Sebastian Vettel remains the driver to beat at Monza but his pursuers were closer in the final practice session ahead of qualifying.
Vettel set the quickest time of the weekend so far with a lap of 1’24.360 but Fernando Alonso’s best effort was within three-tenths of a second of him.
Ferrari were leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to get on terms with Red Bull, instructing their drivers to give each other tows on the straight to improve their lap times. Felipe Massa ended up seventh, 0.6s off Vettel’s time.
Mark Webber was third ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. Sergio Perez was fifth for McLaren on his medium-tyre run after damaging his front-right tyre while running on hards earlier in the session.
A late improvement from Daniel Ricciardo saw him take sixth for Toro Rosso, clocking 340kph through the speed trap as he did so.
Jenson Button was eighth ahead of Pastor Maldonado, who gave Williams some encouragement with the ninth fastest time.
Having been ‘best of the rest’ behind Red Bull on Friday, Lotus could only manage tenth for Kimi Raikkonen and 14th for Romain Grosjean, both drivers complaining of a lack of grip.
Paul di Resta’s session came to an end when he went off at Parabolica, hitting the barrier head-on. “Something broke there,” said Di Resta before climbing out of his car. Moments later the other Force India of Adrian Sutil spun at Ascari but without hitting anything.
Nico Rosberg only managed five laps before an overheating problem on his Mercedes ended his session.
Combined practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’25.753 | 1’24.453 | 1’24.360 | -0.093 | 83 |
2 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’25.600 | 1’25.330 | 1’24.643 | -0.687 | 76 |
3 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’26.103 | 1’25.076 | 1’24.677 | -0.399 | 88 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’25.565 | 1’25.340 | 1’24.712 | -0.628 | 80 |
5 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 1’26.007 | 1’25.627 | 1’24.864 | -0.763 | 82 |
6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’26.387 | 1’26.599 | 1’24.865 | -1.522 | 83 |
7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’26.449 | 1’25.519 | 1’24.995 | -0.524 | 59 |
8 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’26.035 | 1’25.532 | 1’25.103 | -0.429 | 80 |
9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1’25.941 | 1’25.116 | 1’25.120 | +0.004 | 76 |
10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’26.295 | 1’25.116 | 1’25.499 | +0.383 | 80 |
11 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1’26.149 | 1’26.138 | 1’25.116 | -1.022 | 77 |
12 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’26.155 | 1’26.224 | 1’25.136 | -1.019 | 73 |
13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’27.224 | 1’26.385 | 1’25.273 | -1.112 | 80 |
14 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’26.194 | 1’25.888 | 1’25.324 | -0.564 | 87 |
15 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’25.704 | 1’25.367 | 1’27.822 | +2.455 | 72 |
16 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1’26.802 | 1’27.198 | 1’25.660 | -1.142 | 86 |
17 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’26.028 | 1’25.702 | -0.326 | 56 | |
18 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’26.594 | 1’25.830 | 1’26.120 | +0.29 | 64 |
19 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1’27.818 | 1’27.696 | 1’26.607 | -1.089 | 82 |
20 | James Calado | Force India-Mercedes | 1’27.041 | 24 | |||
21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1’27.771 | 1’27.172 | -0.599 | 58 | |
22 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’27.869 | 1’27.548 | 1’27.665 | +0.117 | 75 |
23 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’28.057 | 1’27.605 | -0.452 | 50 | |
24 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1’28.192 | 21 | |||
25 | Rodolfo Gonzalez | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’29.526 | 26 |
2013 Italian Grand Prix
- Hulkenberg voted Italian GP Driver of the Weekend
- Race rating slump continues at Italian Grand Prix
- 2013 Italian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2013 Italian Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
- 2013 Italian GP Predictions Championship results
Image © Red Bull/Getty
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
7th September 2013, 11:13
Now we know why Red Bull was weary of the Ferrari and Mercedes threat, Garry Anderson from BBC suspects they are driving around with a bit more downforce to counter the rain that might fall tomorrow. RB, Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus are verry close in the speedtraps (335-337) so that could be a titanic battle tomorrow.
