It's on Sunday 14.8.08.   Yep that's in three days time..

Only 7 days betwwen Spa and Monza this time.

The race starts at 2.00pm local (Monza) time, = 10.00pm AEST.

FTA-TV for quali is at 12.15am AEST Sun morning.

FTA-TV for race is at  11.50pm AEST Sun evening.

Oh no way!!!

I thought I'd have to wait 2 weeks

YIPPEEEE

*does the happy dance*

A few pics from Monza.....

Kimi....

The Briefing......

More later if possible.....

Nico looks like he's checking Sebastien out

The 3 in front just look dazed... or stoned

Hahaha yeah, Now that you mention it...

Maybe they're just bored...?

Fan banner.......

Not many pics at the moment.........

Argentinian flag?

Yeah nearly, if they removed the writing and put that smiling sun thing in the middle.

Oh yeah...

From P F1......

KIMI..rules are rules

The press keep pushing to gain Kimis response to spa and Kimi (being Kimi) does all he can to avoid getting involved...



Kimi Raikkonen has made it clear Lewis Hamilton knew the rules when he executed his corner-cutting manoeuvre in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.

The Finn has attempted to steer clear of the debate that has raged since Hamilton was handed a retrospective 25-second drive-through penalty, even though he was at the heart of the incident.

The decision by the stewards, which has been appealed by McLaren, means Hamilton goes into this weekend's Italian race at historic Monza nursing a slender two-point lead over Felipe Massa.

Although refusing to back the stewards, Ferrari star Raikkonen said: "There are rules, people know about them".

"I'm not the guy who makes the decisions. Action is taken if you do something wrong, and that was the decision this time.

"Sometimes it's hard to say whether something is right or wrong, and I don't want to get involved in that.

"Definitely people have different views of the whole thing, some like it, some don't, but that's life."

Much has been made of the fact Hamilton swiftly passed Raikkonen at the La Source hairpin moments after correctly handing him back the lead in the wake of gaining his advantage.

Raikkonen's early braking was clearly a contributory factor to which Hamilton pointedly remarked: "That's the way he drives.

"If you don't have the balls to brake late, that's your problem."

When asked about Hamilton's comment, Raikkonen replied: "Everybody has their own opinions, but it's not about the thing that happened in the first corner.

"It's more about whether you cut the last chicane and you get an advantage or not.

"If there had been a concrete wall he (Hamilton) would not have been there in the first place.

"Maybe that's what he thinks. But I don't mind what other people think.

"It's down to whether he gained an advantage or not, and it's down to the people who make the decisions."

It was a mistake of Raikkonen's own making however, that saw him slide off and into a wall on the penultimate lap.

Going into this weekend, and with five races remaining, Raikkonen's chances of retaining his title are slim, with many feeling Ferrari should now back Massa's cause.

But a defiant Raikkonen countered: "As long as I have a chance and I am in the points I will keep trying. If I don't have any chance then it is a different story.

"But I don't see it is up to me. We will both race as hard as we can and see what happens at the end of the season."

It is widely expected McLaren will again be strong, as last year when Fernando Alonso led home Hamilton in a crushing one-two.

An optimistic Raikkonen added: "I know from the past they're strong here.

"Hopefully we are in a position this year to try to challenge them for the win.

"The car is certainly stronger than it was a year ago, and whilst it will be hard to beat them, I like to think we've a good chance."

See, that's why I like Kimi. No nonsense

Yeah, me too and that's why I liked Schumi as well......

Well....

Well that's why I like them both..

Hi everyone!

Lisa Lilley (Shell Technology Manager for Ferrari) here. We’re in Monza at the moment, building up to what is widely regarded as Scuderia Ferrari's 'home' Grand Prix. Legions of fanatical Prancing Horse fans ("The Tifosi") will make their way to the circuit over the weekend, dressed head-to-toe in red and waving flags, scarves and any other piece of Formula One memorabilia that shows their true colours.

I always love coming to this circuit – the cars run with very low downforce, which means they are very light and twitchy around the circuit. This is great for speed on the long straights, but also makes the chicanes all the more challenging - I hope we'll see a lot of overtaking this year. The best corner for this is the Roggia Chicane, after the long Curva Grande. The cars will come down to this corner flat out in seventh gear doing over 330 KM/H, before braking to 120 KM/H in second gear – The drivers will have to be really brave at this point on the circuit, especially if they are looking to out-brake one another.

Monza has a range of high speed straights and low speed corners, which means that the cars will be making over 40 gear changes on each of the 53 laps of the race. The sheer volume of gear changes at Monza will place a huge amount of pressure on the gearbox, which under the FIA regulations, must last four races. Shell Spirax gearbox oil, available for every Shell customer, is designed in conjunction with Scuderia Ferrari to help the gearbox cope with these types of stresses by maintaining its lubrication and reducing the friction that could cause damage and, as a result, it preserves the gearbox for future races.

This is the final European race of the season, then we have a two week break before Formula One's first ever night-race in Singapore on 28 of September. Next time, we will tell you all about our involvement in laying the new street circuit in Singapore - where all the cars will be running on Shell!

Speak soon,
Lisa

Watching quali now.... and it's raining again!

Oh My!

Lewis and Kimi didn't make it to Q3!

Kimi was 4s behind Vettel, who was no one, and Lewis was 6s off!

