Gran Premio di San Marino 2005

  • Thread starter Blake
  • 194 comments
  • 5,301 views
Blake

Blake

Premium
10,976
Australia
NSW, Australia
haswell00
This weekend will be the host of the 4th GP of the year. This race will be the first leg of the 'European season' and will be held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

As it stands Renault's Fernando Alonso is leading the drivers championship on 26 points, 10 points ahead of second place man Trulli and 24 points ahead of reigning champion Michael Schumacher who is in a lowly 13th.

While 24 points does not seem such a large gap to make up, we should remember that Michael only won the 2004 championship by 34 points, albeit to team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

According to Michael "the championship starts here", so we will see what the resty of this year has in store for us! 👍

Disucss ... doooo it *shakes fist*

Blake
 
I'm going to risk it and predict a ferrari 1, 2. They won't want to let there home fans down, and they've had three weeks to get rid of the niggles in the gearbox, Trulli has said he doesn't like this track so i don't think he will finish that high. I think it will be fisichella in finishing in third because i thnik he'll want it more that alonso. I can't wait to see if the minardi's can beat the jordans. They definetly look like they can, and by the way paul stoddart is talking it looks likley.
 
A Ferrari 1,2 is a bit optimistic. Although I do think that their true pace will be shown this weekend (about time!) I reckon a Renault will take top spot, and the rest of the podium will be made up of Renault and Ferrari with McLaren battling Williams for the next 4 places. I am really hoping BAR get rid of their bugs and start showing some of the form they had last season.
 
DQuaN
A Ferrari 1,2 is a bit optimistic. Although I do think that their true pace will be shown this weekend (about time!) I reckon a Renault will take top spot, and the rest of the podium will be made up of Renault and Ferrari with McLaren battling Williams for the next 4 places. I am really hoping BAR get rid of their bugs and start showing some of the form they had last season.
Click to expand...

i agree pretty much with your outlook cept i'd throw Toyota into the mix battling Mclaren & Williams
 
I'm hoping Toyota will score some more valuable points and hope BAR will step it up as well. In testing they looked pretty good, but we'll have to see how well their reliability is.
 
Just a few things i've found out:

Fischella is to get the new "B" specification engine for his renault a race ahead of schedule

Cosworth engine upgrade (RBR and Minardi):
Amongst those gains according to Cosworth are:


- a peak power increase of more than 60BHP;

- engine speed increase of 500RPM;

- engine duty cycle increased (more power for greater period of running);

- engine life extended to cover two events (1300km nominal) and reliability improved;

- engine centre of gravity more than 50mm lower;

- engine stiffness significantly increased;

- eigh level of integration with car design.
 
Ferrari might have the pace. But do they have the tires?
Sure Schumacher showed pace during the firat 12 laps at Bahrain... but we later found out that they made the wrong tire choice (or Bridgestone's tires just failed to compete all together). Barichello didn't exactly perform all that well. And we all know what he's capable of.

There is even speculation that Ferrari lightened the load of fuel in Michael's car. He seemed overly determined to grab pole at Bahrain. Eager to break Senna's pole record?

Unless Bridgestone pulls a magic trick out of their hats... I don't see Ferrari fighting for top position for the entire race. They'll most likely grab top grid positions and stay there for most of the race. But I really do think they'll fall behind eventually.
Michelin has a lot of data to play with... having all their teams test over the break.

McLaren will be near the top of they have a trouble free race. Ron's admitted that their car is very, very easy with the tires (hence the poor qualifying performance). If they've fixed this problem, great. All the better for McLaren. If not... that's fine, too. They'll just claw their way up the field like they've been doing this season so far.

Hopefully BAR will bear fruit from their encouraging testing resaults. Button seems to be very much behind BAR/Honda with their new aero package and increased engine reliability. Hopefully the gremlins will stay away for this weekend.

Renault will be where they've been all season. At the front. I can't imagine them slipping too much. Alonso is very confident with the car, Fisichella is hungry for another win, and Michelin's tires are simply dominating.

But then again.... everything is up in the air as it could rain on race day!
 
My gut says Ferrari will be back on top. Renault will be fighting for the 3rd spot...with Fisi, not Alonso. Unfortunately I don't expect Toyota/Trulli to do well. DC will be in the top 10 as will Kimi and Quick Nick. I don't expect much from BAR.

I hope I'm wrong but this is how I see it.

1 - MS
2 - Rubens
3 - Fisi

I'll still be cheering for Trulli and Kimi though!
 
