Italian Grand Prix 2018: preview and weekend times

2015 edition: in FP1 on Friday Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) achieved the best time, trailing his teammate by half a second Nico Rosberg, third is Sebastian Vettel with Ferrari. It is curious to note how the times are one second higher than the previous year, with less performing cars. Even in FP2 the top three positions did not change, with Nico however only a few thousandths behind. Saturday: a few drops of rain fell during the night and in the morning the drivers opted for intermediate tyres, with Hamilton ahead of Vettel and Rosberg. Several drivers also fell back due to the change of some components (Alonso, Sainz Jr., Ricciardo, Kvyat, Verstappen and Button). Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton earns the forty-ninth career pole ahead of the two Ferraris of Räikkönen and Vettel, then Rosberg, Massa, Bottas, Pérez, Grosjean Hülkenberg and Ericsson. Race: at the start Räikkönen has a problem with his car and proceeds very slowly, being overtaken by the entire group of single-seaters. Lewis Hamilton maintains the lead of the race, ahead of Sebastian Vettel, which in turn precedes the two Williams. Nico Rosberg, penalized by Räikkönen's car remaining stationary in front of him, was only sixth. The Englishman firmly maintains the lead of the race, while behind Iceman he launches into an interminable comeback, even making a long run, without consequences. Rosberg meanwhile is two behind Williams and decides to return to the pits first, slowly followed by everyone else: he will gain two positions over Massa and Bottas. Kimi also returns on lap 29 and regains his lead, passing Ericsson, Hülkenberg and then Ricciardo (also author of a splendid race), finally Pérez for fifth position. On lap 50, however, Rosberg had to retire after his engine caught fire, thus "freeing" Vettel. Hamilton then goes on to win (Grand chelem for him) ahead of Vettel and Felipe Massa, which repeats the same result as the previous year.

2016 edition: on the eve of the race weekend, Bernie Eccestone and the president of the ACI, Angelo Sticchi Damiani, signed the long-awaited renewal of the Italian GP, ​​while Felipe Massa announces his retirement at the end of the season, after a 14-year career in F1. On Friday morning the two Ferraris chased the Mercedes, with Rosberg setting the fastest lap; in the afternoon the teams' positions did not change, but this time it was Hamilton who preceded his teammate. In Free Practice 3 on Saturday the result of the top four is a carbon copy of Friday, with Hamilton also winning his fifth pole position on the Brianza track in qualifying. Rosberg will start alongside him, while Vettel and Raikkonen will start behind them. Bottas' Williams takes fifth place, ahead of Ricciardo and Verstappen Red Bull. Perez, Hulkenberg and Gutierrez complete the top five rows. Race: when the traffic lights went out, Rosberg immediately took off his poleman and teammate, and the Ferraris, Bottas and Ricciardo also immediately took advantage of a "sleeping" Hamilton, with the Briton falling to sixth place. He immediately retired, with Nasr and Palmer involved in an accident. On the sixth lap Hamilton overtook Ricciardo, and shortly after also Bottas, while Rosberg already has a 6 second advantage over Vettel. After 20 laps the gap has increased to 14 seconds, with Hamilton in second place - the two Mercedes, as well as the Haas, have yet to make the first pit stop - ahead of Vettel, Raikkonen, Bottas, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Perez , Verstappen and Massa. Perez passes Grosjean and goes up to seventh, Ricciardo closes in on Bottas for fifth place. On lap 25 pit stop for Rosberg, Hamilton follows him on the next lap. Rosberg regains the leadership and Hamilton returns to fourth behind the two Reds, who however will have to stop a second time. On lap 28 I retire for Wehrlein Manor. On lap 34 Vettel stopped again, rejoining fifth behind Ricciardo. One lap later it's Kimi's turn. With 12 laps to go Rosberg remains leader, followed by Hamilton, Vettel, Kimi, Bottas, Ricciardo, Perez, Verstappen, Massa and Hulkenberg. On lap 47 Ricciardo manages to snatch fifth place from Bottas. Nico Rosberg wins his first victory in Monza. Followed by Hamilton, Vettel, Kimi, Ricciardo, Bottas, Verstappen, Perez, Massa and Hulkenberg.

