2015 Italian Grand Prix

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Formula 1 Gran Premio d'Italia 2014

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Twelfth round of the 2015 Formula One season this weekend at the legendary Monza this weekend, and I'm sure there are several questions that are on everyones minds. Such as can anyone stop the relentless dominance of Lewis Hamilton? Can Lotus put in another strong showing after a genuinely strong performance at Spa? Has Honda really overtaken Renault in the power stakes? And where did Paul Hembery get that black eye? Discuss...​
 
I imagine we'll see some crazy top speeds during DRS overtakes.

I wonder how the top speeds at Mexico will compare to Monza's.
I would say they could be quite similar as Monza has a faster leadon to the pit straight but a shorter pit straight than Mexico, which has a slower lead on (thanks to the baseball corner complex) but a longer straight to my knowledge.



:gtpflag::gtpflag:2000th Post!!!! :gtpflag::gtpflag:
 
I'd imagine teams would opt for a higher downforce package for Mexico than Monza due to the tricky middle part of the lap, so top speed might turn out to be a bit lower despite the long main straight. That's my guess, anyway.

Onto the Italian GP though, it's likely that Mercedes will dominate Monza but the race in the mid-pack could be fairly interesting. I'm particularly excited to see how Lotus perform after Grosjean's amazing outing at Spa. I wouldn't be surprised to see STR outperform expectations, not on a Monza 2008 level but possibly in the mix with the upper-mid pack despite the Renault power unit. Hopefully McLaren pull something special but I'm not counting on it.
 
Honda have been reported to have gained 25 HP over Renault although with the ease the STR's were blowing past the McLarens in Belgium, I think that's a load of cobblers! :lol:
 
Honda have been reported to have gained 25 HP over Renault although with the ease the STR's were blowing past the McLarens in Belgium, I think that's a load of cobblers! :lol:

That doesn't mean anything considering that both STR and RBR had a low drag package for Spa that they used to help give them more speed to compete with Ferrari and the Merc powered cars. And as the norm, Honda had issues yet again which doesn't help demonstrate the speed of the cars or gained speed they may now have. Also they've had a max power they know the engine can produce and have with held using it due to the unreliability and stresses it has on other components like the MGU-K for example.
 
That doesn't mean anything considering that both STR and RBR had a low drag package for Spa that they used to help give them more speed to compete with Ferrari and the Merc powered cars. And as the norm, Honda had issues yet again which doesn't help demonstrate the speed of the cars or gained speed they may now have. Also they've had a max power they know the engine can produce and have with held using it due to the unreliability and stresses it has on other components like the MGU-K for example.

I stand corrected. :) You get the impression that Honda should still be focusing on reliability, rather than power. If I recall rightly they said several races back that power was now their main priority. But with the reliability still being as poor as it is I think it's safe to say they jumped the gun on that one.
 
I stand corrected. :) You get the impression that Honda should still be focusing on reliability, rather than power. If I recall rightly they said several races back that power was now their main priority. But with the reliability still being as poor as it is I think it's safe to say they jumped the gun on that one.

They have tried too, but it obviously cost more than the 8 tokens they got for the season, however part of ensuring reliability is a times increasing the known power the engine can offer to see if the parts are able to stand that new output or not.
 
I don't think anyone is expecting much of mclaren honda this weekend, including mclaren honda themselves. They'll take it as yet another data gathering and test weekend.

I think Ferrari is the team to look out for. This is their home turf, and they've proved that they can take on the Mercedes. I would have liked to see Williams up there as well, but they've struggled with pace after Silverstone. I think lotus and red bull will give them a run for their money.
 
I don't think anyone is expecting much of mclaren honda this weekend, including mclaren honda themselves. They'll take it as yet another data gathering and test weekend.

I think Ferrari is the team to look out for. This is their home turf, and they've proved that they can take on the Mercedes. I would have liked to see Williams up there as well, but they've struggled with pace after Silverstone. I think lotus and red bull will give them a run for their money.

McLaren have basically said already they know this weekend is going to be all pain, no gain. Lotus I can see challenging Williams and possibly even Ferrari, as they have great straight line speed with the Mercedes engine though. It's tempting to say Williams should be safe from a Red Bull threat as they're typically not great with speed in a straight line. But after Kvyat's fourth place last time out, it's hard to say.
 
Force India should do well here. Monza is effectively Sector 1 at Spa a few times, and Perez was consistently fastest through there last time out.

The Red Bulls reached 361kph (224mph) last year in the slipstream with DRS, would love to see what a super-slippy Mercedes can do this year. (375kph is the record in F1)
 
Probably achieved due to the 30% less downforce than previous specifications.

I know I keep bringing up drag racing, but it blows my mind still after all these years that they can reach this same speed from a stand still in 2 seconds flat.
 
I don't think anyone is expecting much of mclaren honda this weekend, including mclaren honda themselves. They'll take it as yet another data gathering and test weekend.

I think Ferrari is the team to look out for. This is their home turf, and they've proved that they can take on the Mercedes. I would have liked to see Williams up there as well, but they've struggled with pace after Silverstone. I think lotus and red bull will give them a run for their money.

Where did they prove this, the only reason Mercedes have been challenged at all by Ferrari is their own fault. Spa showed us once again that Merc only has equals when they feel like sleeping on the job. Which is the same reason they didn't win every race last year. With the low drag success we saw at Spa, I don't think even the Ferrari magic that is brought to Monza each year to save face in front of their home crowd will help them.
 
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I'd imagine teams would opt for a higher downforce package for Mexico than Monza due to the tricky middle part of the lap
And because Mexico City is 2250 meters above sea level, so air is thinner there than in Monza.
 
With turbocharged engines, air density doesn't matter quite as much as with naturally aspirated ones. Aerodynamically, I'm guessing it might, but I don't know as much as I should about that. Someone more educated than I can chip in.
 
With turbocharged engines, air density doesn't matter quite as much as with naturally aspirated ones. Aerodynamically, I'm guessing it might, but I don't know as much as I should about that. Someone more educated than I can chip in.

As I recall it NA loses 3% of power for each 1000ft in altitude. A turbo will still deliver the same power but with more lag due to the longer spin-up time. @Famine's pretty good at this stuff, I'm sure he'd have a better answer... :)

All in all I'm not sure how that would stack up with all the trick-recovery in this year's F1 lumps.
 
I remember reading about the deficit NA engines had during the turbo era's Mexican GPs. Nannini was the fastest NA driver in '88's qualifying session, and was still 3.3s down on Senna.
 

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