Italian GP Build up&Team news

[Rob]

Home race for Scuderia Ferrari

Maranello, 1 September – This Sunday’s race is the 65th Italian Grand Prix to count for the Formula 1 World Championship and, along with the British GP, they are the only races to have featured on the calendar every year of the championship. With the exception of 1980 when it was held at Imola and won by Nelson Piquet in a Brabham, it’s always been staged at Monza. Over the years, Scuderia Ferrari has won 18 times, a hit rate of 28%, to go along with 19 pole positions and 64 podiums.

Speed, slipstream and scares. With the demise of the old Hockenheim, Monza is the last of the truly old style Formula 1 circuits, although Spa-Francorchamps is also a contender for this category. Down its straights, before they were interrupted by the three chicanes we have today, some of the closest battles in history took place, with dozens of passing moves every lap as cars were able to slipstream each other: the 1971 edition is famous for the closest ever finish, when Peter Gethin won for BRM, finishing just a hundredth of a second ahead of Ronnie Peterson in the March, with the top five all within six tenths. The high speeds have also led to tragedy and the victims include Alberto Ascari, Wolfgang Von Trips, Jochen Rindt and the aforementioned Peterson.

The first wins. Ferrari took its first Monza win in 1951 courtesy of Alberto Ascari in the 375, while second placed Jose Froilan Gonzalez made it a one-two. The Italian won again the following year and after that, there was a pause until 1960, which produced an easy victory, as the British teams boycotted the race in protest against the use of the high-speed oval, built in 1955 and considered too dangerous. Ferrari took the top three spots with Phil Hill, Richie Ginther and Willy Mairesse. The following year, everyone was present, but tragedy struck. Von Trips collided with Jim Clark in the Lotus, dying along with 14 spectators. Hill won in the 156 to become the first American World Champion, but there were tears instead of celebrations.

Key victories. In 1964, Scuderia Ferrari was back to winning ways with John Surtees, who dominated the race in the 158 having shaken off the attentions of Dan Gurney. The win was key to the Englishman getting back in the running for the title, which he won in thrilling fashion in the final race in Mexico. Two years later came an equally important win for Ludovico Scarfiotti, who scored a one-two with Mike Parkes in the 312, which saved the day in an an otherwise lacklustre season.

The Seventies. After three barren years, the Maranello marque won again in 1970 courtesy of Clay Regazzoni who, in the final stages got the better of Jackie Stewart in the March. Five years later, the Swiss driver did it again which was cause for great celebration, as by coming third, Niki Lauda brought the Drivers’ title back to Maranello, eleven years on from Surtees. It was the same scenario four years later in ‘79, this time the title going to winner Jody Scheckter, with team-mate Gilles Villeneuve riding shotgun in second.

The 1988 “miracle”. Scheckter’s win was the last for a very long time for the Scuderia at Monza. In September 1988, Ferrari turned up in Monza with a heavy heart, as it was the first race following the death of the founder Enzo, back in August. In qualifying, the McLarens that had won every race that year, monopolised the front row with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. Prost retired with a problem, but Senna seemed to be heading for an easy win. However, with three laps to go, the Brazilian came up behind the backmarker, Jean-Louis Schlesser in the Williams. The Frenchman moved over but ended up t-boning Senna who had to retire. It left the door open for Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto to take their Ferraris to a one-two. The next day, some journalists wrote that, looking down, Enzo Ferrari had orchestrated Schlesser’s misfortune.

The Schumacher era. There would be an eight year break before seeing a Ferrari on the top step of the Monza podium. It was 1996 and the winner was the great Michael Schumacher, who won again in Monza in 1998, with a fabulous passing move on Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren at the Roggia chicane. In 2000, another win meant Schumacher equaled Senna’s number of victories and he couldn’t hold back the tears in the press conference. He also won in 2003 and 2006, while Rubens Barrichello made his mark in this era, winning in 2002 and in 2004, when the Ferraris had to fight their way back up the order after Rubens had made a poor tyre choice and Michael spun at Roggia.

