Sep 9, 2011
Getty Images
We all talk about the excitement of racing at Monza, with its high speed straights and car breaking kerbs, but until you actually go and stand trackside and see for yourself, you cannot grasp just how thrilling it is. That’s why, if you venture out on track on Friday at the Italian Grand Prix, you will meet plenty of F1 workers not required in the pit lane actually trekking out to a chicane to experience it first hand. Despite all the advances in TV technology, nothing can capture the thrill of feeling the ground move as 24 Formula 1 cars thunder past your nose.
Unfortunately, Sébastien Buemi did less “thundering past” than expected, as he only managed five laps in the afternoon session before a driving error saw him bounce off the tyre barriers. However, apart from that, it was an encouraging start to the home weekend for Scuderia Toro Rosso, with Jaime Alguersuari pleased with the performance of his TR6 and even Sébastien said that this morning’s signs were encouraging. Pirelli has brought the same Medium and Soft tyres the teams ran a fortnight ago in Belgium and so far the Italian rubber seems to be working well for its home race. Even if September is not supposed to be the warmest month of the year, after a miserable summer of wet and cold Grands Prix, the sun is putting on as spectacular a display as the cars with temperatures exceeding 30º Celsius and track temperature going up by over 20º between the morning and afternoon sessions.
Despite having a very short session, Buemi was credited with the seventeenth-fastest time this afternoon, while Alguersuari was fourteenth. Top of the time sheet was Sebastian Vettel for Red Bull Racing, followed by Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren. Third was Michael Schumacher and if that seems better than usual, it’s down to the fact that all season long the Mercedes has shown good top speed and that’s what you need here. Behind the German came the Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, with Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, completing the top six.
Credit: Toro Rosso (www.scuderiatororosso.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment