Formula One: Monza, Practice Session 1
With the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, the first practice session kicked off today. Jenson Button topped the opening practice session in blazing sunshine around the beautiful Monza circuit.
The British driver got off to a superb start in his attempts to stay close to the title contenders and be able to give McLaren Mercedes a shout at the Constructor’s championship. There was no denying the former world champion’s determination.
“I need to have a good race here and challenge for the victory to claw some points back” were the words of the former champion.
The hour and a half long first free practice session saw Jenson Button post a time of 1m 23.693s, followed by Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing Renault a mere 0.097 seconds apart. The German lapped in 1m 23.790 seconds. Lewis Hamilton, the man tipped to be champion this year was naturally in the hunt this time as well with an impressive third. His lap time was a close 1m 23.967 seconds.
All three podium men were the only drivers in the 1 min 23 second bracket. However, if there were anyone that remotely looked threatening enough to break that barrier, it was a stunning lap time from Renault F1’s Robert Kubica with his 1m 24.120 seconds with Nico Roseberg surprisingly a mere 0.009 seconds shy.
Mark Webber looked stable, despite the RBR team accepting that their prospects for Monza weren’t all that bright compared to McLaren Mercedes or Ferrari. The Australian posted an encouraging 1m 24.446s.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa got off to slow starts, with both eighth and ninth respectively. The Ferrari outfit is expected to raise the bars this term on what’s regarded as their home turf.
Vitaly Petrov came 13th in the second Renault; his lap time was 1m 25.292s. The times after the Renault were extremely close - Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi (1m 25.318s), BMW Saubers drivers Pedro de la Rosa (1m 25.320s), Kamui Kobayashi (1m 25.334s) and Jaime Alguersuari (1m 25.897s) in the second Toro Rosso.
Timo Glock was on pole for Virgin F1 as his time was 1m 26.772s, just ahead of Jarno Trulli in the Lotus on 1m 26.898s and team mate Lucas di Grassi on 1m 26.956s.
Heikki Kovalainen came 21st in the second Lotus – His time, 1m 27.374s. HRT’s Bruno Senna (1m 28.256s) and Williams’ Rubens Barrichello (1m 28.516s) were constricted due to mechanical problems. Sakon Yamamoto concluded the top 24 with a lap time of 1m 29.870s for HRT.
Overall the practice session passed without much drama, with mechanical problems for Bruno Senna and Rubens Barrichello the only major issues. Another important feature involved McLaren Mercedes and Williams F1, both running their F-ducts while the Renault F1 team opted otherwise. Seeing the lap time for Kubica, the decision to abandon the F ducts is still a standing debate.
Here is the final classification at the end of Practice Session 1 for the Italian Grand Prix 2010:
1. Button
2. Vettel
3. Hamilton
4. Kubica
5. Rosberg
6. Webber
7. Liuzzi
8. Alonso
9. Massa
10. Schumacher
11. Hulkenberg
12. Di Resta
13. Petrov
14. Buemi
15. De la Rosa
16. Kobayashi
17. Alguersuari
18. Glock
19. Trulli
20. Di Grassi
21. Kovalainen
22. Senna
23. Barrichello
24. Yamamoto
This is merely the outcome of a tentative first practice session and should not solely be considered as a yardstick for the race on Sunday. It might still be subject to change as many teams might still be a little tentative with their first bite of Monza. The Ferrari’s are obviously expected to improve on their lap times, the likes of Fernando Alonso might just be taking a conservative approach; taking it slow till the time that it really matters as the Spaniard is down to his last allotted engine for this summer. On a lighter note, Rubens Barrichello does expect being a realistic challenger in his 301st Grand Prix; the Brazilian had a collision in turn one in the last race and would ideally be hoping for a longer stay this time. However, it is encouraging to see a Mercedes in the top 5 – Michael Schumacher you have work to do!
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