2017 edition: Verstappen and Ricciardo will have to serve 15 and 20 place penalties respectively for the replacement of some components of the Renault engine. Sainz, who has reached the fifth power unit with his Toro Rosso, will serve ten positions on the starting grid. Friday in Monza opens with the two Mercedes in the lead and Vettel's Ferrari third, over a second behind, with rain visiting the circuit in the final stages of FP1. Alonso will be penalized 35 places for the replacement of some elements of the Honda power unit. In the afternoon the Mercedes remained in front, but Bottas preceded Hamilton, while Vettel reduced the gap from the top to less than two tenths. On Saturday the rain forced the Race Direction to postpone the start of FP3 by 45 minutes: the time available for lapping was thus reduced to a quarter of an hour, with only 7 riders stopping the clock. Massa is the fastest ahead of his Williams teammate Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg. For others, just installation laps. Qualifying: they begin in pouring rain, with Hamilton setting the time and Grosjean shortly after hitting the barriers, calling the red flag on the track. Race Direction continues to postpone the start until Q1 restarts at 16.40pm, and then ends with the elimination of Magnussen, Palmer and the two Saubers. Grosjean will still be admitted to the race, despite not having set a time. In Q2 the rain shows no sign of stopping, and Hamilton ends up in the lead with intermediate tyres, while Perez, Hulkenberg, Alonso and the two Toro Rossos are eliminated. The wet tire is the protagonist in Q3, after the rain intensified. Under torrential water, Hamilton emerged with the best time, taking pole ahead of Verstappen and Ricciardo - who will however be penalized - Stroll, the youngest ever to start from the front row, Ocon, Bottas, Raikkonen, Vettel, Massa and Vandoorne. Vandoorne will also be penalized, 25 places, for replacing the Honda engine. On the other hand, the gearbox on Perez's Force India is replaced, and the Mexican will thus serve 5 positions on the grid. Race: at the start Hamilton maintains the lead ahead of Stroll and Ocon, while Raikkonen comes forward and passes Bottas, who however takes him back at the Parabolica; on the first lap Vettel, Massa, Verstappen and Perez follow. On lap 2 Massa and Verstappen touched, and the Dutchman was forced to go through the pits to replace the damaged tyre. Bottas takes both Ocon and Stroll, and so does Vettel, after moving ahead of teammate Kimi. On lap 8 the two Mercedes precede the Ferrari of the German, third. On lap 16 Raikkonen stops and, subsequently, also Ocon. Ricciardo moves up to sixth place. Stroll pitted on the 18th lap, returning behind Iceman. Vettel stops on lap 32, followed by Bottas, Hamilton and then Perez. Five laps later it was also Ricciardo's turn, who thus returned to the track in fifth, only to overtake Raikkonen's Ferrari on lap 41. A few more laps and Hamilton went on to win for the fourth time in Monza, taking the lead in the world championship standings. Bottas and Vettel were also on the podium, with Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Ocon, Stroll, Massa, Perez and Verstappen completing the top ten.

Best edition for authors:

1988 edition: in a season dominated by McLaren powered by Honda and with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at the wheel, the only two drivers to be able to compete for the title thanks to the enormous advantage they had accumulated over the rest of the group, the unthinkable happened. During Saturday's qualifying, obviously there was no story: the man from pole, the Brazilian, gave three tenths of a second to his teammate to take tenth of the season out of twelve, then followed at a distance by the two Ferraris of Gerhard Berger (the only one other than Prost to take less than a second) and the unforgettable Michele Alboreto; third row for the two Arrows of Cheever and Warwick. Race: Senna firmly maintained the lead ahead of the Frenchman and the red duo; nothing seemed to be able to change the fate of the race. But on lap 35 the first twist came, with Prost having to say goodbye to the race due to problems with the Japanese engine. The Ferrari duo continued their race without a hitch behind an elusive Senna. But then the retirement of the second driver came like a bolt from the blue McLaren: during the dubbing phase of Schlesser (who replaced the injured Mansell at Williams) there was a misunderstanding and the two came into contact, with the impossibility of restarting. This happened with just two laps to go and allowed the two Ferraris to achieve an unexpected one-two which sent the public who had come to see the Prancing Horse's single-seaters into raptures. It all happened less than a month after the death of Enzo Ferrari. Perhaps a final gift from the Drake; we like to think so.

