Monday, September 15, 2008

ITALIAN GP - LAP-BY-LAP REPORT

ITALIAN GP - LAP-BY-LAP REPORT

Vettel - out on his own.

FINISH: Please join us again in two weeks for the Singapore GP - F1's first ever night race

FINISH: Well done to Toro Rosso and Vettel - the youngest ever driver to win a F1 grand prix!

FINISH: Heikki Kovalainen is second while Robert Kubica, who started P11, completes the podium

FINISH: Well done. It's impressive, amazing and out of this world. You can bet Toro Rosso are going to have one wild party tonight

FINISH: Vettel crosses the line to claim his and Toro Rosso's first ever grand prix victory!!!

Lap 53: Raikkonen doesn't look to be scoring any points here today, so that's the Finn's Championship over and out one has to believe. Massa, though, will close the gap to Hamilton to one point

Lap 52: Massa and Hamilton drive through the debris left by Coulthard/Nakajima shunt. Here's hoping neither driver gets a puncture

Lap 51: Coulthard hits Nakajima. He pits for a new nose and the Williams is also damaged

Lap 50: Raikkonen does another new fastest lap. Impressive pace. But he's 13s behind Webber

Lap 49: Webber tries to overtake Hamilton but instead Hamilton bumps him off the track. Webber uses the escape road which puts him ahead of Hamilton on the track so he yields the position back to the McLaren man

Lap 48: Raikkonen takes ninth off Piquet Jr as Coulthard and Glock fight for position. Webber meanwhile has closed up on Hamilton

Lap 47: Raikkonen is flying, setting three fastest laps one after the other. However, one feels that once again it is too little too late from the reigning Champion. The Finn has passed Coulthard and is now attacking Piquet Jr

Lap 46: Button pits from 13th place

Lap 46: Vettel does a fastest personal lap as he extends his lead to 14.1s

Lap 45: Barrichello pits from ninth place. He comes out P17. Sutil pits

Lap 45: Toro Rosso warn Vettel that light rain is expected soon

Lap 44: Raikkonen takes 13th off Nakajima and Glock follows the Finn through

Lap 43: Vettel is on track for the victory here today, which would be Toro Rosso's first. In fact it would be the first ever for this team, which was previous the Minardi outfit. He would also become the youngest ever F1 race winner

Lap 42: Massa is using all the track and more as he tries to hold onto sixth place

Lap 41: Hamilton is right behind Massa on the track. Only a matter of time before he nails the Ferrari driver as he's by far the fastest driver on the track

Lap 40: Massa takes Heidfeld by cutting the chicane so yields to the German and stays behind him

Lap 40: Heidfeld attacks Alonso and Massa joins the back of the battle

Lap 39: Sutil, who as P18, pits. Not a great afternoon for the German, who is usually quite good in the wet

Lap 38: Hamilton overtakes Webber as VEttel leads this grand prix. Button nudges Piquet Jr over using the chicane

Lap 38: Hamilton pits from the lead for intermediate tyres. He wasn't meant to make another stop but had to for new tyres as it's drying out on the track. He comes out behind Massa!

Lap 37: Vettel pits for intermediate tyres. He was leading the grand prix but that now passes to Hamilton

Lap 36: Raikkonen pits for intermediate tyres

Lap 35: Trulli overtakes Kubica for position as Massa attacks and easily takes Webber. Webber spins it on the next corner

Lap 34: Kovalainen pits for intermediate tyres. Kubica comes in for his first and only stop of the day. Webber pits

Lap 33: Massa stops from fifth place for 6.8s. He puts on the intermediate tyres. Rosberg pits

Lap 32: Vettel is now leading by 11.8s over Kovalainen

Lap 31: Only Kubica and Piquet Jr have yet to stop here this afternoon

Lap 30: Alonso pits from third place, putting on the intermediate tyres. Raikkonen passes Trulli for 10th place

Lap 29: Hamilton is behind Massa on the track, 10s off the pace, however, Massa is believed to still need to make one more stop while Hamilton should be one-stopping

Lap 28: Rosberg pits from third but his fuel nozzle sticks a bit, leaving him stationary for over 11 seconds. Coulthard pits and he puts on the intermediate tyres

Lap 27: Hamilton pits from second place. He stops for 9.7s and comes out in clear air but behind Coulthard on the track

Lap 26: Hamilton is only 1.1s behind Vettel but the Mclaren driver still needs to stop. Trulli pits as does Raikkonen

Lap 25: Alonso is leading a train of six cars, all separated by 3.8s. Glock pits

Lap 24: Raikkonen FINALLY passes Heidfeld for position

Lap 23: Hamilton is now on Rosberg's rear tyre. He again uses McLaren's superior pace to overtake the Williams and is up to second place but still has to stop

Lap 22: Button and Bourdais both pit

Lap 22: The top three, Kovalainen, Webber and Massa all pit for wet tyres. Heikki easily gets out ahead, Webber second and Massa third. Vettel is back in the lead and Hamilton has overtake Trulli

Lap 21: Hamilton overtakes Trulli but has to give the position back as he jumps the chicane. He slides in back behind the Toyota and stays there for a while

Lap 21: Glock has a go at Alonso and takes eighth place off the double World Champion

Lap 20: Massa does a new fastest lap times: a 1:34.457

Lap 20: Raikkonen is all over the back of Heidfeld but is struggling to find a way by

Lap 19: Hamilton flies by Alonso, easily taking seventh place off the Renault man. Glock has also taken ninth place off Kubica

Lap 18: Vettel pits from the lead. He puts on the Bridgestone wets and is stationary for 8.4s. He comes out just behind Massa

Lap 18: Teams are predicting more rain in a few minutes and that it will stay around for a while

Lap 17: Hamilton takes eigth place off Kubica

Lap 17: Barrichello is the first man to pit. He was P15

Lap 17: Hamilton is now all over the back of BMW's Kubica, who currently occupies the final points-paying position

Lap 16: Hamilton tries to get better straight line speed than Glock to take the position off him. He takes him through the first chicane but Glock fights back only to be pushed off the road by Hamilton. Not very nice!

