for 15th pushing Button down into the cut off zone. Max Verstappen also managed to get out of the garage, albeit with 20 seconds to go. It proved though they had rushed the decision because as he went through Turn 3 the rear bodywork of his car flew off due to it not being sealed down tight enough. The FIA later have said Verstappen will have a drive through penalty which must be served in the first 3 laps of the race. So at the end of Q1 both McLarens were gone with Button leading Alonso, and both Manor's with Stevens leading Merhi, whilst Max Verstappen didn't set a lap time and finished 20th

Felipe Nasr of Sauber

Q2 started and it was to be a terrible session for Red Bull. There Renault power unit worries continued to grow because for the first time since 2008 a Red Bull didn't make Q3. Daniil Kvyat was 14th whilst Ricciardo choose not to set a lap time and finished 15th. Grid drops will see them start from further back. The other 3 unlucky people to be knocked out were Pastor Maldonado who missed Q3 by under a tenth and will start 11th, Felipe Nasr in the Sauber and the Toro Rosso of Sainz who finished 13th. However he will be dropped down the grid due to engine penalties.



So Q3 started and it was 7 Mercedes powered cars and 3 Ferrari powered. It was a phenomenal session as Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel both put in 2 of there strongest qualifying laps of the season to see them qualify 2nd and 3rd respectively. Ferrari have worked very hard since Q1 where the gap to the Mercedes was over a second and now Lewis Hamilton could only grab the pole by under a quarter of a second. Nico Rosberg couldn't match his team mates efforts as he could only manage a very low 4th on the grid.

Sebastian Vettel (L) and Kimi Raikkonen (R) line up 3rd and 2nd respectively.

Williams opted to give Massa a tow on his laps by sending Bottas out just ahead of him, giving Massa extra slipstream on the straight. This saw him get the better of Bottas in qualifying and they line 5th and 6th respectively. The race will be interesting for Williams as Massa definitely wouldn't have been 5th without the tow. It will be interesting to see in Bottas will have the race pace to overtake him.

Felipe Massa of Williams lines up 5th

Sergio Perez managed 7th for Force India as they look for some strong points on Sunday. He achieved his main objective of out-qualifying Lotus and a good race could see Force India regain 5th in the Constructors Championship. On the other side of the garage it wasn't good news as Nico Hulkenberg's car lost all power on his in-lap and we are unsure yet if the problem promotes a grid drop or not. Hulkenberg finished the session in 9th as he did manage to set one lap.

Nico Hulkenberg will start 9th after problems in Q3

Lotus take 8th as Superman Romain Grosjean continues his good form and he once again outqualified his team mate Pastor Maldonado.

The last spot in the top 10 goes to Marcus Ericsson who managed to get into Q3. If he can hold his own on Sunday he could bring home some much needed points for Sauber.

The grid (including confirmed grid penalties) will look like this:

1) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
2) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
3) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
4) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
5) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
6) Valterri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
7) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
8) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes
9) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
10) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
11) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
12) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
13) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari
14) Roberto Merhi - Manor-Ferrari
15) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda (Grid Penalty)
16) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda (Grid Penalty)
17) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault (Grid Penalty)
18) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault (Grid Penalty)
19) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault (Grid Penalty)
20) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault (Grid Penalty)

The Italian Grand Prix gets underway in just under 10 hours. It will be constested over 53 laps and is expected to be a 1 stop race. There will be an interesting battle up front, can Ferrari win at Monza for the first time since 2010? Will Raikkonen take the lead into Turn 1? Can Force India find some of the FP1 and FP2 pace they had? and can Red Bull still score points? Find out later today!

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Italian Grand Prix 2015 - Practice 3 Analysis. Vettel splits Mercedes as morning rain disrupts running.

In the last practice session for the 2015 Italian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton again secures P1 but the gap to Ferrari closes down to 0.264 seconds.

The running in the session was mainly disrupted by a big early morning downpour which saw the first times set on the intermediate tires. The teams managed to have a qualifying simulation in the last 10 minutes of the session in which good was shown by Vettel, both Williams and even the two Saubers. Whereas Force India opted for a race simulation which saw them finish in 8th and 12th.

Rain disrupted a lot of running in FP3.

The biggest moment of the session was definitely Daniel Ricciardo who stopped on the outside of the Turn 4 chicane. "It's something terminal on the engine, it unfortunately looks like an engine change" said Red Bulls Christian Horner. The engine was brand new and it is going to promote more penalties and waste a fresh engine. This deepens the cut that Red Bull already have this weekend and they will definitely be struggling on Sunday.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo had a session ending engine failure

Williams finally began to show the pace they are capable of with Bottas leading Massa by 2 tenths in 4th in 5th. Williams will be hoping to get a car onto the 2nd row of the grid and spoil the party of Ferrari with Kimi Raikkonen clearly under performing after he only managed 7th behind Pastor Maldonado.

Williams are looking like a strong prospect for qualifying.

It was a positive day for Sauber as there Ferrari power unit is beginning to work well with Ericsson finishing 9th and Nasr in 11th. The Swiss outfit will be looking for more points to take a fight to the struggling Toro Rosso in the constructors championship for 7th place. A good race is the most crucial part of the weekend for Sauber as they will instantly out qualify the two Toro Rosso's which are set for big grid drops.

Nico Rosberg will have work to do in qualifying as Sebastian Vettel managed to creep into the P2 slot. However Mercedes may have been running heavier fuel which would ultimately make there pace slower.

Qualifying is now just under 2 hours away. Lets not kid ourselves as we know that Lewis Hamilton will be on pole position. The real question is who is going to take P2? Can Sebastian Vettel mount that challenge? Can Williams get a car on the front row? Could Force India spoil the party after strong Friday pace?