The Alonso era. The latest win for Ferrari at Monza was down to Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard had previously won in 2007 and in 2010, he had a long duel with Jenson Button in the McLaren, the Englishman finally having to give best to Fernando’s pressure and the performance of the F10. As for Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn has never won at Monza, his best result being a second place in 2006.

- See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/hom....RzeabUp8.dpuf

[Rob]

Italian GP – High speed European finale

Maranello, 2 September – Formula 1’s final European appointment of the season takes place at one of the most evocative, atmospheric and historic venues on the calendar, the Monza ‘Autodromo.’ To sum it up in one word, it’s all about speed. For Scuderia Ferrari’s home race, the grandstands will be the usual sea of red, but you don’t necessarily have to be a Prancing Horse fan or Italian to enjoy the magic of Monza: long before he came to Maranello, our English technical director, James Allison, even spent his honeymoon here, working at the 1992 Italian Grand Prix!

Putting aside affairs of the heart, Allison and his team of engineers are working hard to ensure the relative competitiveness seen in Belgium can be replicated this weekend. “Spa and Monza, are both tracks that have characteristics that perhaps don’t bring out the best in our car and so we approached Spa with a little bit of trepidation,” he explains. “Spa has a very high dependency on power and aerodynamics, but actually the F14 T performed respectably in Spa. There are differences between Spa and Monza, but overall the characteristics are such that we hope to have a respectable weekend before heading on for the remainder of the year, racing at tracks whose characteristics we hope will suit us a little bit better.”

The differences between Spa and Monza that Allison refers to essentially come down to the Italian venue having longer straights and fewer high speed corners. “This means it’s extremely important to set the car up in a way that allows you to benefit from those long straights, running the cars with lower downforce and less drag to get good top speeds on the straights,” continues Allison. “Having good top speed on the straights also means you have to be able to slow down for the corners, so setting the car up to be stable under braking is extremely important, as is retaining enough mechanical and aerodynamic grip to be able to wrestle your way round the corners before heading off on another one of the long straights.”

The high speeds involved means this race puts the Power Unit and the car’s aerodynamic efficiency squarely in the spotlight. Apart from demanding total reliability as always, managing the harvesting and discharging of the energy and controlling fuel consumption will provide taxing engineering and strategic challenges, while in pure strategy terms, the high cost of time spent in the pits means a one-stop, switching from the Medium to Hard Pirellis, is the most likely scenario. However, while Sunday’s race will be the shortest of the year in terms of time, it’s by no means the easiest. “Don’t be fooled into thinking that because it’s short, it’s easy or because it has relatively few corners it’s less demanding for the drivers,” says Allison. “Managing cars with small wing settings to suit the challenging corners and chicanes of Monza is not an easy thing.” And on the topic of our drivers, Allison took heart from their Spa showing: “Fernando produced his normal exemplary performance, while Kimi in the race was strong, producing good results as well. We’ve been improving our car over the last several races and that improvement is starting to tell with both of our drivers. It’s something we hope will produce better results in the remainder of the season.”

- See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/ita....dv0fKrqI.dpuf

[Rob]

Mattiacci: Return to be number 1.

One that will kick off in a few days for Marco Mattiacci , team principal of Ferrari , will be the first "Monza" experienced by the pit wall. A desired location by thousands of fans, perhaps unaware of the commitment required to sit on a chair that is consistently one of those that burn . The home Grand Prix for Ferrari is the tenth Gp F1 for Mattiacci , who made ​​his debut in the role of team principal at the China Grand Prix on 18 April, so less than 5 months ago.

Mattiacci is a new face in Formula One for a little more than 100 days (136 to be precise) but certainly not a "rookie" of the corporate, knows this well. Here are the answers that the number one Ferrari Corse gave to questions from the website formula1.com analyzing his work in the first 4 and a half months at the Scuderia.

