Formula One - Monza

[zelatore]

That's it. From now on all tracks should have sprinkler systems installed.

German driver, with and Italian team, wins Monza. Sounds familier, right?

Now, who picked Vettel and Torro Rosso?????

Outstanding for him and the team! To think, this is a slightly better funded Minardi team taking a win! I didn't really expect him to do it...I figured he'd drift back once things got underway. But no, the Torro Rosso boys just plain whipped Big Ol' Ferrari and McLaren straight-up.

WooHoo!

(how much is Vettel NOT looking forward to moving 'up' to RBR next year now?)

I hope Dieter makes a call to Stoddart - he deserves to be included in the celebrations as well for keeping the little back of the pack team alive all those years.


Now to wait for coverage of the MotoGP race at Indy. Not much of a track, to be sure, but at least it's 'ours'. Maybe the (almost) home-town boy can make good once again.

[handfulz28]

I didn't watch every minute of the coverage, but didn't I hear them talk about bringing on a retired, successful engineer to get them back on track?

And what happened in qualifying? I didn't get all the commentary to hear why the usual front runners were starting back in the field.

Rain is a great equalizer. I'll never forget a T-2 race where I qualified on pole in my Z28. SCCA run groups include a bunch of different classes, so behind me were the Neons, Miatas and little Hondas. A good steady rain at race start, me not having good rain tires, and I was getting passed like I was riding a bicycle. The article in SportsCar was not very flattering; I think they used the term "languish" if I recall.

Since then, I learned that even slicks can stick pretty darn good as long as there isn't a puddle. I love racing in the rain...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIs0-ILjI1U

[zelatore]

Qualifying was in the wet as well. The Ferraris were never on the pace - they seemed to be set up for a dry track. I'm guessing they planned to sacrifice qualifying position for speed on what they hoped would be a dry race day. The fact Kimi really came alive in the later drying stages of the race would seem to support that.

The Mclarens were looking pretty good and seemed to have a good compromise between wet and dry setup. But in Q2 there was a brief let up in the rain and Hamilton took a chance with inters that didn't work. By the time he got back in and put full wets on it was coming down hard again and he couldn't set a fast lap. Both him and Kimi were out in Q2, and Massa only just squeaked into Q3 in the last spot.

The Torro Rosso guys have been looking really good the last few races. I keep expecting them to fall apart, but week after week they've been fast. I still don't see how they can sustain it, but right now they're vying with BMW and Renault for 'best of the rest'. Unbelievable!

The things that seem to be driving this surge in performance are 1-Ferrari power, 2-Adrain Newy aero pkg, 3-drivers (Vettel in particular looks to have a very bright future), and their 'back from retirement' engineer ... although I can't recall his name right now. Go figure.

I recall running at Mid Ohio once at a school when it started sleeting. I had my street tires and ran them because I figured I'd need the tread, but I actually ran better with near-slick CompTA R-1's even though it was cold and wet.