Vettel quickest as practice finishes in Monza

2011 Italian Grand Prix FP3

Posted on

| Written by

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Monza, 2011

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.

Pos. Car Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1’23.170 18
2 2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1’23.534 0.364 19
3 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1’23.668 0.498 14
4 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1’23.741 0.571 17
5 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1’23.787 0.617 16
6 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’23.875 0.705 22
7 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1’24.114 0.944 20
8 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’24.133 0.963 14
9 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1’24.543 1.373 21
10 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1’24.581 1.411 22
11 9 Bruno Senna Renault 1’24.853 1.683 20
12 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1’24.889 1.719 19
13 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1’24.948 1.778 22
14 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1’25.261 2.091 21
15 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1’25.319 2.149 19
16 19 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’25.426 2.256 19
17 18 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’25.439 2.269 22
18 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1’25.539 2.369 19
19 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1’27.328 4.158 19
20 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1’27.491 4.321 21
21 25 Jerome D’Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1’28.186 5.016 23
22 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1’28.441 5.271 22
23 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1’28.962 5.792 17
24 22 Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1’30.316 7.146 16

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

    Browse all 2011 Italian Grand Prix articles

    Image © Red Bull/Getty images

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    28 comments on “Vettel quickest as practice finishes in Monza”

    1. Lucas "Mr. Veloce"
      10th September 2011, 11:10

      DAMN! -.-

    2. 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.

    3. 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.

    4. We might hear again the ring-ding-ding-ding :P

    5. This Season is well and truly Over

      1. Even if RBR suffered at this track, they’d win the next races and the title would be over anyhow.

      2. That’s not exactly news. Plus, it was only practise.

    6. 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.

      1. 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.

        1. +1. I was just about to comment exactly the same.

          The races this year have been super regardless of who has won.

        2. 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.

      2. I lost interest in the title battle about 4 races ago, good thing the races themselves are well worth watching though :-D

    7. Hamilton win, Vettel blown engine, Alonso 2nd Button 3rd Webber 4th ;-)

      1. I hope for a Vettel DNF as well, but I would much rather see Alonso take the win, after overtaking Hamilton of course :)

    8. 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.

    9. It seems very strange! A Renault engine equipped car is on top in Monza circuit? Hmm….

      1. 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.

    10. 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.

      1. 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.

        1. 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.

      2. The FP3 speed trap shows Vettel is still 20kph down on the quickest car in a straight line

        Ironically enough, Vettel and Petrov and Senna are all using the same engine.

        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.

        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.

      3. 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.

    11. 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????

      1. Suggests they’ve either gone the wrong way on set up or Hamilton didn’t get a lap together.

        1. Or is holding back on purpose. It would be interesting to see the “Best combined sector” times you did for P2.

    12. Mercedes showed good sign in all the three practice session,a podium may be on the corner for them.

      1. I’d like to think so.

    13. 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 :-)

    Comments are closed.