Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 20. (Read 141384 times)

Mmmmm...  I just hope the journos don't try too hard in make comparisons between him and Verstappen and try to make parallels between the two when there is none.  It'll just put more pressure to Antonelli imho.  And Verstappen is a special case.  I mean we'd be lucky to see another special talent enter the sport when we've just had Verstappen as these special talents come up at least prolly a decade later.

We could have something like a Messi vs Ronaldo scenario in F1 but not really holding my breath for it.  Prepare to be disappointed Merc fans.

Very confident from McLaren with the front row of the grid, it could be really tight for Verstappen now, as seventh place on the grid is not really famous either, it will be a tough race, if Norris finally gets away well at the start this time, it will be difficult for the others, my favourite is definitely Norris.

Pole position for Norris once again the best car is ahead.
Nice improvement for Ferrari but the updates are not still enough to fight for the win.

RBR is in real danged of losing atleast 1 title this year.

Williams in P9 and P10 is quite good, maybe if it was Logan he would have finished in P15 or above LOL - it seems that the upgrades they made have improved their performance quite a bit, now it's up to Albon and Colapinto to secure the best position in the next race session. And for Ferrari, seeing Charles in P3, it seems that their chance to secure pole position is still there, although from FP2 we saw how Mercedes was able to get the best position, but that doesn't mean that Ferrari has lost their chance completely, hoping that at least Charles or Sainz can get a podium in this race.

Mercedes drivers looked really great by taking 1st and 2nd positions in FP3.    Leclerc has done well in practice sessions so far. Verstappen has had big struggles. It doesn't look like he will get a pole position here.

Qualifying session is about to start in 10 minutes. What do you say about the pole? I'm still going with Norris but maybe Leclerc might surprise us.  

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https://x.com/F1/status/1829776424560886195

By the way it is official! Kimi Antonelli is driving for Mercedes next year. I'm really keen on watching what he will do. His crashing Russell's car in FP1 comes to my mind.    But aside from that, he is really talented and Toto Wolff is excited about him.

Final hour of free pactice

2024 F1 Italian Grand Prix - Free Practice Results (3)
Pos   Driver   Nat.   Team   Time
1   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m20.117s
2   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m20.210s
3   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m20.226s
4   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m20.252s
5   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m20.262s
6   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m20.368s
7   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m20.463s
8   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m20.596s
9   Franco Colapinto   ARG   Williams Racing   1m20.905s
10   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m20.943s
11   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m20.968s
12   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   Visa Cash App RB F1 Team   1m21.077s
13   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Visa Cash App RB F1 Team   1m21.141s
14   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m21.155s
15   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m21.157s
16   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m21.208s
17   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m21.258s
18   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m21.287s
19   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber   1m21.357s
20   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber   1m22.035s

source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1054303/1/2024-f1-italian-grand-prix-final-practice-results

Pole shoudl be around 1.19.5

It is quite possible for Marc Marquez tomorrow because he has indeed had good achievements in the Aragon circuit since he defended Honda in the past and today it has been proven that no rider can overtake him and fight him well. Marc Marquez's dominance from FP1 until qualifying has given a signal that he can win in Aragon with his current condition so tomorrow's race is very possible for Marc Marquez to win even though there will be fierce resistance from one or two other riders. Besides that, I also don't know what happened to Pecco Bagnaia because he complained yesterday and it was clear that he had a very difficult time in qualifying today.

Great job for Marc Marquez, he won his first sprint race after he dominated the free practice till the qualification.
He is untouchable in the sprint race, Martin could not even get closer to him although Marc made a small mistake in the first lap.
Something wrong with Pecco as he could not compete with the front riders, I'm not sure why but seems that he had a problem with his tire or breaking system.
Tomorrow will be the main race, can Marc win it to make it complete achievement at Aragon?

The final practice or the free practice 3 as it is called showed again a great Mercedes duo at the front yet I am not convinced that Lando and McLaren are giving it all so far in these free practice qualifiers. I would love to see a strong fight and even if Mercedes manages to win the pole position which is highly unlikely for me they will not hang to it during the race, this race track is super fast and for me the most beautiful of the whole calendar when it comes to battles and overtakes. For me most likely McLaren will be going to win the pole position and the race, Redbull and Verstappen are totally out of the equation and I doubt they have the power to do more during the qualifying.

Here's the results for FP2.  Looking good for the old man Lewis Hamilton.  Lol.  But looking at the live table for FP3 right now...  It's look good for Leclerc with just 11 mins to go.  He's followed by Piastri then Norris to make up the top 3.

So it looks like the upgrades done by Ferrari for their home race might do wonders.  But will Sainz spoil the party?    I'll guess we'll find out at quali.

