2018 Italian GP : Race Preview

Monza is a permanent staple to the FF1M calendar having hosted races in every season since 1986. Amongst those years have been championship-winning drives such as Jarno Trulli winning his third and final championship by overtaking David Coulthard on the final lap of the race, but also plenty of incidents at its many chicanes, such as in 1993 where the race had to be stopped after a massive pile-up at Rettifilo and drivers inventing their own circuit, and also the infamous 2000 race where Ralf Schumacher tipped over both MRD drivers and elbowed his own teammate into the gravel in one optimistic lunge which led to him being disqualified. Last season saw Tornado take a record 11th Italian Grand Prix win, and they look in good shape to extend their record in 2018.

Kimminen capitalises on Farina’s woes to close in

Over the past two races, the championship pendulum has dramatically swung in Tornado’s favour with two consecutive retirements for championship leader Alessandro Farina. The first of which at the Hungaroring was an unlucky situation where he came across a broken down Sebastian Vettel exiting turn 11, but there was no excuse for his mishap at Spa where in an exact mirror of 2017, he clunked the kerbs at the Bus Stop chicane and understeered into the concrete wall. He had been leading the race at the time, and taking full advantage of the calamity was Vaino Kimminen, whose consistent run of five consecutive podium finishes has allowed him to close the gap to just four points. To rub salt into Gojira AutoSport’s wounds, James Clark also retired having inherited the lead from his teammate, although this was down to mechanical trouble rather than a silly mistake, and Gojira’s lead in the teams championship has been whittled down to five points.

Elsewhere, FJR had performed strongly all weekend and were on course for a double podium finish, but a late engine failure for Kevin Magnussen has all but ended any realistic chance of winning his first drivers championship in what is more than likely to be his final season with FJR. Therefore, Catharina Caracciola inherited 2nd for another podium finish with Vettel returning to form after a difficult spell for Andrew Racing where he finished 3rd having started from pole position. Teammate Daniel Ricciardo back up his teammate’s result with 6th, only his second points finish of the season with his other coming at Kyalami. Another strong performance came from Tildesley with both drivers looking competitive and George Russell finishing 7th, leapfrogging the team to 10th ahead of Monolith, who experienced the minor chagrin of being disqualified for incorrect tyre use. They will therefore be in Group A with the rest of the running order being as follows:

Qualifying Groups

Paddock News

• The silly season is currently underway with some eye opening announcements such as the unknown quantity of Callum Ilott being confirmed at GRM and the much more known Sebastian Vettel moving to FJR for 2019. Eight places are still up for grabs with Andrew Racing and Mitchell yet to announce their first driver having had their first bids overruled by other teams offering more favourable contracts. Tornado’s second seat is also available with Vaino Kimminen unexpectedly moving to CBA Racing for 2019.
• With the 1995 season now in the record books, Tornado have now hit over 100 career fastest laps with Kimminen making it 101 last time at Spa. They are some way off of Gojira’s pole position record which currently stands at 98, but they are just three podium finishes away from matching Gojira’s record of 249.
• Should he qualify for the race, Max Verstappen will be celebrating his 50th race this weekend with his milestone being further sweetened thanks to a deal with Monolith to race for them in 2019 alongside Esteban Ocon.

What to expect at the Temple of Speed

Much like Hockenheim, Monza is all about top speed with four long flat-out sections, although the two Lesmo bends and the Parabolica provide those with good aerodynamic grip a chance to shine. The previous race saw Climax and Mugen bring their second and third upgrades respectively as their parent teams fight for supremacy. Climax’s customer team, Andrew Racing, very much benefitted from the latest upgrades in the last race, so it would reasonable to expect them to keep up their strong qualifying form for this race. On the opposite end, it has been a lean spell for Ajay Motorsports as they haven’t qualified for a race since Silverstone. Could Kimi Raikkonen really be heading for retirement? Or will the Finn’s enigmatic aura tempt a team to sign him?

Support Races

FF2M returns to action at Monza with it looking increasingly like a two-horse race in both championships. Lando Norris and Daisuke Sekiya are both FF1M-bound for 2019 and are keen to leave the main support series as the champion. Only 11 points separate the two, and there are still four more meetings, while STV Racing hold a healthier 22 points lead over Willows Junior.

Coverage Details

Qualifying is available Saturday morning for Paddock Club tier Patreons at https://www.patreon.com/cw/FF1M

The race coverage itself will premiere from 16:00 BST on Sunday with FJR’s James Brickles and Shake ‘n’ Bake’s Courtney Cass in the commentary box.

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