"What I can say is that the future will be brighter than what we are experiencing - explained Mattiacci - the first 100 days have been full of enthusiasm and curiosity, and knowing now a little 'more about the world of Formula One can say that it is an unbeatable setting, a sport with great talent, great characters and a lot of adrenaline. This my first time Ferrari has been extremely helpful in understanding where we excel and where we need to improve, but overall the feeling is positive. "

"The obsession with Ferrari is to be number one - said the team principal of the Scuderia - and even in the last two years, the Ferrari has always been at the top, while not winning, but always in key positions. I was asked to give a new vision to Ferrari, defining a different model of what will be the Scuderia in two or three years, with the goal of returning to the success but also to capitalize on one of the most powerful brands in the world. "

Although historically the team principal without a background "race" have not been very lucky in Formula One, for Mattiacci is not a problem: "I am convinced that I will do a great job. I am very confident. Who teaches me things? All, I am like a sponge, I absorb all the team members. I can not say I what are my qualities, but in general you need leadership, vision and be able to create talent. I think these are the qualities required of a leader to create a successful group. Then ... .attenzione: I have a lot of gas in blood, having worked for Ferrari over the last 15 years and also having breathed the air of Formula 1 since I was able to turn on a television. "

The big question, however, is waiting on the timing that Mattiacci was given for the return to the summit . "We have a clear strategy - confirmation - but the F1 is not football, where changing a couple of players and the coach year maybe after you win. It's a very competitive environment, with the most extreme engineering. There is much to do, we will live hard days, but we start from a solid base and will stay at the top. I found an incredible asset to this company. We have the most talented driver pairing. If Fernando is the virtual team principal? It's the truth, everyone is a leader in the Ferrari, they all run in the team, including Fernando, in the sense that they all bring their ideas. But at the top there's me. Raikkonen? I love it, it is one of the most talented riders. The team is with him, and the races of Budapest and Spa have shown that there is. 2015? Certainly with Alonso and Raikkonen. "

http://autosprint.corrieredellosport...umeri-1/18407/

[Rob]

At the Monza F1 will touch the 370 km / h?

At Monza could collapse the absolute speed record straight in an F1 car . It is a ' survey published on the number 35 Autosprint newsstands , and of which we bring here some of the content, and full details can be found in the newspaper on newsstands .

The record dates back to 2005 when Raikkonen with McLaren Mercedes driven by the V10 3-liter , straight finish at the bottom, just before braking for the first variant, touched 370.1 km / h . Never until that time a F1 had gone so fast in the straight. Even at the time of the turbo cars from 1400 horses in mid-80s, because those cars from another era had huge wings to remain stable during cornering, but the ailerons are a big air brake in straight and not sueprarono the 351 km / h (value determined by Gerhard Berger in the Benetton-BMW in 1986 ).

Because to go faster is necessary to overcome the aerodynamic drag that grows exponentially and not linearly with increasing speed, it is understood that the maximum power alone is not decisive for very high speeds. so that the values ​​of maximum speed at Monza in the late 90's returned to grow beyond 350 km / h and reaches the 361.8 km / h ( Coulthard with McLaren in 1998 ) when the F1 3-liter aspirated adopted wings became smaller and smaller and therefore more aerodynamic.

Having broken through the wall of 370 km / h in 2005 , with the move to V8 engines of 2.4 liters of displacement that erogavano about 150 fewer horses, speeds are back down to 344 km / h approx . But with the arrival of the F1 turbo engine + electric this year, equal to total power are much more aerodynamic of the old F1 2013 sucked, there may be surprises at high speed.

The elements to go strong, really strong, we are all, or almost. And so the experts' estimates vary from 350 km per hour to an incredible 375 km / h , which would be a record. If a Spa have been met and exceeded 344 km / h , there is reason to believe that the photocell can set a value even higher. Let's see why ...