2024 F1 Italian GP FP2 Results

1   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m20.738s
2   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m20.741s
3   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m20.841s
4   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m20.858s
5   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m20.892s
6   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m21.086s
7   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m21.140s
8   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   Visa Cash App RB F1 Team   1m21.300s
9   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m21.316s
10   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m21.363s
11   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber   1m21.461s
12   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m21.499s
13   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m21.592s
14   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m21.610s
15   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m21.678s
16   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Visa Cash App RB F1 Team   1m21.735s
17   Franco Colapinto   ARG   Williams Racing   1m21.784s
18   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m21.819s
19   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m21.867s
20   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber   1m22.223s

Free Practice one results

2024 F1 Italian Grand Prix - Free Practice Results (1)
Pos   Driver   Nat.   Team   Time
1   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m21.676s
2   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m21.904s
3   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m21.917s
4   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m22.126s
5   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber   1m22.127s
6   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m22.199s
7   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m22.214s
8   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m22.220s
9   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m22.311s
10   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m22.315s
11   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m22.572s
12   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   Visa Cash App RB F1 Team   1m22.605s
13   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Visa Cash App RB F1 Team   1m22.714s
14   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m22.763s
15   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber   1m22.854s
16   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m22.864s
17   Franco Colapinto   ARG   Williams Racing   1m22.880s
18   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m22.880s
19   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m23.157s
20   Andrea Kimi Antonelli   ITA   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m23.955s

Souce: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1054142/1/2024-f1-italian-grand-prix-friday-practice-results


Pole position of 2023 was 1.20.2 so this year we will probabaly go near 1.19 even if they changed a bit the layout.

Yeah, it was interesting. But considering a statement by Leclerc lately, it makes sense. Leclerc said something like the reason of the improvement was to get to know the car better in time. It looks like Ferrari drivers have been struggling with adapting to this year's car.    Maybe the car has much more potential just as we saw it last week.

We will find out this weekend of course. FP1 has been left behind and Ferrari were good by Leclerc's finishing as the 2nd and Sainz being behind by 2 positions. FP2 is going on currently.

Verstappen is looking for putting an end to this series. It is 5 races without a win now.

Looking at today's result, yes King Marq seems to be more powerful compared to the other riders including Pecco and Martin.
Now the question is, will he able to be consistent or even better in the Qualifying race or not.
By the way, if we look at the all the races so far, Marq is not that good when he started the race from the front row but he could do amazing race when he started from out of the first 4 rows.
Well, lets see and wait for tomorrow to know what Marq can do and what the other riders can do especially Pecco, Martin and Enea.

After watching FP1 and Practice MotoGp Aragon today, it seems that Marc Marquez really looks quite strong on the Aragon circuit located in Teruel. Because from some of the best times that were printed by Jorge Martin, Alex Espargaro and also several other riders, Marc Marquez was always able to surpass them by printing a better time than all the riders so that he could be in first position in the FP1 and Practice session today. And from what I saw today it seems that Marc Marquez could have started the race in first position and even had the potential to win the race in Aragon if he had not crashed.

Was a strange weekend for Ferrari.
Did they improved the race pace? Yes-
Did they upgraded their car before the race? No.

So the result was unexpected maybe for demerits of the opponents, who knows.

It is quite strange that a team improves without upgrading the car in this world.

Ferrari got much better last Sunday as you know. Both drivers gained many positions and Leclerc even finished on podium.    Now there are big upgrades on the way. I want to be expectant from Ferrari more in Monza. This is their home ground and the fans will expect better results. Leclerc also talks positive about the weekend.

Ferrari was great in one-lap times in the past. Maybe we can see it again in Monza. Leclerc or Sainz might go for a pole position.

As a reminder, Sainz got pole position last year and it was Leclerc in 2022. 

Small update.
The FIa chose to length the DRS zone for an additional 103 metres to facilitate overtakes.
This decision is critical for Monza, since teams are running with low profile wings the DRS is not so strong, giving them a longer distance overtakes will be easier.

We also have a second DRS zone on the track but it has be not touched.

After reading what was posted by MotoGp about the opening of next season at the Thailand circuit, I also read that the Czech Brno circuit will be used again by MotoGp next season until 2029. And this indicates that next season there will also be more interesting races because the two circuits in different countries are also quite unique so that they can produce extraordinary races. In addition, the Moto2 rider from Thailand will also join the LCR Honda team next season so Takaki Nakagami might become a Honda test rider because his replacement has arrived for next season. _{Source: https://www.motogp.com/en}

small odds of rain for the weekend in Monza, near to 0%.
Should be an easy race for Lando, the only question is if Ferrari will be ahead of Redbull or not.

It will depende if the major upgrade that ferrari is giving to the car from the GP it will work or not.

If it's gonna be really close I think the guys behind Verstappen will have extra motivation to try and pass him at every race to give Norris a little nudge towards the driver's championship.    That's why it's at the utmost importance that Perez should be there to defend Verstappen's read.  But no...  He's been sucking since he got in Red Bull.

Anyway...  Didn't realize it's another race weekend.  Sweet!  I thought it wasn't til another week later.

2024 F1 Italian GP Schedule
Track:  Autodromo Nazionale Monza



Aug 30:  Practice 1  13:30 - 14:30
Aug 30:  Practice 2  17:00 - 18:00
Aug 31:  Practice 3  12:30 - 13:30
Aug 31:  Qualifying  16:00 - 17:00
Sept 1:  Race  15:00