Lewis Hamilton had the fastest combined sector times in the second practice session.
He was on course to improve his time on soft tyres when he caught traffic.
Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time but his poor straight line speed may require Red Bull to make a set-up change.
Longest stint comparison
- The tyres appear to be holding up well over a stint for most teams.
- There isn’t much to choose between McLaren and Red Bull on stint performance. Although Jenson Button lapped slower than Sebastian Vettel, this is most likely down to fuel load. The drop-off in tyre performance through the stint is more significant, and the two were closely matched in this respect.
- Button said: “There’s a fresh surface on quite a lot of the circuit, so there’s quite a bit of sliding about, which is tough on the tyres, particularly over a long run.”
- Vettel is wary of McLaren’s potential. He said: “It’s a track that traditionally doesn’t suit us, but we were happy with the car today. McLaren look very quick in particular and the ones to beat this weekend, but it’s very difficult to judge on a Friday as so many factors are involved.”
- The picture at Ferrari is less clear: Fernando Alonso ran a shorter stint but his times looked good. Felipe Massa stayed out for more laps than Button and Vettel, but his times dropped off more quickly.
https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |
Sebastian Vettel | 89.095 | 88.05 | 88.216 | 88.765 | 87.947 | 87.675 | 87.573 | 87.992 | 88.064 | |||||
Mark Webber | 89.703 | 88.94 | 88.397 | 88.197 | 88.226 | 88.043 | 88.088 | 90.052 | 88.93 | |||||
Lewis Hamilton | 90.388 | 91.229 | 89.21 | 89.261 | ||||||||||
Jenson Button | 91.026 | 89.919 | 89.374 | 89.406 | 89.354 | 88.989 | 89.433 | 89.142 | 89.006 | |||||
Fernando Alonso | 89.946 | 87.588 | 90.418 | 86.575 | 103.719 | 86.088 | ||||||||
Felipe Massa | 89.618 | 89.331 | 89.195 | 89.112 | 89.997 | 89.046 | 89.36 | 89.529 | 89.853 | 89.67 | 89.821 | |||
Michael Schumacher | 90.239 | 90.258 | 89.219 | 89.796 | 90.003 | 89.624 | 89.797 | 89.922 | 89.927 | 89.797 | 89.409 | 93.149 | 89.323 | 89.734 |
Nico Rosberg | 89.986 | 89.66 | 89.926 | 89.622 | 93.895 | 89.833 | 89.541 | 89.257 | 89.335 | 94.21 | 89.519 | |||
Bruno Senna | 92.256 | 91.75 | 90.91 | 90.925 | 90.907 | 90.821 | 90.822 | 91.639 | 90.859 | |||||
Vitaly Petrov | 89.944 | 89.86 | 89.227 | 89.411 | 89.341 | 89.387 | 89.24 | 89.413 | 89.259 | 89.621 | 89.835 | 90.805 | 89.897 | |
Rubens Barrichello | 92.096 | 91.506 | 91.352 | 91.124 | 90.514 | 95.32 | 90.855 | 90.386 | 92.736 | 93.062 | 90.833 | 91.801 | ||
Pastor Maldonado | 92.93 | 91.932 | 91.11 | 91.31 | 90.494 | 91.072 | 91.353 | 90.955 | 92.172 | 90.984 | 91.205 | 91.283 | 92.748 | 93.802 |
Adrian Sutil | 89.004 | 89.053 | 88.721 | 89.919 | 89.812 | 89.775 | 90.479 | 89.84 | 89.813 | 89.83 | 91.227 | 89.937 | ||
Paul di Resta | 90.853 | 90.185 | 90.067 | 90.004 | 89.916 | 90.031 | 89.59 | 90.024 | 89.86 | 89.675 | 89.896 | 90.107 | 90.024 | 89.978 |
Kamui Kobayashi | 90.849 | 90.21 | 90.364 | 90.685 | 91.888 | 90.218 | 93.298 | |||||||
Sergio Perez | 89.508 | 89.376 | 89.216 | 89.65 | 90.212 | 89.375 | 89.239 | 93.84 | 89.14 | 90.505 | 89.564 | |||
Sebastien Buemi | 92.493 | 88.347 | 93.039 | |||||||||||
Jaime Alguersuari | 90.942 | 90.783 | 90.37 | 90.355 | 90.589 | 90.462 | 90.467 | 90.716 | 90.789 | 90.895 | ||||
Heikki Kovalainen | 97.221 | 92.317 | 91.236 | 91.699 | 91.238 | 91.259 | 90.997 | 91.35 | 90.791 | |||||
Jarno Trulli | 92.067 | 94.131 | 92.459 | 92.583 | 92.912 | 92.205 | 92.62 | |||||||
Daniel Ricciardo | 89.841 | 89.968 | 91.017 | |||||||||||
Vitantonio Liuzzi | 93.093 | 91.795 | 92.166 | 93.249 | 92.273 | 92.779 | 92.264 | 92.247 | 92.721 | 92.706 | 93.813 | |||
Timo Glock | 94.05 | 88.804 | 92.675 | 91.245 | 89.208 | |||||||||
Jerome d’Ambrosio | 92.685 | 91.86 | 96.147 | 93.758 | 91.869 | 97.042 | 91.735 | 91.306 |
Ultimate lap times
An ultimate lap is a driver’s fastest three sector times combined.
