McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton tries to bounce back after being stripped of his win in Belgium Grand Prix in the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, the 14th race of the Formula 1 that will happen on 12 – 14 September at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy.
The 53-lap race is staged at the 5.793km (3.600-mile) Autodromo Nazionale di Monza and marks the end of F1’s European season. Monza is the oldest and fastest track on this year’s calendar. The circuit was built in 1922 and since the inception of the World Championship in 1950 has staged the Italian Grand Prix every year with the exception of 1980.
McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton with 76 points leads the Drivers' Championships ahead of Felipe Massa of Ferrari by 2 points with Robert Kubica following in third with 22 points behind.
Looking at the race track, emphasis at Monza is on engine power and aerodynamic efficiency. As a result, the team will run a special low downforce aero package, which produces 30 percent fewer grips than the high down force generated at the slowest circuits on the calendar.
From a set-up point of view, the most demanding aspects of the lap are slowing the cars from high speed and getting the power down at the exit of the corners.
In addition, temperature will certainly play an important role in 2008 Italian Grand Prix. The autumnal Italian weather can be expected to provide warm-to-hot conditions that will suit Ferrari. Only on odd occasions, such as in 2004, has it been cool, which would play into McLaren’s hands.
If the weather on the race day cooperates this will be beneficial for Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen to win the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, if Massa wins he would overtake Hamilton in the Driver’s Championship.
But on the other hand, reliability has been a problem for Ferrari. Massa lost a certain win at the Hungaroring with a con rod failure, a repeat of which eliminated Raikkonen at Valencia. Massa’s unit is also being inspected the by FIA in accordance with their random check rules. Lewis Hamilton had his engine inspected in similar circumstances earlier this year.
There was not much to choose between McLaren and Ferrari during the F1 test at Monza at the end of last month. Heikki Kovalainen and Felipe Massa tested on the first two days and were within a tenth of a second of each other on both days. On the third day Hamilton was 0.4s faster than Raikkonen. Nico Rosberg was half a second faster than Kovalainen on the second day.
The 53-lap race is staged at the 5.793km (3.600-mile) Autodromo Nazionale di Monza and marks the end of F1’s European season. Monza is the oldest and fastest track on this year’s calendar. The circuit was built in 1922 and since the inception of the World Championship in 1950 has staged the Italian Grand Prix every year with the exception of 1980.
McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton with 76 points leads the Drivers' Championships ahead of Felipe Massa of Ferrari by 2 points with Robert Kubica following in third with 22 points behind.
Looking at the race track, emphasis at Monza is on engine power and aerodynamic efficiency. As a result, the team will run a special low downforce aero package, which produces 30 percent fewer grips than the high down force generated at the slowest circuits on the calendar.
From a set-up point of view, the most demanding aspects of the lap are slowing the cars from high speed and getting the power down at the exit of the corners.
In addition, temperature will certainly play an important role in 2008 Italian Grand Prix. The autumnal Italian weather can be expected to provide warm-to-hot conditions that will suit Ferrari. Only on odd occasions, such as in 2004, has it been cool, which would play into McLaren’s hands.
If the weather on the race day cooperates this will be beneficial for Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen to win the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, if Massa wins he would overtake Hamilton in the Driver’s Championship.
But on the other hand, reliability has been a problem for Ferrari. Massa lost a certain win at the Hungaroring with a con rod failure, a repeat of which eliminated Raikkonen at Valencia. Massa’s unit is also being inspected the by FIA in accordance with their random check rules. Lewis Hamilton had his engine inspected in similar circumstances earlier this year.
There was not much to choose between McLaren and Ferrari during the F1 test at Monza at the end of last month. Heikki Kovalainen and Felipe Massa tested on the first two days and were within a tenth of a second of each other on both days. On the third day Hamilton was 0.4s faster than Raikkonen. Nico Rosberg was half a second faster than Kovalainen on the second day.