Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Monza

  • Round 14- Monza Quali

    We now have our grid set for the Sprint Qualifying for tomorrow and the tension is building on the grid…

    We have a Mercedes 1-2!! Bottas leads from Hamilton locking out the front row to get those all important points tomorrow. We then have Verstappen starting P3 just behind both of the Mercedes.

    The rest of the top 10 are- P4: Norris, P5: Ricciardo, P6: Gasly, P7: Sainz, P8: Leclerc, P9: Perez and P10: Giovinazzi.

    Bottas done an absolutely beautiful lap, all purple sectors and it’s fully deserved! I do feel like its a bit of a strategy for tomorrow as he is starting at the back of the grid on Sunday so he will want to grab some points tomorrow.

    The two McLarens are on fire! They both look so comfy and confident in their cars and they could potentially grab a couple of points tomorrow only if they stay out of trouble though!

    I’m quite shocked by Perez, starting P9 isnt the best and the middle of field is always the scrappiest when starting on the grid so I could potentially see him not doing so well tomorrow.

    Both Aston Martins and Alpines out of the top 10 which I didn’t expect at all, but with Monza everyone is trying to get a tow and it doesn’t always play out in peoples favour.

    Predictions for tomorrow-

    I think Lewis will get P1, P2: Bottas and P3: Norris. Honestly I could see tomorrow just go mad, we could see a very different order for Sunday and maybe some surprises for the result too.

    Times-

    Free Practice 2- 11:00am – 12:00pm (BST), 12:00pm – 13:00pm (CEST). Sprint- 15:30pm – 16:00pm (BST), 16:30pm – 17:00pm (CEST).

  • F2 Monza- Day 1

    We are back racing once more with Formula Two as they have just had their first day in Monza done! We have had a couple of changes to the grid this week, we saw Jake Hughes returning to HWA Racelab following an injury to Jack Aitken, while David Beckmann had swapped Charouz Racing System for Campos Racing with Enzo Fittipaldi stepping up from Formula 3 to take his place.

    Free Practice-

    Ticktum topped the charts in the free practice session this morning and for the second round in a row, he done a lap of 1:33.042 ahead of Pourchaire and Daruvala. It was then Beckmann and championship leader Piastri who closed off the top 5.

    A Virtual Safety Car was needed with only 11 minutes on the clock as Roy Nissany had to pull onto the grass as he had smoke coming from the back of his DAMs, running however did resume with only five minutes left.

    Qualifying-

    Qualifying showed us Piastri is on fire and wants to keep his championship lead! He grabs pole for the Feature Race on Sunday with a 1:32.199 ahead of Jehan Daruvala and Guanyu Zhou.

    Somebody who shocked me was Ralph Boschung, he done an amazing lap in quali and he was near the top but with drivers doing more fast laps the order soon changed which pushed him down to P6.

    Another one who shocked me is Lundgaard his starting in P19, I thought he would off been closer to the top 10, but as this is a track where there are opportunities to over take he could easily claw some points in hopefully!

    As we have the results we now have our reverse grid for tomorrows first sprint race it see’s Beckmann on pole with Red Bull junior Juri Vips joining him on the front row.

    Times for tomorrow-

    Sprint Race 1- 7:50am (BST), 8:50am (CEST).

    Sprint Race 2- 13:45pm (BST), 14:45pm (CEST).

  • Italian GP

    This weekend, we will be in Monza for the Italian Grand Prix. Last year it saw Pierre Gasly take his first ever win in F1 and he was joined on the podium with Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz.

    Could we see a very different outcome this year? Well who knows… We have the second sprint qualifying this weekend so we could possibly see a very different grid for Sundays race.

    Does Max have the edge over Lewis? Will Ferrari be successful? Or could McLaren beat Ferrari on home turf? It’s going to be an exciting one thats for sure!

    Who needs a good weekend?

    I’d love for Ferrari to do well this weekend, as its their home grand prix and we all know how much Charles Leclerc likes this track and the same for Carlos Sainz, he will be wanting to do well as its his first team home race at Monza.

    I also think Nicholas Latifi, he really needs to show Williams he can come back after a set back, even more so now his contract has been renewed. He needs to show the team he can take charge etc, if he wants to stay at Williams long term.

    I’d like to see the two McLaren’s do better as-well, they’ve been on a bit of a downward slope since Hungary, so i’m hoping they can pull something special out of the bag!

    I would also say Lewis, if he wants to take the championship lead this weekend, he will need to be on his A game. He has a chance to score some extra points on Saturday and the highest amount may only be 3 but with the championship being so close this year, they really do mean everything, even more so since thats what is only separating him and Max coming into this weekend…

    Predictions for Quali-

    My top five predictions for qualifying are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Bottas, P4: Gasly and P5: Norris. I’d love to see Ricciardo up their with Norris especially with sprint qualifying on the Saturday, they may want to take the risk in getting further up the grid for the Sunday as-well. I want to see Williams up there in the top 10, if they keep pushing their car then they could hopefully make it a regular thing!

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday 10th- FP1: 13:30pm – 14:30pm (BST), 14:30pm – 15:30pm (CEST). Qualifying: 17:00pm – 18:00pm (BST), 18:00pm – 19:00pm (CEST).

    Saturday 11th- FP2: 11:00am – 12:00pm (BST), 12:00pm – 13:00pm (CEST). Sprint: 15:30pm – 16:30pm (BST), 16:30 – 17:30pm (CEST).

    Sunday 12th- Race: 14:00pm (BST), 15:00pm (CEST).

  • Tyres for Monza

    Well, we are on our final race week out of our triple header and we are back at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix! Pirelli have also chosen their tyres for the weekend…

    We have the middle of the range this time around which are: C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium) and C4 (Soft). These are the same compounds which were selected for the last two years at Monza which offer a good balance for the demands on the track.

    Monza is the second race this year which will host the sprint qualifying format. The usual tyre format has changed, rather than 13 sets for a weekend their will only be 12. During Friday qualifying, only the soft tyre can be used, where as in sprint qualifying you can use any tyres and their is no mandatory pit stop.

    Monza is known for its flat out straights, followed by heavy braking areas, but with some slower than others and then some technical sections adding into it. The long straights as well makes the tyres cool down which then can affect the position of turning.

    We also have Formula Two with us this weekend in Monza, returning for round 5! The tyres selected for them are the mediums and the softs. This is the first and only time that this selection will be made this year.