Formula One 2016: Autodromo Nazionale Monza

This week the big news has mostly been off the track. As expected Filipe Massa has announced his retirement from Formula One, opening up a seat at Williams. It was thought there were 2 contenders for that position, Jenson Button and Sergio Pérez, but Button has announced that he is taking at least a year off and has signed a two year deal with McLaren which means that if he drives at all in 2018 it will be for them.

McLaren’s other driver, Fernando Alonso is said to be considering ending his career after the 2017 season and Button could come back and replace him, but that is unlikely. Next season Button’s car will go to Stoffel Vandoorne, the 2015 GP2 Champion.

This is all rather unfortunate for McLaren (2nd winningest team in Formula One ever) as their Honda Power Plant is finally showning signs of life after about 3 years of development.

It is also not a done deal that Pérez will now slide into Williams. He comes with a boatload of Carlos Slim sponsorship and Renault (among others) are keen to sign him. Needless to say this is bad news for Force India which has just passed Toro Rosso for 4th place in the Team Championship.

And what is to be said about Scuderia Marlboro and our friends at Maranello. After 3 victories in 2015 this was the year they were supposed to contend with Mercedes for the top. Instead they have been relegated to 3rd place by the resurgent Red Bull and despite bringing the last round of 2016 improvements (and using their last 3 non-penalty Engine change credits) to their home track of Monza and taking the second row on the Grid this week they do not appear to be poised to finish the season strong.

For contrast Renault has 21 tokens left and the Teams using their Power Plants this year are very pleased with the reliability and power, including Red Bull who last year hated them.

You would think that Team Director Maurizio Arrivabene’s job would be on the line especially since his only experience is as head of the Philip Morris company’s sponsorship program for Ferrari and a marketing director, but he is the Fiat Chairman and Ferrari President Sergio Marchionne’s favorite and has had a tough time since James Allison, Technical Director, resigned when his wife died suddenly of meningitis in July and was replaced by the Head of Engine Development, Mattia Binotto.

Who knows? They have pulled miracles at Monza before.

Speaking of Monza, Bernie says a 3 year deal is finalized but not signed, seemingly bringing to the end a bid by Imola to host the Italian Grand Prix.

Monza is the fastest track in Formula One but is much easier on tires than Spa. While we will have the same 3 compounds (Medium, Soft, and SuperSoft) and high pressures, the SuperSofts seem to be good for 3 to 5 Laps and add .5 seconds per Lap over the Softs. This is partly due to the lack of elevation change.

Because Monza is fairly straight Teams conventionally run much shallower and smaller rear wings than they do otherwise. This year Red Bull is sticking to that but other Teams are experimenting with deeper inclines (more downforce and drag) while Mercedes and some more advanced Teams are going with a bent wing hybrid (it looks like a ‘U” or a ‘W’).

In the Driver’s Championship, Hamilton’s astounding 3rd Place at Spa (from 22nd) leaves him 9 points ahead of Rosberg and with 1 more engine. It’s hard to see how Rosberg recovers.