Jarno Trulli said Felipe Massa caused the damaged which forced him to pit early.
| Heikki Kovalainen | Jarno Trulli | |
| Qualifying position | 20 | 19 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q1) | 1’27.184 (+0.537) | 1’26.647 |
| Race position | 13 | 14 |
| Laps | 51/53 | 51/53 |
| Pit stops | 2 | 2 |
Lotus drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 128.639 | 143.656 | 133.934 | 94.174 | 94.276 | 94.146 | 94.225 | 92.103 | 92.135 | 92.029 | 92.043 | 91.978 | 91.701 | 91.82 | 92.035 | 91.929 | 92.213 | 91.843 | 91.984 | 92.905 | 96.554 | 111.699 | 91.735 | 91.205 | 91.414 | 92.12 | 91.168 | 91.029 | 93.014 | 90.702 | 91.045 | 92.363 | 91.01 | 90.827 | 95.405 | 110.443 | 90.301 | 90.583 | 90.19 | 90.391 | 90.326 | 90.193 | 90.309 | 90.159 | 89.987 | 89.841 | 90.229 | 90.034 | 90.005 | 89.639 | 93.384 | ||
| Jarno Trulli | 129.971 | 143.425 | 132.976 | 94.261 | 108.894 | 119.563 | 91.965 | 91.628 | 91.43 | 92.01 | 91.482 | 91.549 | 91.448 | 91.498 | 91.358 | 91.759 | 93.017 | 91.608 | 91.687 | 91.911 | 91.964 | 92.126 | 93.536 | 98.089 | 113.487 | 94.075 | 91.403 | 91.093 | 90.908 | 90.845 | 90.915 | 90.951 | 92.572 | 90.518 | 92.402 | 90.328 | 90.174 | 93.388 | 90.843 | 90.696 | 90.622 | 91.974 | 91.548 | 90.483 | 91.734 | 90.46 | 94.179 | 90.997 | 91.065 | 89.825 | 91.599 |
Heikki Kovalainen
| Start tyre | Soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 23.298s |
| Pit stop 2 | Medium 22.611s |
Kovalainen was at a loss to explain being beaten by his team mate in qualifying for only the second time this year.
He took avoiding action at the first corner when he saw Vitantonio Liuzzi arriving at the first corner “in a pretty hardcore style”.
He wasn’t able to keep the recovering Rubens Barrichello behind as he had at Spa and finished 37 seconds behind the Williams.
Heikki Kovalainen 2011 form guide
Jarno Trulli
| Start tyre | Soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 30.391s |
| Pit stop 2 | Medium 23.42s |
Having had to go without Lotus’s revised power steering system in Spa, Trulli had the upper hand at Lotus on Saturday: “I’m able to feel my way around the whole lap, which gives me the chance to put in laps like I did to get into the 1.26s.”
The team announced an extension of Trulli’s contract for 2012 on race morning. But he was delayed in the race following an altercation with Felipe Massa:
“While I was racing Heikki, I think Massa got into trouble into the first chicane, so I had to go off track to avoid hitting him. When I rejoined the track he shut the door on me, so I went down the inside, kept flat out and managed to overtake him.
“Then, going into the first corner I had two faster cars behind me with KERS – they had just pressed the button and while going into the second corner Massa lost the car under braking and hit me which forced me into the car next to me, damaging the front end of the car and the front wing.
“It was really unlucky as I was basically in a sandwich and I was the only one that was damaged.”
Trulli was able to recover the place he lost to Timo Glock during his pit stop and finished 14th.
Karun Chandhok
Drove Jarno Trulli’s car in first practice. Tony Fernandes has since suggested he could race again in the Indian Grand Prix.
2011 Italian Grand Prix
Image © Team Lotus
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
12th September 2011, 10:56
First Keith, not firts ;)
Sorry for being a grammar nazi!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th September 2011, 11:02
Changed, thanks. And it’s spelling, not grammar :-p
hawkfist
12th September 2011, 10:57
Pity we didn’t see that incident at all. The entire first half of the race seemed to be almost solely focused on Hamilton and Schumacher. Typically, as soon as they go away from them Hamilton actually overtook him but I digress.
I thought the directing was very dodgy again this weekend, and actually missed a lot of the exciting battles going on.
bosyber
12th September 2011, 11:06
True I kept hoping for a bit more on what exactly happened around Liuzzi and just ahead of him, maybe with his in-car footage? Guess just like with Maldonado in Spa, they forgot to give the back of the grid a real camera?
Fixy (@)
12th September 2011, 11:08
I didn’t even think Massa lost so many positions with his spin. He should’ve been shown on TV.
BasCB (@bascb)
12th September 2011, 13:35
I agree, a Ferrari in trouble at Monza should be on live!
Good job then for him to get back up to 6th!
bosyber
13th September 2011, 15:05
On the plus side, and sorry for dragging up things that aren’t really funny: Trulli will have the photos to prove it next race, won’t he, and maybe a spectator video of it too.
TheVillainF1
12th September 2011, 11:15
again the FOM feed fails. It’s like if it doesn’t happen to the top 6 guys, it’s not worthy of coverage. Also if it is indeed what happened, why didn’t the stewards investigate Massa for this? Fail across the board for FIA and FOM yet again.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
12th September 2011, 13:47
Here is a photo of the Massa/Trulli/Buemi incident. It all looks like a bit of a mess, and it’s hard to really work out what happened without a video. I don’t know how Buemi didn’t end up spinning in the incident.
http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/image/58838.html?page=1
bosyber
13th September 2011, 15:09
So was this just after Massa spun thanks to the contact with Webber then?
Nice find, it does seem like Trulli then hit Buemi, not helping his pace either, after already having damage from the first corner incident.
xtophe (@xtophe)
12th September 2011, 13:49
‘Hardcore’, Heikki’s favourite word.
sw6569 (@sw6569)
12th September 2011, 15:25
In all the kerfuffle I think its been missed that this was a really good strong result for Lotus. Well done to the team
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
14th September 2011, 17:34
It was. Really throws a spanner in the works for Virgin and HRT with that coveted 10th position.