Massa and Kovalainnen are running in Q3 now, but Massa is still pretty slow. Vettel is still the fastest... this is weird

1. Vettel
2. Kov
3. Webby
4. Bourdais
5. Risberg
6. Massa
7. Trulli
8. Alonso
9. Glock
10. Heidfeld

LOL! What's going on??

Rain is what's going on, the quali conditions were atrocious....

If it fines up tomorrow, it will be a different story entirely, but unfortunately the forcast is for more of the same.

I bloody hate wet races.....

But at least Vettel, Webby, and Kovalainen, are in with a chance.

Kimi was disappointing..

But they all had the same conditions.... why would the usual front runners be so much slower?

One reason given is that the slower teams have less to lose and set their cars up for the wet conditions, ie greater downforce etc, whereas the top teams were more wary of the weather and weren't so willing to commit to full wet settings, in case the weather cleared up and the settings slowed them down..

That is James Allen's theory, so believe it at your peril..

hmmm.... Okay....

This would mean that their race would be compromised if it rains again, and it looks like it will?

Yep, it looks that way at the moment...

Looks like they should be holding the race on Tues?

15°C 

Current:Cloudy
Wind: E at 0 km/h
Humidity: 85%

Sun

22°C | 14°C

Mon

23°C | 11°C

Tue

22°C | 9°C

Wed

19°C | 10°C

hehehe oops....

Massa quietly confident..

Nobody loves me.......

 Oh no, I'm only 14th on the grid.....

D'oh, I forgot to flush it.......

Thought this may lighten things up a bit....

HAHAHAHAHA

Very funny andro!

My goodness.... how are they driving in those conditions?!

WOO HOO!!!

Vettel won!

That's excellent! I can't believe it, but it's great!

Always happy to see the underdog win

Also, have to hand it to Lewis.... He shows the rest of em how to do it

I'm happy for Vettel to win, the youngest ever driver to win a GP..

It's good that Toro Rosso had a win as well, at least a Ferrari engine crossed the line first.

I fell asleep just before the race started, so I didn't get to watch it till this morning.

Also, have to hand it to Lewis.... He shows the rest of em how to do it 

Yeah, that's why he came seventh..

Well, he died out in the last stage... I think he didn't like the last set of intermediates, but before that, he did really really well.

Oh, and Vettel has earned himself a new fan

I like Vettel..

Hamilton is dangerous and reckless and is always too hard on his tyres.

I disagree that he is dangerous... he can be reckless, but so was Alonso and Schumy and even Kimi to a point.

That's racing!

I agree with the Alphonso bit..... Hamilton is just a clone of him, but if anything Kimi appears to be too timid these days..

Yeah...

Rivals unhappy with Hamilton's driving

A week after the Spa-Francorchamps penalty controversy, championship leader Lewis Hamilton's on-track antics are back in the spotlight.

The McLaren driver got involved in some close encounters during Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, including with his old foe and former teammate, Fernando Alonso.

"There was some unnecessary movements he made," the Spaniard told reporters in his native tongue at Monza, "and he repeated them with Glock and Webber. It is his way of racing."

Toyota's Timo Glock was also not pleased when asked about Hamilton's driving.

"I do not know what he was thinking. I was right next to him but he left me no room. Sometimes he drives as though he is completely alone on the track," the German is quoted as saying by RTL.


"The next time I am with him (on track), I will behave with him in exactly the same way," Glock promised.

23-year-old Hamilton also made contact with Red Bull's Mark Webber during a wheel-to-wheel battle with the Australian at the first chicane.

"I made sure I covered my inside spot, but I didn't want to stay there on the wet patch or I wouldn't have made the corner," the Briton explained afterwards. "He just clipped my front wheel and went on."
23-year-old Hamilton also made contact with Red Bull's Mark Webber during a wheel-to-wheel battle with the Australian at the first chicane.

"I made sure I covered my inside spot, but I didn't want to stay there on the wet patch or I wouldn't have made the corner," the Briton explained afterwards. "He just clipped my front wheel and went on." 

Hamilton may do well to ponder the old proverb, that goes............

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

I think it's up to the other drivers to be more aggressive... they were after all racing for position

The way the system works right now, least of which is the massive amounts of money involved, makes the drivers too 'cautious', for want of a better word

Hey, this is F1 (the pinnacle of motor sport) we're talking about here, not a demolition derby.

It's all about top machinery, skill and finesse, not who can bash his way to the front of the race.

He drives like that and then McLaren bitch about it when he is penalised.

Are you actually suggesting that they are right in being cautious on the track?

I didn't say that!

What I said was, that it's all about skill and finesse and not about charging around like you are in a stock car race.

Ah ok... But I disagree that Hamilton was doing that. He was aggressive, sure, but he wasn't being reckless I don't think

So the other drivers are wrong then?

Yes, cos they're too cautious!

Except for Webby, to whom Hamilton did get too aggressive with

From Mark Webber.com...

By lap 48 Webber was on Hamilton’s tail and looking to pass him into the first chicane; however a questionable move by the British driver saw Webber having to take the short-cut through the chicane. He emerged ahead of Hamilton but was obliged to hand back the position.

I'll go back and watch it again, but I think everyone is just picking on Lewis... like they did Alonso

I think everyone is just picking on Lewis... like they did Alonso

What about all the crap that Schumi put up with?

If Lewis and Alphonzo didn't behave like arseholes, people would treat them better..