High downforce wing works for McLaren in first session (FP1 interactive data)

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The teams were testing different aerodynamic solutions in first practice at Monza and getting very different results.

Those who set the fastest lap times, like McLaren and Renault, were among the slowest through the speed traps.

The interactive data below shows more of what we learned from the first session.

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Tick/untick drivers’ names to show their laps, click and drag to zoom

One of the most interesting developments in first practice at Monza was McLaren choosing to use a normal-style rear wing in addition to their F-duct while others used conventional Monza ‘tea tray’ rear wings.

Despite running these wings McLaren were able to set the fastest lap of the session. But it clearly hurt their straight-line speed.

The fastest driver through the speed trap was Sebastien Buemi at 345kph. Buemi tested a new F-duct for the team at Vairano on Monday and may have been using that. But as he was 6kph faster than anyone it’s likely he was helped by running in the slipstream of another car.

Even so Button was 9.2kph slower than the next-fastest driver, Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes. Button was 16th fastest in a straight line and Lewis Hamilton was 18th, clocking 328.5kph.

Other cars that set good lap times but had slower straight line speeds were the Ferraris. Felipe Massa was 19th fastest, 328.2kph, and Fernando Alonso was 21st on 327.8kph.

The Ferrari drivers mirrored each other closely in their on-track activities and there wasn’t much to choose between their lap times, despite Massa usually faring less well on the hard tyres.

Robert Kubica, who set the fourth fastest lap time, was only 20th fastest through the speed trap, at 328kph. Look out for these teams trying more conventional Monza aerodynamic solutions in the second session.

Interestingly, Sebastian Vettel was fourth-fastest at the speed trap at 336.3kph – not an area that has been a Red Bull strength.

We’ve still got some way to go before we start seeing the best times this weekend. Vettel did his quickest lap at the end of a six-lap stint on 20-lap-old tyres.

Also, these were the hard compound tyres, not the mediums the teams had last year. Even so Button’s best time was three-tenths faster than the best time set in this session last year.

CarDriverCarBest lapGapLapAt timeLaps
11Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’23.693115328
25Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’23.7900.097196827
32Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’23.9670.274126025
411Robert KubicaRenault1’24.1200.427207625
54Nico RosbergMercedes1’24.1290.436227830
66Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’24.4460.753177326
715Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes1’24.5120.819189219
88Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’24.5430.850147224
97Felipe MassaFerrari1’24.6480.955167522
103Michael SchumacherMercedes1’24.7561.063228326
1110Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1’24.8411.148145828
1214Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’24.9231.230218923
1312Vitaly PetrovRenault1’25.2921.599156725
1416Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’25.3181.625289329
1522Pedro de la RosaSauber-Ferrari1’25.3201.627178920
1623Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’25.3341.641198324
1717Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’25.8972.204103219
1824Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’26.7723.079179119
1918Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth1’26.8983.20562112
2025Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth1’26.9563.263168517
2119Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth1’27.3743.68177514
2221Bruno SennaHRT-Cosworth1’28.2564.5637727
239Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’28.5164.8233443
2420Sakon YamamotoHRT-Cosworth1’29.8706.17766417

Ultimate laps

A driver’s ultimate lap is his best three sector times added together:

CarDriverCarUltimate lapGapDeficit to best
11Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’23.6830.010
25Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’23.6970.0140.093
32Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’23.8910.2080.076
44Nico RosbergMercedes1’24.0210.3380.108
511Robert KubicaRenault1’24.0680.3850.052
615Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes1’24.3660.6830.146
78Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’24.3870.7040.156
87Felipe MassaFerrari1’24.3870.7040.261
96Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’24.4340.7510.012
103Michael SchumacherMercedes1’24.6400.9570.116
1110Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1’24.6670.9840.174
1214Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’24.6780.9950.245
1322Pedro de la RosaSauber-Ferrari1’25.0351.3520.285
1416Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’25.1961.5130.122
1512Vitaly PetrovRenault1’25.2041.5210.088
1623Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’25.2431.5600.091
1717Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’25.7292.0460.168
1818Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth1’26.7083.0250.190
1924Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’26.7723.0890.000
2025Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth1’26.9123.2290.044
2119Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth1’27.1743.4910.200
229Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’28.0724.3890.444
2321Bruno SennaHRT-Cosworth1’28.2564.5730.000
2420Sakon YamamotoHRT-Cosworth1’29.3325.6490.538

2010 Italian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    16 comments on “High downforce wing works for McLaren in first session (FP1 interactive data)”

    1. Fernando and Felipe have exactly the same ultimate lap!

      1. Does that suggest that they’re getting the absolute maximum out of the car I wonder…

        1. Sound_Of_Madness
          10th September 2010, 12:31

          Rather not. Lotus can’t be 2 sec out of them.

          1. You never know it could be true, the engines slightly less powerful but not too bad. The area where the new teams are lacking is aerodynamics which is less important at monza so you never know (plus 2 seconds is still a mile in f1)

        2. I did have the feeling from the graph, that Ferrari is not as consistently driving those laps. Especially compared to McLaren and some of Vettels runs.

    2. Interesting. So Red Bull is running their F-duct (or not? Webber was a lot slower, was he running it or not?), but have very low wing, so their speed is a tad better on the straights. That would make them favourite in a race, as the difference with McLaren is pretty small.

      But is it possible McLaren was hiding a bit of revs to mask their speed?

      1. I doubt that, if they were doing that and still managed to be quickest then they’re miles quicker than everyone else. I suspect its just down to running more wing

    3. So Vettel has done only qualifying simulations while Webber also mixed in a race simulation.

      Is the qualification that important here? I thought this was a track where overtaking is actually possible.

      1. Alonso did say that this track is usually won at the first corner but then that could be true about many races in the past but this year has been chaos.
        Maybe it’s just driver preference and Seb wants to qualify as high up as possible as he’s scared of the Mclaren’s race pace so it might be the only chance to keep them behind?

      2. I think Vettel might be worried at not getting the best at Spa, and then fumbling the whole race. Arguably, he has needed to be on the front row to have success this year, while Hamilton, Button, Kubica and Webber (Alonso? not sure) have done better even if they weren’t ahead after the first lap.

    4. Wow 345 KPH that’s 214mph pretty quick :) not much wrong with a customer Ferrari lump then.

    5. Sector times say Hamilton running more wing that Button, and Webber more than Vettel.

    6. can tems run the f-duct with such thin wings? I dont think there will be a big enough surface area for the f-duct to blow onto, possibly why mclaren, renault, ferrari are running standard wings?

    7. Sorry, may be old here but have you seen Toro Rosso’s F-duct?

      http://bit.ly/cCZZ1z

      Completely different to the others I’ve seen and they were fastest on the straights most of the day.

    8. mclearn & ferrari great performance in singapore gp

    9. ferrari not much consistant than the mclearen through out the laps in this gp , but performance of ferrari is good

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