My predictions are as follows:

  1. A renault (probably Alonso but maybe Fisi)
  2. Trulli
  3. Michael
  4. Wurz
  5. Webber
  6. Kimi
  7. Ralf
  8. Rubens

Or something along those lines. I think Michael will dominate until the last 20 or so laps then start to drop back, I don't have confidence in the tires just yet, but Imola is a relatively easy circuit on tires so maybe they can perform for the full distance.

Anyway, practice 1 is on so we shall soon see where everyone lies I guess.

Blake
 
no jsut he doesnt have to pass someone to get ahead on the time sheets, the Mclarens probably the class car of the field, their drivers need to get their act together in race condition, De La Rosa did good last race but should have done better with the car he was in, now hes on top of the time sheets both sessions so far, yet last race, he was fighting through the pack. Hes very good but practice and qualifying is one side of it, the race is a different beast.
 
Not that you can tell from practice....esepcially this one since it looked like all teams were postioning themselves somehow.

My only change to my original prediction is that it looks as if McLaren is going to do better than I thought. I don't beleive BAR's pace. I think they are plying games and won't be a factor in the race.

I think we may see a MS vs. Kimi vs. Alonso/Fisi race.....that should be cool

Unfortunately for my guy Trulli. It's not looking good. I think he will qualify well, like always, and will finish in the points but not in the top 4 I think.

Again, I hope I am wrong.

Hopefully Kimi will earn me some damn points in my fantasy F1 league for once! Trulli has been pulling all the weight thus far!
 
Since I'm Potuguese I'd like to see Tiago Monteiro do a good race. So, I hope those Minardis aren't that good ^^'

I'm sure that Ferrari will have better performance, now that it's all happening in Europe.

My guess is: Renault and Ferrari to be the two major players, Williams, BAR, Toyota to be discussing the remaining points
 
looking great for JB (button) so far, come on jenson, he got pole here last year so lets hope he goes one step further and gets the win.
 
I read on formula1.com that JB did his fast lap at the start on very light fuel then just went and tested race strategies (I suppose that's what everyone does). Mclaren are looking strong, but remember it is Wurz that is driving in the race this time isn't it? As for Mark Webber, I hope he is just doing some race strategies or something cos he is a long way down the field.

1. A Renault
2.A Mclaren/Ferrari
3.A Mclaren/Ferrari

It's too hard to tell. Michaels tyres might not hold up again and we know that the Mac's are good with their tyres. However I don't think that the tyre wear will be anywhere near as bad as Malaysia or Bahrain.
 
Webber is always (except Bahrain) slow in practice, never read anything into his practice pace, he doesn't push, except occasionally at the end on Saturdays.

Button did do his fast lap at the start, he was very light I think. From then on he just lapped alot, quite off the pace too. I doubt he'll do much running today.

McLaren always look really fast in practice but nothing really comes from it, mainly because of qualifying, however they requested a soft tire from Michelin so maybe that will solve qualifying for them this weekend. 👍

Ferrari aren't that impressive, Michaels lap in practice 1 looked good for a while but then it just got blown away, so I don't think they are quite up to pace yet.

Toyota don't look too promising unfortunatly.

Blake
 
first quali has just finished and oh my god, how close can you get. The two future champions are battling it out. Mark Webber, what a brilliant lap, he clawed back something like 3 tenths in the final sector. Well done mate :cheers:
 
Qualifying 1



Wow! What a close session, for once tomorrows session will provide some serious changes in the grid. I'm looking forward to it!

Blake
 
I wasn't able to watch any of it yet. Plus, no race is available either. I wonder who will air it. Speed Channel isn't going to air it. I noticed the practice and qualifing will be held tomorrow, that is, later today. It has "Delayed" in the title. Anyone got any clues?
 

Similar threads

Jimlaad43
Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio d'Italia 2022
9 10 11
Replies
328
Views
15K
McLaren
McLaren
Jimlaad43
Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio d'Italia 2023
4 5 6
Replies
156
Views
13K
Veinz
Veinz
Jimlaad43
Formula 1 AWS Gran Premio de España 2023
3 4 5
Replies
126
Views
10K
PaMu1337
PaMu1337
Theufcveteran
Gran Turismo Integrale, a Player-Operated GT7 Custom Career, Launches February 21st
2
Replies
57
Views
22K
savior972
S
Jimlaad43
2019 Formula 1 Gran Premio Heineken d'Italia
13 14 15
Replies
437
Views
19K
TenEightyOne
TenEightyOne

Latest Posts

Back