2018 Italian Grand Prix - Monza, 31 Aug - 2 Sep

[Phil]

AMuS seems to think Leclerc to Ferrari next year is a done deal...

[Schuttelberg]

I just saw qualifying and refrained from listening or seeing anyone that knew about it. Can someone please tell me what the hell was going on between Alonso & Magnussen? 25 years of watching racing and I've not seen two blokes from separate teams squabble like that in the midfield and then behave like children after that?

[Shrieker]

Basically, Alonso thinks he's a god, and K-Mag is a cool d1ckhead.

[Sierra117]

I thoroughly enjoyed Alonso's radio transmission for that, his delivery was hilarious.

[Schuttelberg]

I thoroughly enjoyed Alonso's radio transmission for that, his delivery was hilarious.

I think he has lost his marbles. Whatever happens on track is one thing, but to laugh and ridicule someone is not cool. Magnussen is not the cleanest slate in the classroom but I don't find any malice in his intent. His post qualifying reaction is that of a bloke who's down and not happy with what transpired. In normal human psychology, there might even be regret but denial kicks in because of his emotional state. Alonso looked to behave like he thoroughly enjoyed it. What's worse is that he admitted he couldn't improve and that it was a "miracle" where he qualified but he enjoyed ruining Kevin's run?

Sorry, he sounds very very ill.

[Fulcrum]

I wonder... will Ferrari somehow find a small defect in Kimis gearbox to give Vettel pole

If Vettel doesn't lead Kimi through the first stint they'll simply swap them at the pitstop. Give Vettel the undercut/overcut (whatever works best), have a slow pitstop on Raikkonen's car, pit Raikkonen into traffic, they have a whole range of options if necessary.

Likely as not they won't need to both though, as Vettel should be comfortably quicker in race trim.

[yelistener]

Best Sector times in Qualifying

2016: 26.529 | 27.586 | 26.962
2018: 26.479 | 26.520 | 26.006

Bottas is the only one among top4 that didn't beat his best 2016 S1. In 2016 he had 26.548, 2nd fastest S1 only behind Lewis, but in 2018 he only managed 26.803. That's a difference of 0.255s. I guess he really had problem with the first chicane.

[Sierra117]

I thoroughly enjoyed Alonso's radio transmission for that, his delivery was hilarious.

I think he has lost his marbles. Whatever happens on track is one thing, but to laugh and ridicule someone is not cool. Magnussen is not the cleanest slate in the classroom but I don't find any malice in his intent. His post qualifying reaction is that of a bloke who's down and not happy with what transpired. In normal human psychology, there might even be regret but denial kicks in because of his emotional state. Alonso looked to behave like he thoroughly enjoyed it. What's worse is that he admitted he couldn't improve and that it was a "miracle" where he qualified but he enjoyed ruining Kevin's run?

Sorry, he sounds very very ill.

I didn't talk about driver intents or anything post-qualifying. I only mentioned the delivery of Alonso's radio transmission. He only said "Yea Magnussen wanted to race into turn one [short laugh]". It was a humorous transmission, that's it.

[Sierra117]

Best Sector times in Qualifying

2016: 26.529 | 27.586 | 26.962
2018: 26.479 | 26.520 | 26.006

Bottas is the only one among top4 that didn't beat his best 2016 S1. In 2016 he had 26.548, 2nd fastest S1 only behind Lewis, but in 2018 he only managed 26.803. That's a difference of 0.255s. I guess he really had problem with the first chicane.

Yes, he was mentioning in one of the interviews that he was struggling with the car setup and at Monza that is extremely important.

[Sierra117]

Raikkonen vs Vettel

Fantastic post mate. Thank you for taking the effort and making it. I agree with what you say if the tow is taken out of the equation it would have been very close, but i still feel Kimi's lap was a little better.

As you have the telemetry for all the cars can say how Hamilton's straight line speed compared to Kimi, and where he was loosing time?

https://streamable.com/13yh0
https://streamable.com/13yh0

I'll have to revert my previous statement about hamilton suddenly having 10 kmh more on both ferraris. Yes, this was true, but only for first Q3 runs. In their second Q3 run both ferrari cars gained ~8-10 kmh on the main and back straight (putting them level with hamilton and in some places even ahead), whereas mercedes gained nothing on their second run (maybe 1-2 kmh).

