[Sun Sep- 8 16h10 CET] - After years of abuse the tyres finally get their own back by taking
out many of the top names in this year's Italian Grand Prix. The fastest survivor
and winner was Michael Schumacher in
the Ferrari followed by Jean Alesi and third man again - Mika Hakkinen.
A blinding start by Jean Alesi took him from 6th on the grid to first at the first corner. Pole sitter Damon Hill seemed to be more interested in keeping rival and team mate Jacques Villeneuve off the line rather than defending pole. A mistake by Alesi half way round the first lap let Hill move back into first.
The tyres (those placed on the insides of the chicane corners to stop drivers straight lining) started work early in the race causing Hakkinen to damage his front wing - a quick dive into the pits left him near the back of the pack.
Damon Hill was the next victim on lap 6 while running unchallenged out in front. 2 seconds in front of Alesi he hit the tyres - spun and retired. Lap 9 saw the tyres take Frentzen out in just the same way.
Schumacher, now second, quickly caught Alesi but was unable to overtake. When Alesi went into the pits the German put his foot hard down. When it came for Schumacher's stop he rejoined the circuit 8 seconds in front of Alesi and never looked back. The tyres had their go on lap 39, he touched them but he survived.
Eddie Irvine's Ferrari was not quite as lucky - on lap 23 while running in 3rd place he hit them, kept going, but half a lap later the front suspension collapsed and he retired (the last race which he finished was Monaco)..
Jacques Villeneuve had many problems. Twice he was seen missing the tyres by cutting accross the gravel. He pitted early and is understood to have had some steering damage after touching someone (or the tyres) in one of the chicanes. He dropped back to 10th, was lapped by Schumacher and finished 7th.
Schumacher's win for is the first at Monza for Ferrari since 1988, when Gerhard Berger took victory. Berger's race today ended on lap 5 with mechanical problems.
The null result today for the two Williams leaves Hill in a stronger position for the championship title. He is still 13 points in front of Jacques Villeneuve and there are only two races left.
[Sun Sep- 8 10h15 CET] - In a warm up dominated by the McLarens David Coulthard
finished fastest in front of team mate Mika Hakkinen. The session
was stopped after 6 minutes when Gerhard Berger came out
of the pits in the spare car, then spun and hit the barriers before
the first corner. 6 minutes later the circuit was reopened.
Mechanical failure is suspected.
Both Ferrari's stalled on the pit road at the start of the session and several cars had to drive around them until they were fired up.
Once again the circuit has been modified slightly by the officials. For the warm up (and presumable the race) small tyre barriers have been placed on the inside of both corners on both chicanes. This is will stop cars straight lining the chicanes and thus reduce lap times.
Cars that didn't make it to the end of the warm up included Brundle and Rosset.
After an enquiry stewards have ruled that Diniz was not responsible for seemingly running Villeneuve of the track during yesterdays free session.
[Sat Sep- 7 14h10 CET] - Damon Hill keeps his championship hopes very much alive
by starting on pole position for the Italian Grand Prix, just
behind him is team mate Jacques Villeneuve with Schumacher
and Hakkinen on the next row.
The qualifying session had a slow start with no one on track for the first 15 minutes. Rumour was that the drivers were not happy with the new tyre walls, but this proved to be untrue when first Salo and then Villeneuve ventured on to the wind swept leafy track. The plastic chicane traffic bollards (which were soon up rooted in the free practice) had been removed and in places replaced by large tyre walls. One touch of those and you're in trouble.
Villeneuve, Hill and Schumacher quickly took the top 3 positions and changed order a few times during the session.
On his last flying lap (could have been the pole lap!) Villeneuve came up behind Lamy just entering the chicane and had to cross the gravel to avoid him. In the interview later he said this was his mistake and not Lamy's.
[Sat Sep- 7 11h10 CET] - Mika Hakkinen came out top of the pile at the end of free practice
for the Italian Grand Prix. Mika's fastest time was a 1m 24.051s
compared with last years pole time of 1m 24.462s by David
Coulthard. Schumacher put in a last minute bid for the top time
but lost out due to traffic. Hakkinens time was actually set in
the first of this mornings two free sessions.
On the whole an unusal practice session no one really seemed to run a 'practice qualifying lap' as they usually do at the end of the final free session. Also, just about everyone was still having problems getting the braking right at the chicanes. The very low down force car configurations made the cars very twitchy on the slow corners - just about every driver was still seen to be taking to the grass or the gravel now and again.
The most unusual event this morning happended 18 minutes before the end of the last session. Diniz did either not see Villeneuve overtaking him on the straight or was just not happy about it, either way Jacques ended up on the grass which then spun him around and shot him into the barriers on the other side of the track. Jacques was not a happy man as he got out of his three wheeled Williams.
With 3 minutes to go Panis finally stuck in the gravel and Barrichello retired with a mechanical problem.
[Fri Sep- 6 14h10 CET] - A hot sunny day in Italy saw Michael Schumacher
with the fastest free practice time for the Italian Grand Prix.
The Monza circuit (home track to Ferrari, Sauber and Minardi) saw much action as drivers came to grips with the fast slippery surface.
As this is such a fast circuit everyone was running with hardly any angle on the rear wing and very little downforce. This lead to many spins in the morning session (including Hill who spun and stalled near the session end) and several offs in the afternoon. Coulthard lost most of the afternoon session when he spun into the gravel and stuck. Likewise after a very promising start to the session Alesi spun into the gravel at half time. Both Hill and Frentzen (Hills replacement for next year) cut accross the grass at the first chicane.
Story of the Top Lap: 00m 1m 25.461s - Berger 09m 1m 25.335s - Alesi 34m 1m 25.155s - Hakkinen 36m 1m 24.760s - Hakkinen 50m 1m 24.399s - Schumacher