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[navanman]

another week, another GP, this time the famous high speed Monza circuit, the McLarens look strong again with BAR and Renault just behind.

Saturday Practice Session 4
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIRE TIME
1. Kimi Raikkonen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.916
2. Juan Pablo Montoya Colombia McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.318
3. Takuma Sato Japan BAR-Honda 1:21.399
4. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault 1:21.548
5. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota 1:21.884
6. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Renault 1:21.851
7. Mark Webber Australia Williams-BMW 1:22.066
8. David Coulthard Britain Red Bull-Cosworth 1:22.291
9. Christian Klien Austria Red Bull-Cosworth 1:22.345
10. Michael Schumacher Germany Ferrari 1:22.395
11. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Ferrari 1:22.437
12. Jenson Button Britain BAR-Honda 1:22.558
13. Jacques Villeneuve Canada Sauber-Petronas 1:22.701
14. Ralf Schumacher Germany Toyota 1:22.710
15. Antonio Pizzonia Brazil Williams-BMW 1:22.823
16. Felipe Massa Brazil Sauber-Petronas 1:23.389
17. Tiago Monteiro Portugal Jordan-Toyota 1:23.472
18. Robert Doornbos Netherlands Minardi-Cosworth 1:23.676
19. Christijan Albers Netherlands Minardi-Cosworth 1:24.104
20. Narain Karthikeyan India Jordan-Toyota 1:24.772

 

[navanman]

BREAKING NEWS:

Kimi Raikkonen’s slim championship hopes were dealt another blow this morning at Monza as he pitted fastest at the end of the fourth and final practice session aware that he had a problem with the Mercedes V10 engine.

It soon emerged that the V10 had a valve problem and the squad had no choice but to change the unit ahead of qualifying later today the French AFP agency is reporting.

Raikkonen will therefore lose ten places on the grid and his best hope now is to qualify the MP4-20 fastest and drop to 11th on the grid. After dominating the timesheets all weekend long, it seems that the Italian Grand Prix could well be slipping away from his grasp.

 

[Cold Shadow]

Is this for real? Kimi owned again.

 

[navanman]

Is this for real? Kimi owned again.

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns15521.html
http://www.autosport-atlas.com/news.aspx?id=46684&s=5

Raikkonen to Ferrari in 2007 is certain it seems now, Max Mosley is betting on it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4210868.stm

 

[Wax Free Vanilla]

GO Mercedes!

Hail King Fernando

And what's all this about Valentino Rossi signing a three year contract with Ferrari starting from '07? :lol It'd be fucking awesome if he came to F1, he was only 1.5 seconds off Schumacher's Fiorano lap recond in his 2nd Ferrari test.

 

[AndreasNystrom]

Actually, Rossi was only 0.5secs from Schumachers fastest lap at fiorano.

so thats a great one. But he will be regular testdriver at ferrari next year.
(confirmed)

 

[marvelharvey]

Isn't this the 4th or 5th time this year that Kimi has been demoted in qualifiying due to an engine faliure? Oh well, seems that his lap wasn't too shabby, should make a good race tomorrow

 

[Wax Free Vanilla]

Actually, Rossi was only 0.5secs from Schumachers fastest lap at fiorano.

???

Autosport reported it was 1.5 off the lap record.

so thats a great one. But he will be regular testdriver at ferrari next year.

Yep, Todt said he wants him to test the car each month...


OMFG! It's going happen.

 

[marvelharvey]

shame he's no longer with us

 

[AndreasNystrom]

cant find on a tlasf1 anymore.. so maybe it was 0.5, or 1.5.. still 1.5 from the worlds fastest F1-driver after 3 tests isnt anything bad

http://www.ff1.it/ff1/sezioni/f1/f2004/Valentino rossi/VALE/index.htm

there you have pictures from the first test btw.

and Fiat is also planning on rallying, and then wants Rossi to be their driver..

http://www.italiaspeed.com/2005/motorsport/rally/super_2000/0608.html

 

[Animal]

shame he's no longer with us

DAMN RIGHT!
The greatest man to ever grace a formula 1: the late Ayrton Senna (di Silva). I quoted this guy in my highschool graduation picture. My hero.

 

[Shinobi]

Well, another day of "What if's?" for Kimi, as he continues his reign as the unluckliest awesome driver in Formula 1. That he was able to grab the pole a third of a second quicker then everyone else on a one stop strategy while everybody else made two stints is a further testament to his ridiculous speed. Alas his left rear tire started to decay shortly after his stop, forcing him to pit once again and destroying any shot he had at the race, let alone the driver's crown.

Montoya had a great drive, starting from pole and claiming the win. He had the same decaying problem with his left rear tire with a few laps to go, and the engineers considered bringing him in to pit. But Montoya stayed out, tried to take it easy through the corners, and grabbed the win, just a few seconds ahead of a fast closing Alonso (amazing how he's always in position to take advantage of McLaren's bad fortunes :lol). Fisi was third, so McLaren gain a point on them to close the gap to 8th.

Barring accidents or mechanical failiures, Ferrari had their worst Italian GP finish EVER today with 10th and 12th placed finishes for Mike and Rubuens. That tells you all you need to know about their season.



Italian Grand Prix result - 53 laps

1. MONTOYA McLaren 53 laps

2. ALONSO Renault +2.4s

3. FISICHELLA Renault +17.9s

4. RAIKKONEN McLaren +22.7s

5. TRULLI Toyota +33.7s

6. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota +43.9s

7. PIZZONIA Williams +44.6s

8. BUTTON BAR +1m03.6s

9. MASSA Sauber +1m15.4s

10. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari +1m36.0s

11. VILLENEUVE Sauber +1 lap

12. BARRICHELLO Ferrari +1 lap

13. KLIEN Red Bull +1 lap

14. WEBBER Williams +1 lap

15. COULTHARD Red Bull +1 lap

16. SATO BAR +1 lap

17. MONTEIRO Jordan +2 laps

18. DOORNBOS Minardi +2 laps

19. ALBERS Minardi +2 laps

20. KARTHIKEYAN Jordan +3 laps


They go from one classic course to another next week as they hit the bad ass Spa. There's word that Michelin will announce next week that they're pulling out of F1 ahead of the 2008 season, as they're not interested in the one tire supplier rule proposal (don't say I blame 'em, the rule is shit).

 

[LusDekkar]

Poor kimi, as someone else said somewhere, all he must do during the time away from the track is break mirrors and cross black cats. He woudl have won if it wasn't for that second pit stop, that Mclaren is fast, too bad it isn't the most reliable.

 

[Brodequin]

Excellent race by Pizzonia. Three months without driving the car at all and brings it home in the points. Good job Monty to nurse the sick rear tire to the finish. Montoya and Kimi will probably alternate winning the rest of races as their engines will take turns failing.

On another note, the race was only 1 hour and 14 minutes! F1 perhaps needs to alter the usual @280km race length at each track and add a few more laps to the race total. While retaining the two hour time limit (when was the last time we saw that), I'd like to see most of the races be at least 1hr 30min to 1hr 45min.