FORMULA 1®GRAN PREMIO HEINEKEN D’ITALIA 2016
Italian Grand Prix Live
With Jenson Button announcing that he will be taking a ‘step-back’ from Formula 1 next season, below you can see all the reaction from the paddock today and in this post here, you can see what Jenson had to say yesterday.
Claire Williams – “Everyone knows that we were interested in Jenson and he would be a great driver for anyone to have in their team. We are losing two great F1 legends but unfortunately it just didn’t work out and I wish him all the best.“
Ron Dennis – “He’s world class driver and he loves Formula 1 but he really enjoyed his break too. Jenson hasn’t finished from Formula 1 and Formula 1 hasn’t finished with Jenson, he just needs a bit of a mental break and time will tell. He might not want to race in the future but if he does want to race, I’d like him to have the option.”
Stoffel Vandoorne -“Jenson has been very useful for me in my career, I’ve learned a lot from him and spent a lot of time with him in McLaren and seen how him and Fernando have pushed the team and now I’m looking forward to Melbourne.“
Fernando Alonso – “I think one year off will be a good thing for him because I think he needs that and at the moment for 2018 he is the only McLaren driver under contract.“
Italian Grand Prix Live – Drivers Pre-Race
Hamilton talking about his qualifying lap time – “The hardest thing is spotting the braking zones as you’re going so fast, it’s the hardest thing to pick your point. I know that I have this one lap to make it count (qualifying) and to make sure that it’s the best lap.”
“A lot of time is gained by using the kerbs and getting the exit right. I change brake balance for the corners to get the right ease. Again changing brake balance for the different corners as my rear tyres are quite hot and I tend to use a little bit of the kerbs too.“
“If you get it all right with the brake balance and taking the right amount on the kerbs, you gain a lot of time too down the straights and that’s where I picked up a lot of time for my lap.”
Rosberg – “It’s going to be exciting for sure and a great battle with Lewis for sure, we have to be careful of the Ferrari’s as they will be behind with good grip too. I’ll be fighting it out for sure all the way to the end.“
Vettel – “I think really good fans all the way and hopefully we have a good day, we will try to give a hard time to Mercedes and give fans what they want with a good race today.“
Jenson Button and Felipe Massa taking a selfie during the track-parade.
Button – “Yeah, I’m really excited about my future and the possibility of racing in the future so we’ll see how things go.“
Ricciardo – “I don’t expect a podium here in Monza but of course we will be fighting and give it all our best.“
Verstappen – “It’s not bad, we still have a chance to fight the Ferrari’s for the race, hopefully a clean start and then I can fight the Ferrari’s but we will see.“
Ocon – “The car is good, we were unlucky with qualifying but we have to take all the positions possible but it’s good.“
Sainz – “We are in the mix with McLaren and Haas and we will try to fight for all we can – if we get a point it will be like a win for us. One or two stops in the race, turn 1 will be very tight here as you know.“
Massa – “It’s the same, we need to focus on the race and do our best. I’m happy.“
Italian Grand Prix Live
Pit Lane is now OPEN
Rosberg is already reporting an issue with his start – he did a practice start at the end of the pit-lane.
Formation Lap
Lap 1
Hamilton has had a poor start.
Rosberg leads the race with Vettel right behind along with Kimi Raikkonen.
Verstappen down in 12th place – he also had a poor start.
Rosberg leaving the pack behind, Alonso is pressuring Felipe Massa.
Hamilton tries to get past Ricciardo after his terrible start – DRS is still not enable.
Lap 2
Hamilton now makes his way past Ricciardo.
Felipe Nasr is and Jolyon Palmer touch – Nasr’s car has gone off-track and is making his way back to the pits….
Lap 3
DRS Enabled.
Rosberg now sets the fastest lap time of the race – little battles happening everywhere!
Palmer Pits
Hamilton is closing the gap to Bottas – he’s right behind the Williams driver.
Lap 5
Team to Hamilton – “Three cars ahead are on the super soft tyres.“
Raikkonen – “I can feel vibration on the brakes.“
Lap 6
Verstappen is now up into 10th place – he’s behind Fernando Alonso (9th).
Nasr is out of the race and the stewards will be looking at the incident between him and Palmer.
Lap 8
Rosberg now sets the fastest lap time.
Verstappen makes his way past Alonso and is now up into 9th place, back into the points after his poor start.
Hamilton still behind Bottas, he’s being told to manage his tyres as they ‘still need to be good in 5 laps time.‘
Lap 9
Bottas is starting to struggle for grip, Hamilton right behind the Williams driver.
Palmer retires from the race.
Verstappen reporting that he is losing grip in the rear tyres.
Lap 10
Hamilton being told to ‘look after his tyres‘ (again) as he will get back ‘behind Nico with strategy‘ – Hamilton pushing ahead and still trying to get past Bottas.
Rosberg still leads the race with Vettel and Raikkonen behind.
Lap 11
Hamilton gets past Bottas and is now closing the gap to the two Ferrari’s in front.
Hamilton – “My rear tyres are pretty wasted already.“
Lap 13
It looks like Felipe Nasr will be coming back out into the race.
Lap 14
Bottas now pits – soft tyres for him.
Verstappen now pits.
Alonso Pits.
Team to Hamilton – “Pick up the pace as much as you can, three laps.“
Lap 15
Rosberg still leads the Italian Grand Prix, Vettel and Raikkonen are both behind – not too close, they’re keep the right distance to the leader but patiently waiting.
Bottas gets past Button and Sainz – he’s on new tyres compared to the two drivers.
