Monza Italian Grand Prix

[Luci]

Would absolutely love MacLaren to beat Ferrari on home turf this weekend.

Hamilton won there last year in the GP2 Championship and hopefully in with a shout again this year.

[land_of_bo]

Well the Ferrari's have a 1-2 in practice, Hamilton 3rd

[Luci]

Britain's Jenson Button was sixth-quickest in his Honda

I didn't expect that at all.

Maybe if Hamilton gets 3rd he will overtake drivers ahead of him to stop Dachauer moaning about the fact he apparently can't overtake  

[Northern Red]

Raikkonen likes Monza so should be a pole to flag winner.
Massa's superb at the moments so he's 2nd.
Alonso or Hamilton fighting over 3rd I'm afraid.
If I was Lewis I'd go heavy and hope for a safety car.

What I'd like to see is:
Alonso qualifies 3rd and tries a stonking overtake move into the first chicane taking out both Ferrari's. Lewis wins...

[Luci]

Im going for:

Massa
Raikkonen
Hamilton
Alonso

Button will probably drop to about 8th from 6th (if thats where he starts) and I'd like to see Kubica do well as I think hes a good driver.

[pumbaa]

Raikkonen likes Monza so should be a pole to flag winner.Massa's superb at the moments so he's 2nd.
Alonso or Hamilton fighting over 3rd I'm afraid.
If I was Lewis I'd go heavy and hope for a safety car.

What I'd like to see is:
Alonso qualifies 3rd and tries a stonking overtake move into the first chicane taking out both Ferrari's. Lewis wins...

Strange that he's never won there though....

What I'd like to see is:
Alonso qualifies 3rd and tries a stonking overtake move into the first chicane taking out Lewis and himself. Ferrari dominates, close up the WC battle and Alonso get vilified by the British press once again.

[Northern Red]

Raikonen finished 2nd there last year in a piece of shit Mclaren, and qualified on Pole.
But the Ferraris were fastest all weekend and fueled longer and were outqualified, only to later take the lead.

BMW qualified well 3rd and 5th last year, Kubica taking 3rd from 5th.

In short the Ferrari's may sacrifice qualifying to run a little longer during the race.

[Batch]

The interesting development in "Stpeneygate" means the whole season could be  a wash out if MacLaren are found guilty the FIA get tough...


http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/62097

FIA president Max Mosley confirmed in a letter to Formula One teams last week that the new evidence that has led to a fresh hearing over the Ferrari spy saga did come from McLaren's drivers, autosport.com can reveal.

Speculation at Monza ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix pointed towards an email exchange between Fernando Alonso and McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa that took place shortly after the start of the season.

Sources have revealed that in the emails, de la Rosa makes reference to Ferrari set-up secrets that he had obtained from McLaren's suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan.

It is unclear at this stage who tipped off the FIA about the existence of the email exchange.

McLaren and the FIA have not commented on the nature of the new evidence, but autosport.com can confirm that all F1 teams were informed last week that McLaren drivers had been in possession of 'written evidence relevant to this investigation.'

Mosley wrote to all 11 teams last Friday making it clear that it was their duty to provide any evidence relating to the spy affair.

Similar letters were also sent to Alonso, de la Rosa and Lewis Hamilton, asking them to provide any evidence they had in exchange for an 'amnesty' over any possible sanctions.

Although the FIA has not publicly confirmed or denied that the letter was sent to the teams, autosport.com has obtained a copy from an unidentified source detailing the nature of its latest investigation.

In it, Mosley says the FIA was made aware of: "an allegation that one or more McLaren drivers may be in possession, or that such drivers have recently been in possession, of written evidence relevant to this investigation."

Mosley says it is the FIA's duty to find out if this allegation is true and therefore requires the cooperation of all teams involved to provide documents, and then he drops a big hint about email exchanges.

The letter adds: "In particular (though without limiting the generality of this request) the FIA wishes to receive copies of any electronic communications (howsoever conveyed or stored) which may be relevant to this case and which make reference to Ferrari, Nigel Stepney or any technical or other information coming from, or connected with, either Ferrari or Mr Stepney."

It is understood that Alonso and de la Rosa subsequently provided the information about their email exchange at the start of this week, which prompted the FIA to recall the World Motor Sport Council for a hearing on September 13.

[Luci]

How far would Alonso go to scupper Hamiltons rookie season?

I'm not ruling out that he could be involved more than first thought.

[Batch]

How far would Alonso go to get the fuck out of him MacLaren contract more like...

[Luci]

Interesting that the Maclarens should be quicker than both Ferraris in the second session  :shock:

Second practice session times for the Italian Grand Prix

1. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 1 min 22.386 secs
2. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:23.209
3. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 1:23.584
4. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:23.599
5. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 1:23.679
6. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:23.722
7. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:23.821
8. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:23.833
9. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault 1:23.848
10. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams - Toyota 1:23.881

First practice session times for the Italian Grand Prix

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1 min 22.446 secs
2. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:22.590
3. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:22.618
4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 1:22.840
5. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 1:23.472
6. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1:23.668
7. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 1:23.671
8. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1:23.703
9. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 1:23.886
10. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1:23.965

[Ralphy]

I'm off to Monza in a month  

World Touring Car Championship.

[Matchworn Shirts]

I don't think that you should read too much into free practice times

[Luci]

I don't, just like to see whats going on.

[lebowski]

if ferrari aren't winning, the tifosi would love to see hamilton topple alonso, if only because alonso beat schumacher 2 years running.

i cant see mclaren winning a straight race with ferrari at monza (or spa, for that matter), but this has been a very eventful season, so nothing would surprise me.