2006 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix

[Nazmacher]

Italian GP timetable as announced today (September 04)

The full schedule for the Italian Grand Prix, round 15 of the 2006 Formula One World Championship.

The event is held at Monza in Italy.

All times are local (Italy is GMT +2)

Thursday 7 September
15h00 : FIA press conference *

Friday 8 September
11h00 - 12h00 : First free practice
14h00 - 15h00 : Second free practice
16h00 : FIA press conference *

Saturday 9 September
11h00 - 12h00 : Third free practice
14h00 - 15h00 : Qualifying
15h00 : FIA press conference with fastest three drivers

Sunday 10 September
14h00 - 16h00 : Race
16h00 : FIA press conference with top three finishers

Race Info
Number of Laps: 53
Race Distance: 306.720km/190.596 miles
Defending Champ: Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren)

* participants to be confirmed

[bartski]

Here are also engine statistics after Turkish GP:

Engine--------------Driver------------Km----GP
Renault RS26--------F.Alonso--------1047----2
Renault RS26--------G.Fisichella-------592----1
Mercedes FO108S---K.Räikkönen-------245----1 accident
Mercedes FO108S---P.de la Rosa------512----1
Ferrari 056----------M.Schumacher----554----1
Ferrari 056----------F.Massa---------1075----2
Toyota RVX-06------R.Schumacher----512----1
Toyota RVX-06------J.Trulli------------565----1
Cosworth CA2006----M.Webber--------544----1
Cosworth CA2006----N.Rosberg--------585----2 failure
Honda RA806E--------R.Barrichello----1148----2
Honda RA806E------- J.Button--------1006----2
Ferrari 056-----------D.Coulthard------922----2 failure
Ferrari 056-----------C.Klien-----------533----1
BMW P86------------N.Heidfeld-------1025----2
BMW P86------------R.Kubica---------1065---2
Toyota RVX-06------T.Monteiro--------722---2 accident
Toyota RVX-06------C.Albers----------410----1 accident
Cosworth TJ2005-2--V.Liuzzi-----------624----2 accident
Cosworth TJ2005-2--S.Speed---------1055----2
Honda RA806E-------T.Sato------------916---2 not classified
Honda RA806E-------S.Yamamoto------675----3 failure

Drivers who will get new engines for Monza: Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, Rubens Barrichello & Jenson Button, David Coulthard, Nick Heidfeld & Robert Kubica, Tiago Monteiro, Vitantonio Liuzzi & Scott Speed, Takuma Sato & Sakon Yamamoto.

Drivers allowed to change engines without penalty: Kimi Raikkonen, Christijan Albers.

[Nazmacher]

Strange... I thought Massa and Michael were on the same cycle.

[Nazmacher]

Friday Practice 1

The 19-year-old tester made history in Turkey two weeks ago when he became the youngest Formula One driver at a grand prix weekend, capping that achievement by setting the fastest lap on Friday.

He repeated that trick in Italy today, clocking a best lap of one minute 22.263 seconds to pip BMW-Sauber colleague Robert Kubica to top spot by 0.482secs.

Williams test driver Alex Wurz was third while Kimi Raikkonen, who is expected to be named as a 2007 Ferrari driver on Sunday, guided his McLaren to fourth.

Only 12 drivers set times, with Scuderia Toro Rosso test driver Neel Jani fifth and Midland's Tiago Monteiro sixth.

Honda's gamble on rushing in their 2007 engine this weekend in a bid to beat the planned freeze on engine development looked to have failed after just three minutes of the session.

On his first lap out of the pits, test driver Anthony Davidson's car expired in a plume of smoke, bringing out the red flags as marshals cleared up a long trail of oil.

Neither of Davidson's team-mates, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, risked a lap after that incident.

Davidson's Honda engine failure delayed the session for 10 minutes but the fans in the grandstands missed little, with only a handful of cars taking to the track.

Instead, much of their attention was focused on the Ferrari pit, where Michael Schumacher, watched by an army of photographers, chatted to mechanics and guests.

The German is poised to announce his retirement on Sunday, a decision which has dominated the race weekend. Schumacher, like title rival Fernando Alonso, did not leave the pits.

Times01 S. Vettel BMW 1:23.263 22 laps
02 R. Kubica BMW 1:23.745 5 laps
03 A. Wurz Williams 1:23.868 19 laps
04 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:24.037 5 laps
05 N. Jani Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.196 24 laps
06 T. Monteiro Midland F1 1:25.413 7 laps
07 R. Doornbos Red Bull 1:25.578 19 laps
08 C. Albers Midland F1 1:25.766 7 laps
09 T. Monteiro Midland F1 1:26.708 20 laps
10 S. Yamamoto Super Aguri 1:27.310 20 laps
11 F. Montagny Super Aguri 1:27.597 7 laps
12 G. Mondini Midland F1 1:28.444 7 laps
13 A. Davidson Honda no time 2 laps
14 P. de la Rosa McLaren no time 1 lap
15 F. Massa Ferrari no time 1 laps
16 J. Trulli Toyota no time 2 laps
17 N. Heidfeld BMW no time 1 lap
18 R. Schumacher Toyota no time 2 laps
19 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso no time 3 laps
20 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso no time 1 lap
21 N. Rosberg Williams no time 1 lap
22 M. Webber Williams no time 1 lap
23 C. Klien Red Bull no time 1 lap
24 D. Coulthard Red Bull no time 1 lap
25 F. Alonso Renault no time
26 G. Fisichella Renault no time
27 M. Schumacher Ferrari no time
28 R. Barrichello Honda no time
29 J. Button Honda no time

[Nazmacher]

Friday Practice 2

With a freeze on engine development looming, Honda hoped to steal a march on the opposition by rushing in their 2007 power plant early.

But that looked an ill-advised move when tester Anthony Davidson lasted just half a lap of the first session before a plume of smoke signalled engine failure.

Neither Honda race drivers, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, risked a lap in that session after Davidson's troubles and matters scarcely improved in this afternoon's session.

Davidson managed eight laps before an even more dramatic engine failure, with flames billowing from the rear of his car as he skidded to a halt and dashed to safety.

Button and Barrichello again stayed in the pits for the whole hour, giving them the chance to revert to the older-specification engines without a 10-place grid penalty.

The Honda pair were the only drivers not to set a time in this afternoon's session, which was topped by impressive rookie tester Sebastian Vettel.

The 19-year-old German was fastest this morning and kept up that form by topping the timing sheets for the third time in his four Formula One practice sessions so far.

Vettel's lap of one minute 22.631 seconds beat Michael Schumacher's best by half a second but Ferrari made the right start to their weekend.

Schumacher was the fastest race driver on show, with team-mate Felipe Massa just behind in third, while title rival Fernando Alonso was only eighth in his Renault.

Williams test driver Alex Wurz survived a spin to claim fourth, with the McLarens of Pedro de la Rosa and Kimi Raikkonen fifth and sixth respectively.

Scotsman David Coulthard, who did not set a time this morning, was 18th for Red Bull.

Times
01 S. Vettel BMW 1:22.631 29 laps
02 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:23.138 11 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:23.182 12 laps
04 A. Wurz Williams 1:23.414 26 laps
05 P. de la Rosa McLaren 1:23.970 12 laps
06 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:24.034 11 laps
07 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:24.330 9 laps
08 F. Alonso Renault 1:24.577 15 laps
09 R. Kubica BMW 1:24.813 5 laps
10 F. Montagny Super Aguri 1:24.943 24 laps
11 C. Albers Midland F1 1:24.985 11 laps
12 J. Trulli Toyota 1:25.027 12 laps
13 N. Rosberg Williams 1:25.040 9 laps
14 C. Klien Red Bull 1:25.108 11 laps
15 G. Fisichella Renault 1:25.160 14 laps
16 T. Monteiro Midland F1 1:25.277 12 laps
17 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:25.316 22 laps
18 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:25.318 11 laps
19 A. Davidson Honda 1:25.356 8 laps
20 M. Webber Williams 1:25.500 11 laps
21 G. Mondini Midland F1 1:25.586 29 laps
22 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:25.707 19 laps
23 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:25.755 21 laps
24 N. Jani Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:25.878 32 laps
25 R. Doornbos Red Bull 1:26.058 31 laps
26 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:26.118 21 laps
27 S. Yamamoto Super Aguri 1:26.705 14 laps
28 R. Barrichello Honda no time
29 J. Button Honda no time

[Jack_Bauer]

Nazmacher, if you're gonna cut and paste articles straight from other sources can you please credit the source. Copyright theft is not your friend.

[Jack_Bauer]

Q1 is over, and the big talking point was the spectacular high speed blowout of the left rear Bridgestone tyre on the Super Aguri of Sakon Yamamoto. It caused a red flag and a considerable delay to the session, but more importanly will put a few niggling doubts in the mind of the other Bridgestone runners as the incident seemed totally out of the blue and not caused by any obvious debris.