Lap 16
Raikkonen now pits.
Perez Pits.
Button Pits.
Rosberg leads the race – there’s quite a gap between him and Vettel in 2nd place.
Vettel now pits – supersoft tyres.
Lap 17
Ricciardo now pits.
Vettel back out on-track, in front of Raikkonen.
Hamilton and Rosberg haven’t stopped – yet.
Lap 19
Grosjean is now up into 5th place, Bottas is now catching him with Ricciardo right behind the two drivers.
Bottas makes his way past Grosjean and is up into 5th place.
Lap 20
Ricciardo now makes his way past Grosjean too, Hamilton has started to find pace considering he hasn’t come into the pits yet.
Team to Raikkonen – “Hamilton is still out, he’s finding speed and he is still out.”
Lap 22
Hamilton is reporting – “Tyres are good now“
It looks like he will be staying out for a few laps longer – neither of the Mercedes drivers have pitted.
Lap 23
Team to Rosberg – “Two more laps after this one, two more laps.”
Lap 24
Ricciardo is catching up to Bottas, he’s now closing up to the Williams driver.
Lap 25
Rosberg now pits.
Hamilton now leads the race.
Vettel still in third – he’s setting good lap times.
Hamilton now comes into the pits.
Lap 26
He re-joins the race behind the two Ferrari’s. It’s now Rosberg, Vettel, Raikkonen and Hamilton – the Ferrari’s will need to pit again so lets see how things pan out with the strategy.
Hamilton – “What tyre are they on?” (Ferrari’s)
Lap 27
Rosberg now sets the fastest lap time.
Team to Vettel – “Keep your head down, four laps.“
Wehrlein being told “Stop the car immediately, we need to stop the car now.“
Wehrlein – “Do we need to stop right now?“
Team to Wehrlein – “We need to stop right now, stop and switch off the car.“
Lap 31
Hamilton closing the gap to Raikkonen – the two Ferrari’s are to pit again for a tyre change, he’s keeping it all steady and closing the gap to the leader too – there’s 9 seconds between the top 4.
Lap 32
Perez closing the gap to Fernando Alonso, he makes his way past the McLaren driver.
Lap 33
Bottas now makes his way past Hulkenberg .
Lap 34
Vettel now pits.
Team to Alonso – “Do you prefer Plan A?“
Alonso – “I don’t know what you mean, I prefer Plan C.”
Alonso pits.
Lap 35
Raikkonen now pits.
Kimi Raikkonen is now behind Verstappen, he should be stopping again as he’s on the soft tyres.
Raikkonen now makes his way past Verstappen, a clean move and no sight of a battle between the two.
Lap 36
Verstappen pits.
Lap 38
Ricciardo now pits.
Button being told to stay out as Rosberg will be lapping the back markers.
Kvyat retires from the race.
Lap 39
Rosberg leads the race however Vettel doesn’t seem to have the speed to put a fight forward to the Mercedes.
It’s currently Rosberg, Hamilton and Vettel as the top 3.
Lap 42
Team to Hamilton – “Lewis your are not in the safety car window, you are not in the safety car window.” basically the team is telling Hamilton to put his foot down after that little mistake in the last lap where he lost some time.
Team to Hamilton – “Ok Lewis, you know but just be careful with the little lock-ups.”
Lap 43
Rosberg still leads the race, Hamilton is second and Vettel is still in 3rd place.
Raikkonen now sets the fastest lap time.
Lap 44
10 Laps to go for the Italian Grand Prix
Overall, things have ‘quietened’ down – there’s not many battles happening.
Raikkonen now sets another fastest lap time.
Lap 45
Button makes his way past his team-mate, Fernando Alonso.
The two are now battling for their places with Alonso trying to reclaim his place.
Gap now widens between the two McLaren drivers.
Lap 46
Ricciardo is behind Bottas and catching up to the Williams driver.
Hamilton isn’t really closing the gap to his team-mate, Rosberg who is still leading the race.
Ricciardo however is closing the gap to Bottas – he just makes it past the Williams driver at the end of the straight and right on the corner.
Lap 50
4 laps remaining until the end of the Italian Grand Prix.
Rosberg still leads the race – he’s controlling the race with his team-mate behind in second place. The mistake from Hamilton cost him the race, he’s simply too far behind at the moment.
Vettel in third place, at least the fans will see one Ferrari driver on the podium, as things stand.
Lap 51
Alonso now pits – is he looking to set a fastest lap of the race?
Raikkonen now sets the fastest lap of the race.
Ferrari and Marchionne both sat in the Ferrari garage watching the race.
Raikkonen in 4th place behind his team-mate.
Lap 52
2 laps remaining until the end of the Italian Grand Prix.
Button has started to close the gap to Grosjean in 11th.
Lap 53
It’s the final lap of the race.
Fernando Alonso sets the fastest lap time.
Rosberg making his way round the final corners of the Monza circuit – he wins the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton in second place.
Vettel third.
Rosberg has now closed the gap in the championship which has just 2 points between the two Mercedes drivers.
Top 5 Drivers
Rosberg
Hamilton
Vettel
Raikkonen
Ricciardo
Team to Vettel – “Enjoy the podium“
Toto Wolff – “It’s awesome to have a 1 and 2 in Monza, it’s Ferrari land but it feels great. It might have been a boring race to watch but we are happy with the outcome.“
Lots more to come soon including reaction from teams and drivers after the Italian Grand Prix.
The Formula 1 Girl 🙂
xxx