ITALIAN GRAND PRIX - POST RACE SUMMARY
GRID STOPS, LAP BEST LAP RESULT
NICO ROSBERG P8 1, 30 1.24.472 (8th, lap 52) P6
ALEX WURZ P13 1, 37 1.25.000 (16th, lap 42) P13
SYNOPSIS
The AT&T Williams team had a productive Italian GP, the
first of a pair of backto- back high speed, low downforce
races, and with a strong sixth place and three points secured
by Nico Rosberg, have not just further consolidated fifth
place in the Constructor’s Championship, but have continued
the reduce the gap to fourth place. With a pre-race test the
week before the race, most preparation work on cooling, brakes,
the finessing of mechanical set-up and allimportant decisions
concerning wing settings had largely been taken, leaving Friday’s
two practice sessions for tyre evaluations and final preparations.
The team was satisfied to finish P2 on Friday with two cars
in the top ten, Nico setting the fifth fastest time of the
final session of the day.
Overnight on Friday, Alex’s car was fitted with a new
engine, while Nico’s Toyota engine, having endured a
full race distance in Istanbul at full revs and in high ambient
temperatures at around 380C, was facing another stern test
with the high duty levels demanded by the Monza circuit. On
Saturday morning, both cars looked to have sufficient pace
to graduate all the way through qualifying to Q3, but morning
practice failed to decisively separate the tyres in terms
of performance, with the team choosing to use the option tyre
for its flying laps. In the event, qualifying proved to be
quite a test, with Nico encountering traffic on his first
flying lap in Q1 and Alex losing time to an electronics set-up
download that kept him in the garage. Nico managed to graduate
to Q2 with his second flying lap and Alex managed to progress
to the second session on the basis of a good first lap time.
Into Q2, Nico progressed smoothly into the final session,
while Alex finished the afternoon in P13. Nico finished out
Q3 in P8, carrying plenty of fuel for his planned one-stop
strategy on race day. The team determined that two-stopping
and the likely relative weight advantage would only have promoted
him by a place on the grid in qualifying and subjected him
to a strategy that would have been not just five seconds slower,
but more compromised in terms of likely traffic and potential
safety cars.
Come Sunday, Nico unfortunately was adjudged by the FIA to
have held eighth place by missing part of the second chicane
and was obliged to drop the position to Jenson Button. Being
stuck behind the Honda compromised Nico’s race strategy
significantly, pushing him back into the runners behind and
allowing the Renault of the two-stopping Kovalainen to open
a gap ahead of him. However, on lap 21, Nico got past Button
and managed to make good the true car performance and advantage
his strategy offered in nine laps of clear running, which
effectively promoted him to P6 after the stops.
Nico also briefly held P5, although this was rather a reflection
of a mistake during a BMW pitstop than on track performance
and Robert Kubica, on fresh tyres, was able to reclaim fifth
place, with Nico finishing in sixth and earning three points.
Alex, by contrast, had a relatively uneventful race, finishing
on par with his grid slot in P13.
TYRES & FUEL
Both cars were fuelled for one-stop strategies, with Alex
running a longer first stint by seven laps. Both drivers also
ran the same tyre choices, starting on the medium tyre and
selecting the softer tyre for the run to the flag.
SYSTEMS & RELIABILITY
Both cars ran without any reliability issues, with Alex’s
temporary problem in Q1 resulting from a procedural problem
as opposed to a component failure. With only two mechanical
DNFs this year, the AT&T Williams team is currently the
joint third most reliable race finisher this season behind
McLaren & Renault.
NEXT EVENTS
The team will travel straight to Spa this week for Sunday’s
Belgium Grand Prix.
SAM MICHAEL
“It was a workmanlike Italian Grand Prix and
our consistency in collecting a small haul of points over
the past four races is very welcome, and a good sign that
we are developing the car in the right way. The reliability
of the car is strong now and we are working hard for the final
four races to maintain that. At the same time we are balancing
resource between our 2008 car and performance for the FW29.”
|
