Team-Mate Wars: Monza Wednesday 17th September 2008 From PlanetF1.com Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso continued the inevitable torture of their team-mates and while Lewis sprinted to the front, Kimi Raikkonen selected cruise control for his F2008. Before we start Team-Mate Wars, a small diversion... Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese were great team-mates at Williams in the 90s, but Riccardo's new team-mate certainly enjoyed her trip in a Honda Civic Type-R. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIhGJyLR6TI. Mrs Patrese has no idea that the camera is actually recording as Riccardo takes her for a little spin. You can see why he married her - if she gets this excited about a Honda Civic...etc... Ferrari Season: Raikkonen 5 Massa 9 Race: Massa Felipe Massa's laying a few ghosts about his driving in 2008. Of course he created one for himself at Silverstone with his five spins at the British GP, but apart from a few heart-stopping twitches (one on the way to the grid) Massa was on top of his game at Monza. Surprisingly, he was nowhere near as fast as Kimi Raikkonen in the latter stages, but then you could argue that Raikkonen had a lot less to lose from an engine failure and could afford to spank what is undoubtedly F1's most powerful unit. In the battle of "who supports who" at the Scuderia there is now no question that it's Massa's World Championship to win or lose and it seems slightly bizarre why everyone's being so coy about it. BMW Season: Heidfeld 4 Kubica 10 Race: Kubica Heidfeld qualified better than Kubica for a change, but Robert's poor grid position just outside the top 10 allowed the BMW team to fuel for the conditions and leapfrog Heidfeld courtesy of his well-timed pit-stop. Nick did well to resist the attentions of Massa late in the race, but it will be small comfort now. Because if Alonso decides that Renault aren't actually "his family" and wants to leave home again, then Nick could score podiums in all the remaining races and still find himself out on his ear when Fernando finally decides what he wants to do in 2009. Renault Season: Alonso 12 Piquet 2 Race: Alonso Alonso got his single pit-stop timed perfectly and scored some big points for Renault in their battle with Toyota. Nelson Junior didn't do quite as badly as he's been doing lately, but he's nowhere near Alonso in virtually every department - qualifying, starting, race-craft, consistency, staying on the road for most of the race etc. You have to agree with Ron Dennis that there is no stellar talent waiting in the wings in GP2, but the brightest light is definitely Lucas di Grassi, who would have won the Championship if he'd had the same number of races as everyone else. And he's contracted to Renault... Williams Season: Rosberg 9 Nakajima 5 Race: Rosberg Rosberg looked like a race contender again, which is good to see. Nakajima failed to get out of Q1, but considering that Kubica, Raikkonen and Hamilton couldn't progress beyond Q2 then you can hardly hold it against him. The combination of cold, wet and the hard braking needed at Monza created the kind of conditions where great wet weather drivers - Robert, Lewis, Kimi, Rubens, Jenson, and Adrian all struggled. Toyota Season: Trulli 11 Glock 3 Race: Glock Considering that the perceived wisdom is that Toyota are rubbish in the cold, then Jarno and Timo both qualified well. They lost out to the one-stoppers, though. Red Bull Season: Webber 12 Coulthard 2 Race: Webber F1's retirement home can't come soon enough for David Coulthard with another weak drive in conditions that should really have suited him. As my local Thai bicycle repairman said to me today - "that David Cool- tard, he ruddy nowhere again. My wife say he rubbish!" Mark Webber qualified superbly given the Ooomph defecit of his Renault engine but the way the strategy panned out, one-stopping was the way to go. Honda Season: Barrichello 7 Button 7 Race: Barrichello There can only be more pain ahead for the Honda team as the Toro Rosso points surge leaves them washed up near the bottom of the Constructors' table. Jenson Button intimated that his car made him very frightened whenever he went out, so much so that every time he touched his brakes he thought it was going to turn in to the barriers. He's going to have fun in a monsoon-hit Singapore, then... Toro Rosso Season: Vettel 11 Bourdais 3 Race: Vettel Sebastian Vettel proved that Sebastien Bourdais' P1 time in Q2 at Spa was no fluke by getting his own P1 time. In the Q that really matters. Once at the front, he was able to avoid all the first lap fandango that he normally puts himself and those around him through on the opening tour. It was a fantastic achievement, despite the fact that he had no pressure from behind. Force India Season: Sutil 5 Fisichella 9 Giancarlo Fisichella had his best Force India qualifying of the season and was able to keep a Ferrari and a McLaren behind him for the early stages of the race. It all ended in tears - well, actually in the barrier when his front wing failed - but his drive was the team's best showing since Monaco. For a man who also excels in the wet Adrian Sutil was a long way back. McLaren Season: Hamilton 10 Kovalainen 4 Race: Hamilton McLaren messed up Kovalainen's strategy and effectively lost him the race. Had they put a couple of laps less fuel in for Q3, then he could have clinched pole, had clear running at the front and maybe opened a gap to Vettel - not the other way round. So let's not chuck the blame his way. He may not have won the race, but he didn't cock up qualifying. Letting Lewis decide his own tyre strategy was a gamble that didn't pay off. He may have been spectacular in the race, but if he'd got it right on Saturday he wouldn't have needed to scramble. The moral of the story is - if you're better than everyone else in wet weather, you don't need to have different tyres on. Like durrrr. Star of the Race Hamilton 4 Massa 3 Raikkonen 2 Alonso 1 Sutil 1 Kubica 1 Glock 1 Vettel Overtaking Move of the Race Hamilton 3 Heidfeld 3 Kovalainen 2 Massa 2 Raikkonen 1 Barrichello 1 Andrew Davies