- Hamilton was poised to improve his best time when he caught Jaime Alguersuari. Based on his sector time he was on course to improve his time.
- Hamilton was fastest in the middle sector, almost four tenths of a second quicker than anyone else.
- “We spent today working on wing set-ups,” said Hamilton, “it looked like some teams may have been running lower downforce than us – but once we used DRS we were looking pretty good. It’s interesting to see the different downforce levels – some teams are faster along the straights – but we’re faster through the middle sector. It’s always a compromise, but our long-run pace doesn’t look at all bad.”
- Vettel was only eighth-fastest in the first sector, where the top three were Michael Schumacher, Hamilton and Bruno Senna.
Car | Driver | Car | Ultimate lap | Gap | Deficit to best | |
1 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’23.563 | 0.483 | |
2 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’23.979 | 0.416 | 0.031 |
3 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’24.280 | 0.717 | 0.188 |
4 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’24.318 | 0.755 | 0.048 |
5 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’24.328 | 0.765 | 0.105 |
6 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’24.347 | 0.784 | 0.000 |
7 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’24.508 | 0.945 | 0.000 |
8 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’24.824 | 1.261 | 0.273 |
9 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’25.182 | 1.619 | 0.000 |
10 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1’25.264 | 1.701 | 0.061 |
11 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’25.440 | 1.877 | 0.010 |
12 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’25.496 | 1.933 | 0.000 |
13 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’25.683 | 2.120 | 0.000 |
14 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’25.746 | 2.183 | 0.012 |
15 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’26.202 | 2.639 | 0.000 |
16 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1’26.307 | 2.744 | 0.046 |
17 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’27.972 | 4.409 | 0.375 |
18 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1’28.296 | 4.733 | 0.263 |
19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1’28.520 | 4.957 | 0.085 |
20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’28.727 | 5.164 | 0.077 |
21 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’29.061 | 5.498 | 0.123 |
22 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1’29.122 | 5.559 | 0.040 |
23 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’29.376 | 5.813 | 0.246 |
24 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 1’29.551 | 5.988 | 0.290 |
Complete practice times
- Mercedes, who have been quick in a straight line this year, look capable of challenging Ferrari in qualifying.
- Nico Rosberg did not do a low-fuel run in second practice after being delayed by a KERS problem.
- The track seemed to offer less grip in the warmer conditions of second practice and Vettel’s best time on softs was slower than Hamilton’s on mediums in first practice.
Speed trap
- Vettel’s difficulties in the high-speed first sector are down to his poor straight-line speed – as in the first session he was almost 20kph slower than the fastest. Red Bull may have to reduce his wing angles to find more straight-line speed and avoid being vulnerable in the race, which will cost him elsewhere in the lap.
# | Driver | Car | Engine | Max speed | Gap | |
1 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | Renault | 347 | |
2 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | Ferrari | 344.2 | 2.8 |
3 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 342.9 | 4.1 |
4 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 342.5 | 4.5 |
5 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus | Renault | 341.7 | 5.3 |
6 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | Ferrari | 341.2 | 5.8 |
7 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus | Renault | 340.1 | 6.9 |
8 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | Ferrari | 339.7 | 7.3 |
9 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India | Mercedes | 338.9 | 8.1 |
10 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | Mercedes | 338.8 | 8.2 |
11 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | Renault | 338.6 | 8.4 |
12 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | Mercedes | 338.5 | 8.5 |
13 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | Cosworth | 337.1 | 9.9 |
14 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | Renault | 336.7 | 10.3 |
15 | 25 | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Virgin | Cosworth | 336.5 | 10.5 |
16 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | Ferrari | 336.4 | 10.6 |
17 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT | Cosworth | 335.8 | 11.2 |
18 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren | Mercedes | 335.6 | 11.4 |
19 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | Mercedes | 334.5 | 12.5 |
20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin | Cosworth | 332 | 15 |
21 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT | Cosworth | 329.8 | 17.2 |
22 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams | Cosworth | 329.5 | 17.5 |
23 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Mercedes | 329 | 18 |
24 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | Renault | 327.9 | 19.1 |
2011 Italian Grand Prix
Images © McLaren, Daimler
Nixon
9th September 2011, 17:39
Looks like its going to be Mclaren’s race.
