Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver was half a second fastest than his closest rival in a different car.
Vettel led the early running with a lap of exactly one minute 24 seconds, putting him almost half a second clear of his team mate. Behind them were the two McLarens.
Luca di Montezemolo made his traditional Saturday morning appearance in the garage at Monza. But the red cars weren’t seen for much of the first half of the session.
Once they did out, Felipe Massa was the quicker of the two but more than a second off Vettel’s mark.
Nico Rosberg was the first driver to run on soft tyres having been unable to on Friday. He aborted his first run but his second effort put him fastest with a 1’23.875.
Fernando Alonso’s first effort on soft tyres left him behind both Mercedes and Sebastian Vettel, who at that time had only run on medium tyres.
A flurry of improvements late in the session saw first Felipe Massa and then Webber take the fastest times.
But Vettel crossed the line as the session drew to a close with a lap of 1’23.170, four-tenths quicker than Webber, to head the times.
Lewis Hamilton improved his time from yesterday by a tenth of a second to go fourth ahead of Button.
The two Mercedes of Rosberg and Schumacher were next, followed by Alonso.
The Force Indias completed the top ten, Adrian Sutil four-hundredths of a second quicker than Paul di Resta.
For the second session in a row Daniel Ricciardo lost a considerable amount of time as the team dismantled and repaired his car.
Complete practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Sat/Fri | Laps |
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’25.231 | 1’24.010 | 1’23.170 | -0.84 | 80 |
2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’25.459 | 1’24.468 | 1’23.534 | -0.934 | 75 |
3 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’26.676 | 1’24.366 | 1’23.668 | -0.698 | 71 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’23.865 | 1’24.046 | 1’23.741 | -0.124 | 56 |
5 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’24.786 | 1’24.508 | 1’23.787 | -0.721 | 65 |
6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’27.492 | 1’29.184 | 1’23.875 | -3.617 | 75 |
7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’26.699 | 1’24.347 | 1’24.114 | -0.233 | 80 |
8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’26.647 | 1’24.433 | 1’24.133 | -0.3 | 65 |
9 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’26.550 | 1’25.496 | 1’24.543 | -0.953 | 83 |
10 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’25.683 | 1’24.581 | -1.102 | 59 | |
11 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1’27.385 | 1’25.325 | 1’24.853 | -0.472 | 81 |
12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’26.625 | 1’25.450 | 1’24.889 | -0.561 | 70 |
13 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’26.694 | 1’25.097 | 1’24.948 | -0.149 | 89 |
14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’26.996 | 1’25.182 | 1’25.261 | +0.079 | 87 |
15 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’26.836 | 1’26.202 | 1’25.319 | -0.883 | 80 |
16 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’26.696 | 1’25.758 | 1’25.426 | -0.332 | 63 |
17 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’27.433 | 1’28.347 | 1’25.439 | -1.994 | 52 |
18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1’27.365 | 1’26.353 | 1’25.539 | -0.814 | 84 |
19 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’26.826 | 21 | |||
20 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1’28.559 | 1’27.328 | -1.231 | 51 | |
21 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1’29.539 | 1’28.605 | 1’27.491 | -1.114 | 63 |
22 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’31.899 | 1’29.622 | 1’28.186 | -1.436 | 79 |
23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1’30.619 | 1’29.162 | 1’28.441 | -0.721 | 80 |
24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’31.052 | 1’28.804 | 1’28.962 | +0.158 | 54 |
25 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 1’30.609 | 1’29.841 | 1’30.316 | +0.475 | 50 |
26 | Karun Chandhok | Lotus-Renault | 1’30.148 | 19 |
2011 Italian Grand Prix
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
Lucas "Mr. Veloce"
10th September 2011, 11:10
DAMN! -.-
Eggry (@eggry)
10th September 2011, 11:13
Ferrari looks better than before but Vettel is also strong. It would be piercing battle. I still believe it would be Vettel pole againg…just hope the race is quite different.
Mike
10th September 2011, 11:14
I really hope Merc can take advantage of their Performance on this track. But I am worried about there rear tyres.
Monza seems fairly hard on the rears and the Mercedes seem to struggle with preserving them at the best of times.
Cristian (@cristian)
10th September 2011, 11:15
We might hear again the ring-ding-ding-ding :P
Younger Hamii
10th September 2011, 11:16
This Season is well and truly Over
Fixy (@)
10th September 2011, 14:23
Even if RBR suffered at this track, they’d win the next races and the title would be over anyhow.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
10th September 2011, 23:02
That’s not exactly news. Plus, it was only practise.
Todfod (@todfod)
10th September 2011, 11:17
I’ve lost interest in this season already. The Red Bulls managed a 1-2 at Spa, and look likely to dominate at Monza as well. These were the only two circuits where I thought we would see a non-Red Bull car as favourites.
