Italian Grand Prix Preview

Time has past for the high emotions of Spa to settle before we head on to the fastest track of them all – Monza.

Sebastian Vettel who was on course for a one-stop third place at Spa was robbed at the very end by an exploding tyre on the Kemmel Straight within touching distance of the finish. Both Ferrari and Pirelli blamed each other, but Vettel’s main criticism was the tyres should not explode, they should just lose grip. Monza does have the same sort of corners at Spa, but we do often see one stops happening given the high penalty for making a pit stop. Tyres will certainly be one of the talking points of the weekend.

The battle at the front is definitely heading Lewis Hamilton’s way. Even when it looks like it is going to be Nico Rosberg’s weekend he manages to pull something out of nowhere to claim the advantage, and in Spa it was a large advantage. The long straights of Monza should narrow that gap, and expect Williams to be more on top of their car after a difficult Spa to challenge for at least the podium.

Lotus most definitely had a bitter-sweet weekend, and there is still a question mark over Monza. The team were embroiled in a law suit from former third driver Charles Pic at the Belgian Grand Prix, which saw the cars and trucks leave the circuit later in the week, effectively impounded. The story over the possible take over by Renault is floating around, with it expected to be announced sometime in September, but whichever the team goes there are problems.

Problems were certainly not there on the track though, Romain Grosjean put in a great drive at Spa to claim his first podium for nearly two years. Expect the same in Monza, and we could be seeing a really hot battle come Sunday for the final podium position between them, Williams, Ferrari and possibly Force India.

The talk of drivers has now fallen down slightly following the resigning of Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari. That surely will now allow Haas to put together their team for next season, Monza would be a good place to do that considering their close affiliation to Ferrari.

McLaren once again are dampening hopes for Monza, instead talking up Singapore as they will be bringing their ‘A Game’. The podium looks a long distance away from where they are at the moment, and surely it will be next year or beyond before they will be back at the front. Don’t expect much this weekend then from the Woking team.

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