Lap 15: Hamilton takes 10th place off Heidfeld. He also put his tyres on the green stuff instead of on the tarmac

Lap 15: Rosberg takes 4th place back off Massa but a few corners later the Brazilian is back up into fourth place. Did Massa yield just in case he was to be accused of cutting a chicane?

Lap 14: Fisichella is out of the grand prix having lost his front wing in the back of Coulthard's car which sent him hurtling straight off the track and into the barrier

Lap 13: Massa takes fourth place off Rosberg with only two wheels on the track. Will he be penalised? He was still partly on the track. Interesting debate this

Lap 12: Massa is chasing down Rosberg and is right on the Williams' tailpipe. However, the German is complaining about his extreme wet tyres going away

Lap 11: Hamilton hits Raikkonen through the first Lesmo and takes the position off the Ferrari driver. Two corners later and already you can see a gap between the two

Lap 11: The track is starting to dry out on the racing line, but there is still standing water in some parts

Lap 10: Hamilton has better straight line speed than Fisichella and pulls by him down the straight, completing the move through the first corner

Lap 9: Everyone is still in the race with Nakajima, Button, Adrian Sutil and Bourdais the final four out on track

Lap 9: Raikkonen FINALLY overtakes Fisi at the first chicane! It's about time for the Ferrari driver who is now P11

Lap 8: Raikkonen tries to take Fisichella but once again can't pull it off, which leaves him open to an attack from Hamilton. But Hamilton also can't find the grip needed to overtake

Lap 7: Vettel has a 5.8s lead over Kovalainen, but loses it over the bumps at the chicane. He is, however, able to pull it together and continues on his way

Lap 6: Glock spins it at the first chicane, losing a few positions

Lap 5: Fisichella runs wide by Raikkonen is unable to pull off a move. The Finn, though, definitely has the speed to overtake but he can't find the grid. Hamilton is coming under pressure from Coulthard, who lost a few positions by going off the road

Lap 4: Vettel is leading by two seconds over Kovalainen. Hamilton tries to take Raikkonen but instead cuts the chicane and he has to move back behind the Ferrari driver and yield his speed or risk yet another drive-through penalty

Lap 3: Alonso takes the position back from Glock at the first chicane. Glock comes back but instead cuts the Roggia chicane and has to yield

Lap 2: Everyone gets through the first lap safely without even running straight at the first chicane. Glock takes seventh place off Alonos

Lap 2: Vettel hits it and we are racing at Monza

Lap 1: Bourdaiss is underway and trying to catch up. Safety Car is coming in end of this lap

Lap 1: We are all behind the Safety Car, which means no one is changing, racing, or pretty much doing anything. Especially Bourdais who is still stuck in the pit lane as Toro Rosso try to get his car going

START: And the race is now technically underway as the Safety Car crosses the line

13h02: Bourdais stalls it on the grid. Poor chap will have to start from the back of the grid if he doesn't get it going

13h00: The formation lap gets underway

12h58: Kazuki Nakajima is also starting the race from the pit lane in the Williams

12h55: Race Control has announced that the grand prix will start behind the Safety Car due to the wet conditions

12h52: Jenson Button is starting the race from the pit lane

12h50: Italian dirver Giancarlo Fisichella smiles as his supporters who are sitting on the pit straight grandstands with a Fisichella banner

12h45: Max Mosley is chatting away on the grid as he waltzs up and down with his FIA umbrella. Unlike in Monaco when he was "persona non grata", this weekend team bosses are actually talking to him

12h41: It is raining. The umbrella-holding chaps are feeling rather overworked on the grid while Massa cuts a chicane on his way to his grid slot

12h30: The pit lane is open which means the drivers now have 15 minutes to get to their grid slots

12h25: Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso complete the top eight of the grid with the latter having already warned Lewis, Kimi and Robert that he won't make it easy for them even though they are in a Championship battle

12h15: In fact Massa is the only one of the top four drivers in the standings to feature in the top ten on the Monza grid. Of the other three Championship leader Lewis Hamilton is P15, third placed Robert Kubica is P11 and fourth placed Kimi Raikkonen is P14. This should make for a great battle as the three try to work their wayinto the points

12h10: Second on the grid is Heikki Kovalainen who qualified ahead of Mark Webber, Seb Bourdais, Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa

12h05: There's a new face on the pole position slot today with Sebastian 'Baby Schumi' Vettel having qualified P1 in the rain on Saturday. In doing so he became the youngest ever pole-sitter to go with his record of youngest ever points-scorer and youngest-ever to take part in a grand prix weekend

12h00: Welcome to coverage of the Italian Grand Prix, round 14 of the 2008 Championship, which takes place at the cathedral of motorsport, Monza



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