Wait, did Lewis not get DRS at the very end of the lap? The light comes on for Kimi for a bit before the finish line (enough to see his top speed increase for a fraction of a second) but it doesn't look like it happened for Lewis. Don't know how much of a difference that makes, but I'm curious as to whether or not it activated or not.

[F1NAC]

Fantastic post mate. Thank you for taking the effort and making it. I agree with what you say if the tow is taken out of the equation it would have been very close, but i still feel Kimi's lap was a little better.

As you have the telemetry for all the cars can say how Hamilton's straight line speed compared to Kimi, and where he was loosing time?

https://streamable.com/13yh0
https://streamable.com/13yh0

I'll have to revert my previous statement about hamilton suddenly having 10 kmh more on both ferraris. Yes, this was true, but only for first Q3 runs. In their second Q3 run both ferrari cars gained ~8-10 kmh on the main and back straight (putting them level with hamilton and in some places even ahead), whereas mercedes gained nothing on their second run (maybe 1-2 kmh).

Wait, did Lewis not get DRS at the very end of the lap? The light comes on for Kimi for a bit before the finish line (enough to see his top speed increase for a fraction of a second) but it doesn't look like it happened for Lewis. Don't know how much of a difference that makes, but I'm curious as to whether or not it activated or not.

Look at his left thumb. He activated it. FOM graphics arent often trust worthy or lagging behind

[Ringleheim]

I think Vettel will lead Kimi into the first chicane on lap 1. Kimi likes to make stupid mistakes on the first lap of races and usually goes backward, not forward.

I'd be shocked if Vettel isn't ahead of Kimi one way or the other very quickly in the race, so talk of orders and what not shouldn't be a problem.

Would love to see a Ferrari 1-2 at Monza, or at least a Vettel victory. Should be a big party on the front straight!

[Just_a_fan]

I think Kimi will win - Seb will cut across from the dirty side to get in behind Kimi and clip Hamilton's front wing with his rear tyre. Punctured rear for him, front wing damage for Hamilton, both slow back to the pits although Hamilton will be much quicker with just wing damage whilst Seb eventually rejoins in last place 1.5 laps down. Tries to then run to the end on the hardest tyre available.

You heard it here first!

[Sierra117]

https://streamable.com/13yh0
https://streamable.com/13yh0

I'll have to revert my previous statement about hamilton suddenly having 10 kmh more on both ferraris. Yes, this was true, but only for first Q3 runs. In their second Q3 run both ferrari cars gained ~8-10 kmh on the main and back straight (putting them level with hamilton and in some places even ahead), whereas mercedes gained nothing on their second run (maybe 1-2 kmh).

Wait, did Lewis not get DRS at the very end of the lap? The light comes on for Kimi for a bit before the finish line (enough to see his top speed increase for a fraction of a second) but it doesn't look like it happened for Lewis. Don't know how much of a difference that makes, but I'm curious as to whether or not it activated or not.

Look at his left thumb. He activated it. FOM graphics arent often trust worthy or lagging behind

Yeah I saw that, but there are times when drivers press it on a lap when, say, they forget if DRS is enabled or not, but do it anyway to get it if it is, so at the end you'd naturally rely on the infographic to tell whether or not it's gone through or not. Here there's the weird case where instead of the background of the "DRS" text, it's the text itself that changed colour slightly, making it doubly confusing.

[Juzh]

Wait, did Lewis not get DRS at the very end of the lap? The light comes on for Kimi for a bit before the finish line (enough to see his top speed increase for a fraction of a second) but it doesn't look like it happened for Lewis. Don't know how much of a difference that makes, but I'm curious as to whether or not it activated or not.

Look at his left thumb. He activated it. FOM graphics arent often trust worthy or lagging behind

Yeah I saw that, but there are times when drivers press it on a lap when, say, they forget if DRS is enabled or not, but do it anyway to get it if it is, so at the end you'd naturally rely on the infographic to tell whether or not it's gone through or not. Here there's the weird case where instead of the background of the "DRS" text, it's the text itself that changed colour slightly, making it doubly confusing.

FOM graphics are indded trust worthy if they're synced correctly. They also never lag behind, but rather in their default form they're 0.7s ahead.

DRS line is after the finish line. Hamilton presses the drs button instinctively at the finish line, but ofcourse nothing happens. Raikkonen activated his drs instinctively as well, but after the lap already ended.