JT19 (@jt19)
9th September 2011, 18:14
Hope so!
David BR
9th September 2011, 18:15
…to mess up.
Steph (@)
9th September 2011, 21:39
I hope not. I wouldn’t mind Mclaren winning the next few races but it doesn’t feel right when they do at Ferrari’s home :P
matt90 (@matt90)
9th September 2011, 21:43
Ferrari did it to McLaren… I wouldn’t have much sympathy ;)
Cacarella
9th September 2011, 17:44
who would have thought that out of the top ten speed trap times there would only be two Mercedes powered cars in 9th and 10th places.
… and that they’d be the Force Indias!!
@HoHum (@hohum)
9th September 2011, 17:50
And a Renault at the top! Looks like the heavy hitters have been analysing Red Bull strategy and moving in that direction.
TFLB
9th September 2011, 17:57
It’s not really surprising at all that they’re Force Indias, they’ve usually been near the top in top speed for several years now.
@HoHum (@hohum)
9th September 2011, 18:22
But 9th. and 10th. is not near the top TFLB.
TFLB
9th September 2011, 21:26
Yes I know it isn’t. I was just indicating that it’s not surprising the FIs are ahead of the Mercedes in the speed trap. That the Mercedes-engined cars are so low down does surprise me, however.
@HoHum (@hohum)
9th September 2011, 21:29
I think that was Cacarellas main point.
BBT
9th September 2011, 19:16
BasCB (@bascb)
9th September 2011, 20:02
It does make sense, these are all cars that will not be able to get to the front with a better sector 2, so they go for high top speed on the straights instead.
I must say though, that I am curious how much further down Red Bull will be able to go with their wings before there is nowhere to go on them anymore. Today they already had the rear as flat as teams like FI and Mercedes.
raymondu999 (@raymondu999)
10th September 2011, 1:43
Technically the regulations don’t stipulate a rear wing. The regulations only require endplates
Alfie
10th September 2011, 8:19
ooh, so no rear grip but 300MPH! :D
Mike
10th September 2011, 8:30
Oh haha! Fantastic observation.
@HoHum (@hohum)
9th September 2011, 17:46
Keith, as I mentioned in p2 summary comments, Kobayashis front right tyre looked destroyed in the quick glimpse I saw of his car pulled of the track near session-end. Do we know if tyre failure was the cause of his retirement and if so why?
Fixy (@)
9th September 2011, 17:50
I feel Massa has another chance to beat Alonso this weekend, but with the Mercedes so close it could all be useless.
Eggry (@eggry)
9th September 2011, 18:07
Even if Massa outqualify Alonso once again, Mercedes could ruin it as usual. Massa needs more race pace and aggressive move to hunt Mercedes…that how I feel through the season. When holding behind Mercedes, Alonso have dealt with them much better while Massa has been caught behind very long.
bosyber
10th September 2011, 9:16
Well said, by now I almost expect Alonso to be focusing on race pace and not even worry about Massa qualifying ahead of him; Massa really needs to find a way to carve through the field better.
Not exactly like HAM perhaps, but watching footage of Alonso, Webber and Button from Spa could have served him well!
kowalsky
9th September 2011, 17:50
wouldn’t be nice to see schumacher getting on the podium? He is getting closer to rosberg all the time, if he could just do a small step forward. Next year may be his year. Never understimate him.
Sean Evans
9th September 2011, 18:37
You’re right do no underestimate Schuey… would be one of the most silly things you could do…
dkfektor
9th September 2011, 19:27
people have been saying that for over 30 races, and schuey has not delivered. that is much more time then other drivers have be given in f1, and not in a midfield car, and he has been soundly beaten in the majority of those 30 plus races by his teammate. maybe he will race for another 5 years, and in 4 years time, with no podium, people will still be saying “do no underestimate schuey” well i “estimate” him, and i estimate him to be well past his prime and taking up huge resources with his salary from a team that could better spend that money on building a decent car for their best driver (rosberg).
