Formula One: Italian Grand Prix at the Monza racetrack Highlights (Part 3)
The race headed to lap 23, with a possibility of seeing the cars especially with the option tyre to take a dive into the pits for new rubber.
A team radio message was a source of breaking news yet again! This time, it was the Red Bull Racing team with the microphone. There was news from the pit crew that Vettel had an engine problem – An engine problem? Nowadays in F1, it’s hard to decipher even the most simple of radio messages. Whether Vettel’s race engineer meant literally or figuratively is still up for debate, as this later saw Webber get past him on the straight. Curiously, Vettel set his personal fastest sector-2 time afterwards and the next lap saw him back up to speed, behind team mate Webber this time though.
Meanwhile, Alguersuari was given a drive through penalty for straight-lining the second chicane. With such tight competition at the lower end of the table and apparent reliability issues for such teams, the Toro Rosso driver could have done without it. However, the team would at least be expecting to get the car home in one piece.
Lap 24 saw Felipe Massa set the fastest lap. The second Ferrari might have decided to take matters into its own hands after seeing Alonso’s lack of luck overtaking the McLaren ahead. Third place Massa still found himself 2.9 seconds behind the duo upfront and lapping within a tenth of a second. Button was about to overtake the back markers, Yamamoto and Senna – A signal that pit stops were on the horizon.
Vettel was lapping around the same time as Webber and was effectively 3 seconds behind his Australian team mate. Hulkenberg was another victim of not being able to keep his car on the racing line, straight lining the first chicane in lap 27. Monza is very hard on the cars braking and seeing cars developing braking issues in the latter stages of the race has often been seen in the past.
Button was later able to set a fastest lap – 4 hundredths faster than Alonso. Barely 0.7 seconds separated the two drivers. With so little to differentiate the front two, a bit of off track strategy became vital whenever the cars decided to pit. Webber was gaining speed as well, right on the back of Hulkenberg. The Williams driver’s subsequent defensive approach to block out the blood thirsty Red Bull behind allowed Vettel to close the gap to his team mate.
The McLaren further extended its advantage. This time however, a prominent 3 tenths quicker than the Ferrari, marginally opening up the gap to 1 second. Alonso was quick to respond with the fastest time in the following lap – Everything you can do, I can do better! Things were heating up as the top 14 cars were yet to pit. It was a matter of keeping a good poker face and to remain unpredictable for the top runners.
In an apparent trade of ‘fastest lap’, Filipe Massa took the honours of going fastest on track. Vettel, thanks to Hulkenberg, was able to close the gap to a mere 1.2 seconds on Webber at the end of 32 laps.
Lap 33 and it was finally a prominent, ‘scheduled’ visit to the pit lane. Force India driver Liuzzi opted for the harder compound tyre. This might suggest a 1 pit stop strategy for the Italian driver, as harder compound tyres last longer and slapping a set in the middle of the race might suggest the same. Meanwhile, Alonso was right on the back of Button. It was important for the McLaren Mercedes driver to open up a prominent margin with a possibility of pitting in the next few laps. The first of the top 10 to enter the pit lane, Kubica brought his Renault for a new set of tyres and rejoined 9th. Button was signalled by his team radio to push.
Lap 36, coming up...
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