[gjoko-mkd]

[killer]

With Fernando stating that the power deficiency will be more pronounced at Monza and that they will counter this aerodynamically, it's going to be very tough for us: we could very well sacrifice aero and lose time in S2 only the get beat power-wise in sectors 1 and 3 anyway. We may see great differences in practice times, as the team will most probably spend more time running (very varied) DF-biased and non-DF-biased set ups so they can decide what to go with.

[Brembo]

I believe Pu, areo can be put aside, the one thing Ferrari must go with is to stay clear and let Lewis and Nico ruin each others chances and then just carefully move up front. Alonso's forte! Who knows, perhaps Kimi's car will be good again and he too can come up front.

[shamim179]

This will probably be the most difficult race for us on the calendar. No wonder there won't be any driver announcement.

[Majki2111]

I wonder, why Ferrari wouldn't give a go with medium downforce package. I think you still can say that there is more time to be gained in corners than lost in straights.

[FerrariF60]

I wonder, why Ferrari wouldn't give a go with medium downforce package. I think you still can say that there is more time to be gained in corners than lost in straights.

yeah, that would work if we had a reasonable good speed from our power unit...but we all know our top speed sucks...
and if we were to do what you're implying, we'd be sitting ducks on the straights and cars with Merc engines would PASS us WITHOUT even using their DRS...

not to mention that if we were to set the car up for medium dowforce, would make us THAT MUCH SLOWER...way slower then we normally would be


all in all, this race we'd be lucky if our drivers would finish in positions 8th to 10th....

let's hope FERRARI team will prove wrong...

[Majki2111]

yeah, that would work if we had a reasonable good speed from our power unit...but we all know our top speed sucks...
and if we were to do what you're implying, we'd be sitting ducks on the straights and cars with Merc engines would PASS us WITHOUT even using their DRS...

not to mention that if we were to set the car up for medium dowforce, would make us THAT MUCH SLOWER...way slower then we normally would be


all in all, this race we'd be lucky if our drivers would finish in positions 8th to 10th....

let's hope FERRARI team will prove wrong...

Now you're saying that there is much time to be lost in straights. Why not to use medium or even high downforce package to be faster in corners and Ascari and Parabolica... RBR won the race and got pole pisition with max speed of something around 325 km/h in 2011. Ferrari was like 15 km/h faster down the straight. And yet still lost the race and pole.

[Nova]

Ahh Monza..I would like to believe Ferrari has something up their sleeves.
If we can win one race this year, let it be Monza.

[FerrariF60]

Now you're saying that there is much time to be lost in straights. Why not to use medium or even high downforce package to be faster in corners and Ascari and Parabolica... RBR won the race and got pole pisition with max speed of something around 325 km/h in 2011. Ferrari was like 15 km/h faster down the straight. And yet still lost the race and pole.

you can't compare the RB from 2011 to F150th we had; that red bull was on RAILS....it was generating SOOOO much downforce from the blown exhaust it wasn't funny....

so they could afford having almost NO rear wing so to speak as ( so they would be fast on the straights) yet they were still OK in corners

[Majki2111]

you can't compare the RB from 2011 to F150th we had; that red bull was on RAILS....it was generating SOOOO much downforce from the blown exhaust it wasn't funny....

so they could afford having almost NO rear wing so to speak as ( so they would be fast on the straights) yet they were still OK in corners

And yet still they sacrifised max speed.
Another example: Turkey 2010
McLaren had F-Duct. RBR knew that so they set-uped their car to have big advantage in sector 2, McLaren had advantage in sector 1,3 and RBR would have won the race if there hadn't been THE crash.
In both points RBR sacrifised their weaknes in order to gain even greater advantage in something they were better than others.
My point is Ferrari should take a risk in sacrifising max speed for downforve in S3 mostly and S2. They have nothing to loose.

[Senna4Ever]

If we can win one race this year, let it be Monza.