Once the session got back underway there were a few suprises out there. Schumacher put all thoughts of his impending announcement behind him as he set fastest time, but the big suprise at the top of the grid was Nick Heidfeld's BMW up in third. At the wrong end of the grid the big talking point was an extremely disappointing performance by Mark Webber, his Williams was even beaten by a MF1. Right at the end of the session Klien spun off and stalled the engine and will struggle to get back to the pits in time for Q2

The drivers to drop out are Yamamoto, Sato, Monteiro, Webber, Albers, Liuzzi.

[Jack_Bauer]

Q2 over and done with, and those to lose out are Klien, Speed, Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Rosberg and Trulli.

The big talking point though is just how close it is up at the top of the timesheets. People had been predicting something of a Ferrari walkover with their superb straightline speed, but it really hasn't been the case. The big suprise is both BMWs and the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen being able to get in amongst the Ferraris and Alonso. I don't think anyone would've predicted that before this weekend began. Young Pole Kubica was the suprise package this time around up in P2 just behind Massa, but with just 0.3secs covering the top 3 rows of the grid it should be a thrilling final session.

[Jack_Bauer]

I don't know what odds you would have got for a Raikkonen - Schumacher - Heidfeld top three in qualifying, but if you'd placed a bet you'd probably be rolling in it tonight!

Raikkonen broke the hearts of the Tifosi in the dying seconds with a stunning lap to take pole by just 0.002 secs. Heidfeld compounded Ferrari's disappointment by squeezing in ahead of Felipe Massa for third place. Champion Alonso was in fifth, but that doesn't really tell the story of an eventful session for the Spaniard. After running straight on at the first chicane he suffered a puncture and delamination, which started pulling all sorts of bits off the right rear bodywork. They got him back and patched him up and in reality did extremely well to recover his wounded Renault to fifth. Button was best of the Hondas in sixth, ahead of Kubica, De La Rosa, Barrichello and a very disappointing Fisichella.

Starting grid:

1. Raikkonen
2. M Schumacher
3. Heidfeld
4. Massa
5. Alonso
6. Button
7. Kubica
8. De La Rosa
9. Barrichello
10. Fisichella
11. Trulli
12. Rosberg
13. R Schumacher
14. Coulthard
15. Speed
16. Klien
17. Liuzzi
18. Albers
19. Webber
20. Monteiro
21. Sato
22. Yamamoto

[ptclaus98]

Please don't be on a light fuel load, Kimi!

[Nazmacher]

Oops!... www.planet-f1.com

Yeah, Ferrari weren't totally dominant, especially judging by last weeks test an Monza where Ferrari were like 0.9 of a sec ahead of the rest. But 2 things... one, I dont think Kimi tested last week, and Ferrari may not be pushing as hard, coz they're using race engines now.(Michael has already done one race distance with the same engine)

But the BMW's are flying around, no wonder Vettel was setting some scorchers.

I think we can hope for a good race, gawd, hope those Mclarens can finish. Kimi might just be running light, but one never knows. I don't think Ferrari are too heavy either. Heidfeld and the Renaults? we'll just have to wait and see....

[Zytek_Fan]

Go BMW Sauber!

[Vaigra]

Anybody else really looking forward to the race tomorrow? That qualifying session was awesome with 5 teams with the ability to fight for the win tomorrow!
Alonso has been given a 5-place penalty down to 10th place after Massa complained to officials that he was blocked by Alonso during his final run. Alonso's three fastest times from Q3 were deleted and he now starts from 10th. Should be interesting to see him coming through the field...if he can, now he has that damaged rear wing.
Roll on Sunday afternoon!

[Zytek_Fan]

Of course the Ferrari boys have to bitch about everything

[ptclaus98]

Anybody else really looking forward to the race tomorrow? That qualifying session was awesome with 5 teams with the ability to fight for the win tomorrow!
Alonso has been given a 5-place penalty down to 10th place after Massa complained to officials that he was blocked by Alonso during his final run. Alonso's three fastest times from Q3 were deleted and he now starts from 10th. Should be interesting to see him coming through the field...if he can, now he has that damaged rear wing.
Roll on Sunday afternoon!

Can't wait to see Dino's biased take on this.


If Ferrari wins the WCC, it WILL be a hollow one.