Monza - Everything is possible in racing, nothing is for sure. Especially this year, where every race is different and every race track writes its own story.
Monza has always been an unknown factor, maybe even more than other tracks. Here, a good strategy is not enough. Some slight rain is enough to change the finish completely and to mix up the field. But what is sure is: only the fastest ones can win in Monza. In a season where the teams’ positions have been changing a lot, Monza might be a return to the origins.
We’ve seen the first signals in today’s qualifying. The pole position went to Lewis Hamilton with McLaren Mercedes, a surprising second position was gained by Adrian Sutil with Force India, while six Mercedes-powered cars are amongst the first seven on the starting grid. With one exception: Kimi Raikkonen on third. After the victory in Spa the Finn from Ferrari can build another success here in Northern Italy with the help of the KERS, which the Scuderia has optimised and improved during the season and which will be, especially in these remaining races of the season, some precious help at the start.
But there is more from Ferrari, because behind the wheel of the other F60, there’s Giancarlo Fisichella, who has seen a dream come true: racing with the Reds in front of his home crowd. The start wasn’t easy, although he had a ninth position on the timesheet on Friday morning in the first free practice session. Giancarlo couldn’t pass Q2 and will therefore start from position 14 on the starting grid into tomorrow’s race, due to an error made by the Roman in the practice session in the morning, when he lost the control of the F60 and crashed into the barriers coming out of corner no. 11, damaging the car’s suspension and the left front wheel. Therefore he couldn’t use all the car’s potential; but let’s not forget that “Fisico” drove the F60 for the first time yesterday!
Immediately after the session there was a heavy downpour, which didn’t discourage the numerous fans of the Prancing Horse from all over Europe. There are countless red flags on the grandstands, which tomorrow will embrace the members of the Team. Victory or not, Ferrari’s heart will always beat in Monza. In a race with so many unknown factors and surprises, the fans’ cordiality and faithfulness is always a certainty.