Best Readers Edition:

1996 edition: on the eve of the Grand Prix, Frank Williams declared the end of the relationship with Damon Hill at the end of the season, due to the incomprehensibility between the two parties and the significant increase in salary wanted by the driver; he would be replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Friday: perhaps also thanks to a new 7-speed gearbox, Ferrari with Schumacher set the fastest lap in Free Practice, with a time of 1'24''399, followed by Mika Hӓkkinen (McLaren Mercedes) at +0.068, and Gerhard Berger (Benetton – Renault) at +0.430. On Saturday at the end of qualifying, the two Williams dominated, as in almost the entire season - Renault with Hill on pole ahead of teammate Jacques Villeneuve (+0.317) –, third Schumacher flanked by Hӓkkinen, then Coulthard with the other McLaren, Alesi, Irvine, Berger, Brundle and Barrichello close the top ten. Race: at the start the two Williams had a terrible start but Villeneuve still managed to join Hill, who in response took him to the outside, making his car taste the grass. Jean Alesi took advantage of all this and, having started 6th, had an excellent start and managed to take the lead, although it lasted very little time. In fact Hill caught him after a lap and a half and overtook him at the second Lesmo corner; in the meantime Hӓkkinen gained third position against Villeneuve. On the second pass the Canadian was involved in an accident against the barriers along the second chicane, which irremediably compromised his race and relegated him to seventh at the end of the race. Furthermore, some tires from these barriers bounced on the track, hitting the car of the innocent Coulthard, who was then forced to retire. Two laps later it was Alesi who made the same mistake, but emerged with the car unharmed, while the other McLaren did the damage, having to return to the pits to replace the nose. On lap 6 Hill made the mistake of cutting the chicane too far, ending up against the aforementioned ones and having to retire after a disastrous spin. In the midst of all this confusion, Alesi found himself first in front of Schumacher: the German began his personal run by progressively reducing the disadvantage and moving in the wake of the Frenchman, without however being able to overtake him due to a lack of speed along the straights. At least not until the 30th^a round, when the Frenchman entered the pits to refuel and Schumacher pushed hard, setting, among other things, the fastest lap. The accumulated advantage allowed the German to make the pit stop and still leave with a large advantage, which he maintained until the end of the 53 scheduled laps, sending the over 100.000 fans who gathered when he crossed the finish line into raptures. It was the second victory in a row that season and the first at Monza for Ferrari since 1988.

RECORD

Test lap: 1:20.089 – R Barrichello – Ferrari – 2004
Race lap: 1:21.046 – R Barrichello – Ferrari – 2004
Distance: 1h14:19.838 – M Schumacher – Ferrari – 2003
Driver victories: 5 – M Schumacher
Team victories: 18 – Ferrari
Driver pole: 6 – L Hamilton
Pole team: 19 – Ferrari
Best driver laps: 4 – L Hamilton
Best team laps: 19 – Ferrari
Driver podiums: 8 – M Schumacher
Team podiums: 67 – Ferrari