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Italian Grand Prix 2015 - Practice 2 Analysis. Front runners close the gap to Mercedes

Todays 2nd practice session at the 2015 Italian Grand Prix was again dominated by both Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg with the Brit beating his team mate by 2 hundredths of a second to P1. It was again a relatively quiet session with no red flags with the only real excitement coming from a few people who went through the gravel at the Ascari Chicane.

Sebastian Vettel again finished in third for the Scuderia but he was 7 tenths off Lewis Hamilton's time. In a post session interview Vettel told the media: "We can and we have to improve for tomorrow (Saturday)". Ferrari will be under huge pressure from the Italian public at there home Grand Prix this weekend and will be expected to close the gap to Mercedes. The other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen finished in 6th and again behind two very competitive Force India's.

Speaking of Force India it was again another strong session from them which proves that they have some pure pace in there car. This time there drivers switched with Hulkenberg following home Perez in 4th and 5th. The team is in a very good position to gain some strong points on Sunday and they have proved they have the quickest car in a straight line which ultimately means they won't be easy to overtake in the race. Williams and Ferrari will definitely be worried about the threat they pose.

Force India's Nico Hulkenberg is looking very good for strong points.

Lotus had a better session this time around and Romain "The Superman" Grosjean led home Pastor Maldonado in 7th and 8th. This was by far a better performance from the team than FP1. There main competitors this weekend will be Force India due to the 1 point gap they have in the constructors championship, Lotus do need to find more pace to be at Force India's level.

Williams had another typical Williams session as they again opted not to show there true pace in 9th and 10th. This time Valterri Bottas led Felipe Massa with a gap of just over 2 tenths.

Williams Valterri Bottas goes through Turn 11 of Parabolica.

Sauber had a positive session as Felipe Nasr finished 11th and Ericsson 12th, perhaps putting Sauber in with a chance for some points on Sunday.

It was a very difficult day for the Renault powered teams of Red Bull and Toro Rosso as they struggled to find pace and grip. Max Verstappen provided a heart in your mouth moment when he went through the gravel at the Ascari Chicane and came to a stop just centimeters from the barrier which would have ended his session. The Red Bull's had a really bad day in the office with Daniel Ricciardo finishing in 12th and Dany Kvyat in 20th place. Ricciardo missed a good chunk of running with a software problem that was affecting his gearbox which if damaged would promote a 5 place grid drop. Toro Rosso weren't much better with 13th and 14th, Max Verstappen getting the edge over Carlos Sainz.

Daniel Ricciardo lost valuable time with a software problem affecting the gearbox.

It was another bad day for McLaren with only 3 laps of running for Jenson Button down in 19th place. Fernando Alonso had a trouble free session in 16th with 31 laps of running under his belt.
A really good day for Manor Marussia saw Will Stevens lead Roberto Merhi home in 17th and 18th place.

Overall the strong competitors heading into Practice 3 and Qualifying are definitely Force India after finishing both Friday sessions in 4th and 5th. Can they realistically mount a fight against Vettel for the 3rd position on the grid and on Sunday? Can Lotus find more pace and repeat the great race pace they had in Spa? and can Red Bull realistically even be in the Top 10 of the grid (not counting penalties)?

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Italian Grand Prix 2015 - Practice 1 Analysis, Force India strong as FP1 comes to an end.

Free Practice 1 for the 2015 Italian Grand Prix has ended with another Mercedes 1, 2 with Lewis Hamilton leading home team mate Nico Rosberg. The main point gained from FP1 is that Mercedes are completely on another level compared to Sebastian Vettel who finished 1.5 seconds off the pace in third.

The most positive session came from Force India. Nico Hulkenberg led Sergio Perez in 4th and 5th in what seems to be a true representation of pace. An interesting battle to see on Saturday will be where Williams slot in, can they leap frog Force India or will they be stuck behind them? Force India had a relatviely trouble free session with only a slight wobble when Nico Hulkenberg reported that there was a small amount of fluid in the cockpit that smelt of fuel.

Force India had a strong session finishing P4 and P5.

Kimi Raikkonen had a mediocre session in the Ferrari only managing sixth place, 5 tenths behind Vettel in 3rd place.

One of the bigger moments in FP1 was a spin that ended the session for Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso. As the Spainard jumped on the brakes going into Parabolica the rear slipped from and he slid straight into the gravel and was beached. The worst part was due to him being stuck on the outside of the track, the car couldn't be returned to the pits, therefore ending his session prematurely.
Sauber and Red Bull were both quiet during the session with the Swiss outfit finishing in 11th and 13th, whilst the Milton-Keynes unit were 7th and 12th.

Monza is the home race of Scuderia Ferrari

Williams were off the pace as they ran larger fuel loads again in practice, but by there standards had a very good sessions. The previous races they find themselves out the top 10 whereas today Massa led Bottas in 8th and 9th.

It was an odd an quiet session for Lotus as they only managed 10th and 15th. They were without there superman Romain Grosjean as Jolyon Palmer took part in his 8th FP1 session of the season.

McLaren once again found themsleves struggling finsihing in 17th and 18th with Alonso leading Jenson Button. Will Stevens also got the better of his team mate at Manor-Marussia.

Lewis Hamilton takes photos with fans before FP1

So what is going to happen in FP2? I think the team to watch is again Force India. After the strong showing in Practice 1 they'll want to back it up. But can Lotus get back on the pace and challenge the Silverstone based outfit? Will Williams challenge them or run there own agenda? and can Ferrari realistically close the gap to the Mercedes at the top?

Practice 2 commences in just under a few hours.

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