Mike
10th September 2011, 11:19
I can’t imagine why, each race is getting more and more exciting than the last. Ok, Vettel’s obviously won it. But it’s still easy to enjoy the races.
bearforce1
10th September 2011, 11:22
+1. I was just about to comment exactly the same.
The races this year have been super regardless of who has won.
Todfod (@todfod)
10th September 2011, 11:41
Personally, I think we have had some great races this season. But instead of seeing a Mclaren and Ferrari revival in the 2nd half of the season, we have seen them falter, and that has just killed the season for me.
BasCB (@bascb)
10th September 2011, 11:53
I lost interest in the title battle about 4 races ago, good thing the races themselves are well worth watching though :-D
BBT
10th September 2011, 11:33
Hamilton win, Vettel blown engine, Alonso 2nd Button 3rd Webber 4th ;-)
Todfod (@todfod)
10th September 2011, 11:42
I hope for a Vettel DNF as well, but I would much rather see Alonso take the win, after overtaking Hamilton of course :)
maxthecat
10th September 2011, 11:44
McLaren are losing 3-4 tenths in the last sector consistently every lap so i don’t see them anywhere near pole. Looks like a Red Bull win again, just hope it isn’t Vettel.
azwris
10th September 2011, 11:47
It seems very strange! A Renault engine equipped car is on top in Monza circuit? Hmm….
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
10th September 2011, 11:51
It appears that Red Bull are running a high-downforce confiuration for speed in the corners, taking advantage of the unlimited DRS in qualifying – but the race will be another story.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
10th September 2011, 11:51
The FP3 speed trap shows Vettel is still almost 20kph down on the quickest car in a straight line:
1. Bruno Senna 347.0kph
6. Felipe Massa 340.9kph
10. Fernando Alonso 339.9kph
11. Michael Schumacher 339.4kph
12. Nico Rosberg 339.3kph
17. Mark Webber 336.3kph
20. Jenson Button 333.1kph
21. Lewis Hamilton 332.5kph
24. Sebastian Vettel 327.8kph
Interestingly, he’s 8.5kph slower than his own team mate, which suggests a different approach on set-up. The McLaren drivers have also sacrificed some speed overnight.
Looks like Vettel may be gambling on getting on pole position and using a bit more wing to run far enough ahead of the chasing cars that they can’t get within range to use DRS.
BasCB (@bascb)
10th September 2011, 11:55
I would think its a safe bet to say he might pull that one off again, now if maybe Alonso or Rosberg can get to second at the start behind him and hold back the McLarens and maybe Webber he will be safe again.
Mike L
10th September 2011, 12:04
I thought the Mclaren was running a higher downforce spec as shows in sector 2, weird that they are losing so much time in the last sector and redbull seem to be gaining.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
10th September 2011, 11:59
Ironically enough, Vettel and Petrov and Senna are all using the same engine.
Based on what we saw last year, Vettel will have to run more wing than Button did if he wants to stand a chance – but even then, he’ll suffer over long runs. There’s no doubt a sweet spot where he gets the best of both worlds, but I’m willing to bet someone else will run a middle-of-the-road setup to remain competitive in qualifying but to stay in range in the race, which will make Vettel’s job harder – a lot of the ideal balance between straight-line speed and downforce is going to ride on what the other drivers do, and those who go for the riskier high-downforce setup are going to feel the effects much more.
Who says DRS dumbs things down? This could be one of the most strategically-diverse races we’ve ever seen.
@HoHum (@hohum)
10th September 2011, 20:38
Another conservative setup for Mark Webber, more downforce than the Ferraris but less than the McLarens. If Vettels strategy doesn’t work Mark should be able to add some solid points for the team and deny 1or 2 of the main rivals a couple points.
Mike L
10th September 2011, 11:56
Isn`t it just weird that Hamilton is only a tenth quicker than he was in Practice 1, when he was on the prime tyre and presumably on more fuel. Something doesnt add up looking at the time they are losing in the last sector there seems to be more to it. hmmm????
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
10th September 2011, 11:59
Suggests they’ve either gone the wrong way on set up or Hamilton didn’t get a lap together.
florida mike (@florida-mike)
10th September 2011, 12:54
Or is holding back on purpose. It would be interesting to see the “Best combined sector” times you did for P2.
wasiF1
10th September 2011, 12:09
Mercedes showed good sign in all the three practice session,a podium may be on the corner for them.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
10th September 2011, 23:01
I’d like to think so.
DT
10th September 2011, 13:03
Surely, Vettel’s peformance this year is not in line with what you normally expect of a driver. Good qualifying positions, no DNF yet.. That is statistically not normal of an F1 driver’s performance of a season. Maybe his DNF will happen later one when he’s actually been crowned the winner :-)