Hall of Fame

1. 1921 J Goux–Ballot
2. 1922 P Bordino – FIAT
3. 1923 C Salamano – FIAT
4. 1924 A Ascari – Alfa Romeo
5. 1925 G Brilli-Peri – Alfa Romeo
6. 1926 L Charavel – Bugatti
7. 1927 R Benoist – Delage
8. 1928 L Chiron – Bugatti
9. 1930 In Varzi – Maserati
10. 1931 G Campari, T Nuvolari – Alfa Romeo
11. 1932 T Nuvolari – Alfa Romeo
12. 1933 L Fagioli – Alfa Romeo
13. 1934 L Fagioli, R Caracciola – Mercedes
14. 1935 H Stuck – Auto Union
15. 1936 B Rosemeyer – Auto Union
16. 1937 R Caracciola – Mercedes
17. 1938 T Nuvolari – Auto Union
18. 1947 C Trossi – Alfa Romeo
19. 1948 J Wimille – Alfa Romeo
20. 1949 At Ascari – Ferrari
21. 1950 N Farina – Alfa Romeo
22. 1951 At Ascari – Ferrari
23. 1952 At Ascari – Ferrari
24. 1953 J Fangio – Maserati
25. 1954 J Fangio – Mercedes
26. 1955 J Fangio – Mercedes
27. 1956 S Moss – Maserati
28. 1957 S Moss – Vanwall
29. 1958 T Brooks – Vanwall
30. 1959 S Moss – Cooper Climax
31. 1960 P Hill – Ferrari
32. 1961 P Hill – Ferrari
33. 1962 G Hill – BRM
34. 1963 J Clark – Lotus Climax
35. 1964 J Surtees – Ferrari
36. 1965 J Stewart – BRM
37. 1966 L Scarfiotti – Ferrari
38. 1967 J Surtees – Honda
39. 1968 D Hulme – McLaren Ford
40. 1969 J Stewart – Matra Ford
41. 1970 C Regazzoni – Ferrari
42. 1971 P Gethin – BRM
43. 1972 And Fittipaldi – Lotus Ford
44. 1973 R Peterson – Lotus Ford
45. 1974 R Peterson – Lotus Ford
46. 1975 C Regazzoni – Ferrari
47. 1976 R Peterson – March Ford
48. 1977 M Andretti – Lotus Ford
49. 1978 N Lauda – Brabham Alfa Romeo
50. 1979 J Scheckter – Ferrari
51. 1980 N Piquet – Brabham Ford
52. 1981 A Prost – Renault
53. 1982 R Arnoux – Renault
54. 1983 N Piquet – Brabham BMW
55. 1984 N Lauda – McLaren TAG
56. 1985 A Prost – McLaren TAG
57. 1986 N Piquet – Williams Honda
58. 1987 N Piquet – Williams Honda
59. 1988 G Berger – Ferrari
60. 1989 A Prost – McLaren Honda
61. 1990 At Senna – McLaren Honda
62. 1991 N Mansell – Williams Renault
63. 1992 At Senna – McLaren Honda
64. 1993 D Hill – Williams Renault
65. 1994 D Hill – Williams Renault
66. 1995 J Herbert – Benetton Renault
67. 1996 M Schumacher – Ferrari
68. 1997 D Coulthard – McLaren Mercedes
69. 1998 M Schumacher – Ferrari
70. 1999 H Frentzen – Jordan Mugen Honda
71. 2000 M Schumacher – Ferrari
72. 2001 J Montoya – Williams BMW
73. 2002 R Barrichello – Ferrari
74. 2003 M Schumacher – Ferrari
75. 2004 R Barrichello – Ferrari
76. 2005 J Montoya – McLaren Mercedes
77. 2006 M Schumacher – Ferrari
78. 2007 F Alonso – McLaren Mercedes
79. 2008 S Vettel – Toro Rosso Ferrari
80. 2009 R Barrichello – Brawn GP Mercedes
81. 2010 F Alonso – Ferrari
82. 2011 S Vettel – Red Bull Renault
83. 2012 Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes
84. 2013 S Vettel – Red Bull Renault
85. 2014 L Hamilton – Mercedes
86. 2015 L Hamilton – Mercedes
87. 2016 N Rosberg – Mercedes
88. 2017 L Hamilton – Mercedes

Sources: Brembo, Pirelli