Spaulding (@spaulding)
9th September 2011, 20:41
Maybe they can’t if Rosberg is like some drivers and can’t develop a car for beans. The real reason that Schumi and many other great drivers are so good is that they can figure out the setups and which parts are worthwhile better than pretty much everyone else involved.
Of course, that would be the only reason I can think of to keep Schumi (or Barrichello, Liuzzi, etc.) around at this point, and I’m a big fan of Schumacher. He certainly doesn’t have the consistant speed that he used to.
Skett (@skett)
9th September 2011, 23:59
I suspect that Rosberg is good at setting a car up tbh, williams was at the front of the midfield before he left!
Eggry (@eggry)
9th September 2011, 18:03
Longer stint of Ferrari is not bad but qualifying pace is quastionable…FP3 will tell us clearer picture.
Eggry (@eggry)
9th September 2011, 18:18
Top speed difference between Red Bull duo is interesting. Vettel is almost 10kph slower than Webber, but he’s clearly faster than him in lap time…could it be different setup?
@HoHum (@hohum)
9th September 2011, 20:18
Possible, but I saw a couple of Webbers hot laps run into traffic.
Rits
11th September 2011, 8:26
Vettel went for a higher downforce setup with shorter shift ratios.
matt90 (@matt90)
9th September 2011, 18:09
Can anybody tell me how much DRS is estimated to be worth per lap, if used all the way round?
Eggry (@eggry)
9th September 2011, 18:15
Well it should be more than 1 sec I think. About 2 sec? I’m not sure how exactly…
jw393 (@)
9th September 2011, 18:28
Getting voted the “best driver of 2011” must of been a bit of a boost for poor Lewis! He looked quite chuffed with himself. It’s a good word against the naysayers also, as if anyone can be said to be the heart of motor racing passion and support, and therefore know what they’re talking about, its the Italians. Good on him, good on them, and hopefully the critics can write something good about Hamilton for the first time since germany. They try to write about Vettel but he’s too boring.
On a side note Jenson managed to hold off alonso last year all the way until he got overtaken in the pits. He was running the ‘higher’ downforce option like the Mclaren’s are again this year. So maybe that’s their target, play on last years’ success and refine it. Hope for a 1-2
Rob
9th September 2011, 19:10
They didn’t have DRS last year.
Can you post a link to the “Vote” you were referring to plz?
jw393 (@)
9th September 2011, 21:10
http://twitter.com/#!/TheFifthDriver.
By Low DF i meant general set up, not just Deployable RW. If you remember, and Lewis refers to this in his post practice BBC interview, him and Jenson ran different set-ups. Jenson went for greater DF and ended up qualifying ahead and leading half the race.
Interview w/ BBC here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/14855808.stm
Hope this helps!
Rob
9th September 2011, 23:12
The only “best driver” vote I take seriously is the one which lets the actual f1 drivers vote.
jw393 (@)
9th September 2011, 21:17
Sorry, here’s the website of the Italian Driving Assoc. If you can read Italian! I can’t, but it’s the body that gives the award every year. Its not always for “best driver”. JB got it, and Seb got it as well at some point.
http://195.103.237.153/minisiti/categorie/autoriparazione/se_autoriparazione.jsp
David-A (@david-a)
10th September 2011, 0:47
If Vettel is “boring” they missed Belgium, and a ton of other races.
applesmack
9th September 2011, 23:44
Jaime should be thankful that Lewis didn’t hit him then.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
10th September 2011, 5:57
Wow. Vettel is 20km/h slower than the fastest driver through the speed trap, but he still sets the fastest lap time.
Mike
10th September 2011, 8:40
… Which tells you he’s running a high down force set up to achieve the optimum lap times in the race and have an advantage in qualifying.
Red Bull appear to be banking on him being able to drive into the distance in the race.
If he can’t break away from other cars or gets stuck in traffic he will be a sitting duck. He also needs to get enough of a lead so that when Mclaren inevitably become the car to beat later in the race, they don’t catch him.
This is going to be an interesting weekend.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
10th September 2011, 9:41
I saw the drivers struggling a little with grip at Parabolica, fascinating to see the grip levels improve as the surface runners in. Such an unnerving wobble!