[FerrariF60]

And yet still they sacrifised max speed.
Another example: Turkey 2010
McLaren had F-Duct. RBR knew that so they set-uped their car to have big advantage in sector 2, McLaren had advantage in sector 1,3 and RBR would have won the race if there hadn't been THE crash.
In both points RBR sacrifised their weaknes in order to gain even greater advantage in something they were better than others.
My point is Ferrari should take a risk in sacrifising max speed for downforve in S3 mostly and S2. They have nothing to loose.

so YOU actually think that we can beat Mercedes by doing this?? you must be living in a fairy tale mate...the mercedes has a really good ALL AROUND car; they will kick butt no matter what

even the other Merc powered cars like Mclaren and williams, heck maybe even Force india will be better then us, NO MATTER what we do or set up our car.

why can't you get it through your head, by sacrificing speed (which frankly dont have anyways compared to Merc powered cars) over dowforce to used in S2 and mostly S3 which will probably gain us a couple of TENTHS, we'd be eaten alive come the straights and we'd be losing watever positions we gain anyways.

that is just me 0.02 cents worth idea...but i'd be happy Ferrari to prove me wrong.

[wisepie]

Ahh Monza..I would like to believe Ferrari has something up their sleeves.
If we can win one race this year, let it be Monza.

We can but dream on both counts! So sad not to be there this year but at least I got to see and hear the howling V8s last year with Fernando 2nd and Felipe 4th, even that would be a victory for us this time round. You never know and the weather just might intervene....Forza to us all, whatever the outcome.

[ARUN M KARUNAN]

my funny prediction due to heavy engine usage renault engines shutdowns(rbr).the heavy or cold braking cause accident or dnf merc and finally rain will cause low df cars williams and mclaren,which has bad chasis goes back.then who is winner? ferrari

[Silent Bob]

so YOU actually think that we can beat Mercedes by doing this?? you must be living in a fairy tale mate...the mercedes has a really good ALL AROUND car; they will kick butt no matter what

even the other Merc powered cars like Mclaren and williams, heck maybe even Force india will be better then us, NO MATTER what we do or set up our car.

why can't you get it through your head, by sacrificing speed (which frankly dont have anyways compared to Merc powered cars) over dowforce to used in S2 and mostly S3 which will probably gain us a couple of TENTHS, we'd be eaten alive come the straights and we'd be losing watever positions we gain anyways.

that is just me 0.02 cents worth idea...but i'd be happy Ferrari to prove me wrong.

No need to be so harsh. I think he's pointing out a valid fact that seeing as how Ferrari severly lacks top speed, maybe we should be looking to be gaining time elsewhere on the track. We can't match MB for top end so maybe it might be worthwhile gaining as much time as we can in the corners. If we cut our DF, then we'll suck in the corners and on the straights. He's pointed out 2 times that this precedent was set and worked. Maybe it's worth a try. Like you said... we don't have the speed that MB powered cars do.

[Hornet]

And yet still they sacrifised max speed.
Another example: Turkey 2010
McLaren had F-Duct. RBR knew that so they set-uped their car to have big advantage in sector 2, McLaren had advantage in sector 1,3 and RBR would have won the race if there hadn't been THE crash.
In both points RBR sacrifised their weaknes in order to gain even greater advantage in something they were better than others.
My point is Ferrari should take a risk in sacrifising max speed for downforve in S3 mostly and S2. They have nothing to loose.

Teams would have done it if it was possible, they have simulators that can tell them the difference.

In Monza, that doesn't work because more of the lap is spend hitting the speed limiter, than going around a corner. No matter how fast you go around parabolica and the few other corners where aero plays a role (not all corners, mind you), it will never compensate for the lack of top speed, due to the nature of the track. It may work at places like Sepang, but not here.

We are already down on speed due to the PU, if we start going for high downforce setup, our straight line speed deficient will be even worse down the straight which the car spend plenty of time doing, and that will ruin our lap time.

Another problem, as seen in Spa, is that overtaking are done down the straight, not around the corner. Therefore in the race, we'll be sitting ducks for everyone else because they will pass us down the straight, while we cannot pass them around a corner.

