Formula One: Italian Grand Prix – 1 race, 24 different reactions (Part 5)
While it might be competitive at the top, there is no denying the bottleneck at the tail end of the constructor’s standings. They may not be amongst the points, but they were racing against each other. The feature moves on with word from the Sauber and Virgin
F1 racing teams.
Sauber
Pedro de la Rosa made a relatively good dash from the start line, overtaking Jamie Alguersuari on the way. The next stage of the plan included pushing flat out, and looking to keep close with the cars in front. Rubens Barrichello was basically a chain to
the rest of the field up front, a yardstick for the driver to pace his race. However, after losing touch with the Williams’ driver, it appeared that the best of the Sauber was clearly not enough as it was evidently losing pace.
It was a tough race from then onwards for the former McLaren Mercedes driver. Pedro de la Rosa further added that he and the team knew that Monza was going to be a difficult outing, proof of which could be seen as early as practice session 3 as the Sauber
looked twitchy and lacking performance. Whether the dip in performance was down to the car or driver, it is hard to say. This turned out to be de la Rosa’s final race for the Sauber team as he failed to do as much as his teammate despite all his experience.
Sauber’s third driver, Nick Heidfield is set to take his spot for the remainder of the season at least.
Kamui Kobayashi, arguably the most promising new comer of 2010, was rather crestfallen not getting into the top 10. Kobayashi has often found himself in the point scoring positions this term and currently sits in 12th position in the driver’s
standings, ahead of Renault’s Petrov. Kobayashi conceded that his car looked good in race conditions. However, on his first installation lap, the driver noticed something wrong with the car which further led to problems with the transmission. A premature dive
into the pits, even before the race started, meant starting from the pits.
The driver claimed that the team evidently tried everything to fix it. After a spontaneous patch up and having to push from the back end of the grid effectively, it was no surprise that the Japanese had to stop fairly soon because of the problem. In the
end, Kobayashi simply said that such things happen and one needs to move on, stay hungry and motivated. The Japanese driver after a disastrous Italian Grand Prix, looked all set to returning to Asia, his home continent, for the race in Singapore.
Virgin F1
Timo Glock felt he made a good start and it looked all rosy going into turn one. He nearly got in front of both Lotus after turn one. He was able to overtake Kovalainen, but Jarno Truli, who was in a better position in the chicane before turn two was able
to close the door right at the end and stay ahead. The opening laps were rather competitive as the Virgin was able to put a lot of pressure on the Lotus ahead but the car suffered with the rear brakes.
Despite feeling that he had to over drive the car to not only stay in contention but also retain his position on track, the German was quick to commend the team for an efficient pit stop that complimented his hard work. The quick stop was able to keep the
Virgin ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in the Lotus. The race engineer was the perfect wingman on the day as Glock was able to manage to get through the traffic in a blue flag period. All in all, it was a good race for the team claimed the driver.
Lucas di Grassi had to encounter a lot of problems. After making a slow start, the driver had to say goodbye to Monza before the 53 laps as he retired with a mechanical problem unfortunately with just a single lap left. The Brazilian looked to put the race
behind him and look forward to whatever Singapore promises on the 26th of this month. The driver also revealed that the team had an upgrade to the car for the next Grand Prix.
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