Formula 1 Grand Prix Preview at Monza in Italy

Ferrari Steal the Show at Monza Taking 1st and 3rd on the Grid

11 September 2010

It's a glorious day at Monza, the sun is shining and the fans have flocked to watch the Formula 1 and boy have they been treated. The practice sessions yesterday showed just how fast the track really is, with each team choosing to attack it in a different way in terms of what to use on the car. Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari all showed off their prowess, raising the bar after each session. We're on home turf now for Ferrari so we are getting a biased favour with the crowd, cheering and waving flags every time one of their cars comes down the home straight. Alonso and Massa are both pushing their cars to their limits with each session and it's showing in the times as they manage to sit comfortably near the top of the field. Onto Qualifying today and it's pretty much a continuation of yesterday, Ferrari seeming to breeze through with faster paces every lap, Red Bull struggling to make a dent in the times but Webber managing to set a nice time during 2nd Qualifying. McLaren are having an odd day, with each driver selecting to use a different set-up on their cars. Lewis Hamilton sets some fast times with his option of a lighter car with no F-duct, essentially giving him less speed and also less grip. I'm not quite sure how they figured this set-up to be the best one to use but moving on to Jenson Button, he's gone for the car set-up to include the f-duct and lower height, increasing his downforce for higher speed cornering and faster straight line speed. After Q3 the final results standing for the grid tomorrow are; Alonso on pole with Jenson Button in 2nd followed by Massa and Webber on the second row and Hamilton and Vettel behind them. During the post race interview Jenson gave praise to the McLaren engineers for such a good car set-up, which is good because it was very quick. However, not good enough to take pole away from Alonso who just tore that track up, I don't know whether it was the home spirit giving Ferrari the extra push but he was flying. This is Ferrari's first pole position since the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2008. So, we have to wait for tomorrow to find out what happens, Ferrari have some catching up to do in the constructors and both drivers could do with a hefty amount of points for the drivers' championship. If Ferrari keep this up they'll sure impress the other teams and give them something to be worried about.