[Suzie]

I love Monza so much that I feel a bit sick

Obligatory clip of THIS...

[Greig]

[Rob]

Fantastic race that 1998, cheers for posting Suzie.

Just a shame Sky F1 couldnt realise that, instead of the rubbish "classic" races they have put on.

[stefa]

my funny prediction due to heavy engine usage renault engines shutdowns(rbr).the heavy or cold braking cause accident or dnf merc and finally rain will cause low df cars williams and mclaren,which has bad chasis goes back.then who is winner? ferrari

I don't understand you at all

[ManFromMilan]

I don't understand you at all

I think he meant, crash, boom, bang and Ferrari wins.

[Majki2111]

Teams would have done it if it was possible, they have simulators that can tell them the difference.

In Monza, that doesn't work because more of the lap is spend hitting the speed limiter, than going around a corner. No matter how fast you go around parabolica and the few other corners where aero plays a role (not all corners, mind you), it will never compensate for the lack of top speed, due to the nature of the track. It may work at places like Sepang, but not here.

We are already down on speed due to the PU, if we start going for high downforce setup, our straight line speed deficient will be even worse down the straight which the car spend plenty of time doing, and that will ruin our lap time.

Another problem, as seen in Spa, is that overtaking are done down the straight, not around the corner. Therefore in the race, we'll be sitting ducks for everyone else because they will pass us down the straight, while we cannot pass them around a corner.

Maybe in the next few tracks this this risk would be interesting.

[FerrariF60]

Teams would have done it if it was possible, they have simulators that can tell them the difference.

In Monza, that doesn't work because more of the lap is spend hitting the speed limiter, than going around a corner. No matter how fast you go around parabolica and the few other corners where aero plays a role (not all corners, mind you), it will never compensate for the lack of top speed, due to the nature of the track. It may work at places like Sepang, but not here.

We are already down on speed due to the PU, if we start going for high downforce setup, our straight line speed deficient will be even worse down the straight which the car spend plenty of time doing, and that will ruin our lap time.

Another problem, as seen in Spa, is that overtaking are done down the straight, not around the corner. Therefore in the race, we'll be sitting ducks for everyone else because they will pass us down the straight, while we cannot pass them around a corner.

EXACTLY the point i'm trying to make, but obviously SOME people jsut can't get that....you can only gain a couple of TENTHS or so if you're lucky around corners by having more DF to your car, but you'll lose huge in top end speed which we don't have to begin with due to our CRAPPY power unit...which will hurt us on the straights HUGE and we'll be passed by all MERC engine cars easily...

so all in all, better BRACE yourselves people for the coming up race....because i truly think this will be the WORST race of the year for FERRARI....and to pour more salt on the wounds, it will be in front of all TIFOSI at the home race...SHAME such shame...

SAD BUT TRUE....

[FerrariF60]

I don't understand you at all

we seem to have a big time DREAMER here as a fan....lol
too many IF's, AND's or BUT's....we know something like this would never happen...i'd have more chances winning the LOTTO then a Ferrari WIN this weekend...

SAD BUT TRUE!!!

[ARUN M KARUNAN]

we seem to have a big time DREAMER here as a fan....lol
too many IF's, AND's or BUT's....we know something like this would never happen...i'd have more chances winning the LOTTO then a Ferrari WIN this weekend...

SAD BUT TRUE!!!

Hello mate.i said its a funny prediction.from that i mean ferrari cann't even stand a podium because we need a problem for rival to win.these is now sf's situation for these past years and it will continue.what we have a chasis or engine.nothing.we are landing worse to worse.

FERRARI CAN WIN ONLY IN DREAMS.SAD BUT TRUE

[Brembo]

A sure way to save $$ for the team, Ferrari sould skip this race , just not show up. That's seems to be how some fans here feel about our chances. I'm using the word fans loosely. I for one see Alonso & poss. KImi on the podium. Wait!! I think the race is being cancelled!!! Merc won already.