I’m still going to put my money on Vettel for pole but the massive gap that existed yesterday is a thing of the past now.
Lari (@lari)
7th September 2013, 11:15
Interesting to see Maldonado so up there, hopefully it’s a sign of something good for Williams, as it’s been long due for them.
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
7th September 2013, 11:16
Why should it be long due for them? They built a bad car, end of story.
Shreyas Mohanty (@)
7th September 2013, 11:21
+1
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th September 2013, 11:19
So not only did both Lotus drivers fail to improve on their times, but Maldonado matched them so all three have set best laps of 1’25.116 so far!
caci99 (@)
7th September 2013, 11:24
Yes, it is a bit strange. Maybe they are setting up the car for the probable rain tomorrow?
Shreyas Mohanty (@)
7th September 2013, 11:24
Maldonado matches Lotus. Doom.
David Margono (@woshidavid95)
7th September 2013, 12:38
For a paydriver Maldonado’s pretty decent, and his speed is undoubted. Unfortunately his propensity to get involved in all sorts of collisions is a serious issue he needs to sort out. Like Grosjean, he’s not going to be able to develop into the driver he’s capable of being at this rate.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
7th September 2013, 11:23
Daft as it sounds, i really like the photo at the top of the page cos the angle of the shot almost makes it look like he’s on the old Monza banking.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
7th September 2013, 11:37
So it does haha!
George (@george)
7th September 2013, 11:32
I think Vettel kept some in hand on that last run, everyone else improved more than him on the option tyres. Considering he still had a half second in hand on the hard tyres that session I think he’s still in a pretty commanding position.
Bobby Balboa (@bobby-balboa)
7th September 2013, 11:41
Let’s hope Merc & Ferrari can pull something out of the bag as last thing we need is another finger boy dominance. Rain only help them tomorrow.
McLaren also looking good. Wonder if they will go for a different strategy to try and maximise on wed or dry race. Would love to see them on the podium but it’s a BIG BIG ask.
Hopefully Lotus will have a terrible race which will only push Kimi closer to that Ferrari seat
PaulT (@pault)
7th September 2013, 11:46
@keithcollantine “Mark Webber was fourth” – should be third.
TMF (@)
7th September 2013, 12:13
Massa towing Alonso again – I really hope that he’s fired swaps places with Kimi and resurges at Lotus.
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
7th September 2013, 12:40
Alonsos fastest lap on Mediums was without tow, Massa was behind him on track. Saw it myself on the drivertracker app.
TMF (@)
7th September 2013, 12:19
Why is it that only Nico has problems – I’m sure Mercedes sabotages his car to make it easier for Lewis :)
Rainman (@rainman)
7th September 2013, 12:40
Think it as karma. For last year, when only schumacher had the most problems…:)
David Margono (@woshidavid95)
7th September 2013, 12:45
@tmf42
Not particularly a fan of Hamilton but when people make such ignorant claims I’m compelled to reply. Unless it’s explicitly revealed like Massa’s gearbox at USA last year, what evidence do you have? Besides, the last time I checked it was Hamilton’s tyre which exploded at Silverstone, not Rosberg’s and in addition, the WCC is a team effort and it makes absolutely no sense for a team to sabotage one of their drivers after investing millions on both cars. Likewise for Red Bull and the baseless conspiracy theories surrounding Webber’s machinery.
TMF (@)
7th September 2013, 13:30
@woshidavid95 It’s a joke – for all the Webber conspiracists frequenting this site.
David Margono (@woshidavid95)
7th September 2013, 14:14
@tmf42
Oh your intention was to show how ridiculous those conspiracy theories are? My bad then.
TMF (@)
7th September 2013, 14:25
@whoshidavid95 – exactly :)