Just when you think Sebastian Vettel does not have to risk disaster just to win a pole when the 2011 title is so clearly already in his pocket, Vettel goes out to Monza, and wins pole in dominant fashion.
In yet another demonstration of the unbeatable combination of his clear supreme skills in a superior race car, Vettel takes his 10th pole of the year with dominant style, clearing Lewis Hamilton by half a second, a lifetime at the fastest track on the Formula One calendar. Jenson Button placed his McLaren right behind the front two of Vettel and Lewis, but this race is starting to look as settled as the title chase already does.
The throne at Monza is clearly there for Vettel to claim.
Claim the checkers is what Sebastian will do for sure, if all the racing breaks continue to go his way. No reason to expect they won't, especially since he drives the top of the heap Red Bull-Renault race car. The Adrian Newey designed dream car just keeps on adapting to the characteristics of whatever the circuit demands, whether it is a low downforce straight dominated circuit like Monza, or the higher down force street circuit like Monaco. It seems like no one can even lay a glove on the Red Bull and F1's reigning King Vettel.
Sebastian Vettel is now entering rarefied territory with his 10th pole in 2011. Coupled with his 2010 result of 10 poles, Sebastian now shares a record with only one other legendary driver, Ayrton Senna, who won 10 poles in a season in 3 straight years. Vettel is now the only other man to win 10 poles in 2 straight years.
Does anyone have any doubt he can match the legendary Senna's feat, by winning 10 more poles in 2012?
I don't think Lewis Hamilton would be all that surprised if that happens, "I didn't have another half a second in the bank, maybe two or three tenths. Sebastian was mega-quick today. That was untouchable,"
Hamilton's McLaren-Mercedes team mate Jenson Button is in full agreement, "We were never going to challenge Seb. The strange thing is they don't look like they're carrying a lot of wing, but they're still half a second quicker than us in the second sector, which is the high-speed corners. It is difficult to understand."
It does seem a bit strange that the Red Bull should be so much faster then the McLarens in their natural element of low down-force high speed straights. With all the problems Red Bull has had with their KERS button, it was thought that the Red Bulls should be brought back a little closer to the rest of the pack. Yet the Red Bull engineering team always seems to pull out the right modifications at just right moment, for the right track. Add that to the uncanny Red Bull pit crew, who seem to launch Vettel from his pit stop a full 1 second faster than any other team, and things are not really that difficult to understand after all.
Vettel doesn't seem to think there is any kind of magical explanation, “Apart from the wing level, the most important thing to have here is balance and we're good on that this year. I felt very comfortable going into qualifying and throughout the session I could feel the track getting quicker. I simply went with the track and that is the secret, if there is any."
King Vettel and his RB7 are ready to dominate. Only some good breaks for the others, and some bad breaks for the King, seem likely to derail his parade to the top of the podium on Sunday.
The hometown Ferrari fans, known for their passionate love of the red team, surely will be lowering their expectations for victory at their ancestral home circuit, Fernando starts from 4th, next to Button, and Felipe is in 6th, next to the Red Bull of Mark Webber, but their hopes have be dim, since Alonso is over a half second slower then Vettel, and Massa is nearly a full second per lap behind Seb.
Still, as always, they run the races for a reason, and anything can happen. As a pure Formula One fan myself, on the one hand, I would like to see almost anyone besides Vettel to win a race every now and then, just to makes things a bit more interesting. On the other hand, watching Vettel drive his race car, with all that Formula One racing demands these days, is liking watching a master at his work, a maestro at his craft, being born before our very eyes, evolving into the next Schumacher, the next Senna, the next Mansell, the next Prost.
But something more than these legendary greats is what we might be witnessing. Vettel at the tender age of 24, is just at the very beginning of his development. Driving one of today's cars, while making more than 90 adjustments to the race car per lap, all while racing rival drivers, is at another level removed from those old days. (Yet the danger was so much more in those old days, as the tragedy of Senna reveals only too well.)
The King of Formula One in 2011 may rule the world of motorsports for awhile yet.
Full Disclosure
Made a slight error in yesterday's Monza practice article, when I claimed there were only 2 chicanes on the circuit. There are actually 3 chicanes on the circuit, each a bit of a different challenge, both for what comes before and what comes after each braking zone.
That view from the huge F1 balloon on the SpeedTV feed was awesome. Can't wait to see the awesome views from there watching the race cars dice there way through the awesome Parabolica during the race. Set those DVR's, Monza is worth watching from an eagle eye point of view.
Italian GP - Saturday - Qualifying Session Results
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIME
Q3
1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1:22.275
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.725
3. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.777
4. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 1:22.841
5. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1:22.972
6. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 1:23.188
7. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault 1:23.530
8. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes GP 1:23.777
9. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 1:24.477
10. Bruno Senna Brazil Renault No Time
Q2
11. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 1:24.163
12. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:24.209
13. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 1:24.648
14. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Cosworth 1:24.726
15. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1:24.845
16. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:24.932
17. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari 1:25.065
Q1
18. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:25.334
19. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Renault 1:26.647
20. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Renault 1:27.184
21. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 1:27.591
22. Jerome d'Ambrosio Belgium Virgin-Cosworth 1:27.609
23. Daniel Ricciardo Australia HRT-Cosworth 1:28.054
24. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy HRT-Cosworth 1:28.231
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