Mark Webber has admitted that he has to reset himself mentally for Monza’s daunting high speeds, adding that the ultra-low-downforce track will not favour any one team for September 13’s Italian Grand Prix.
With the legendary circuit made up of long straights and hard-braking chicanes, F1 drivers spend as much as 70 per cent of a lap through the old royal park circuit at full throttle, and Red Bull Racing title challenger Webber confessed that it takes time to adjust to the demands of the Milanese track.
“There are a few things you have to contend with here,” he said. “You don’t go 340kph all the time, and you always spend the first run or so recalibrating yourself to the conditions, with long straights, incredible speed, the car moving around a lot… it isn’t easy.”
Even without factoring in Monza’s dizzying speeds, Webber’s title challenge has become more complicated in recent weeks, with both Ferrari and McLaren pushing out of midfield and back into contention for race wins. Kimi Räikkönen took a first victory of the season at the similarly low-downforce Spa-Francorchamps track on August 30, and Lewis Hamilton climbed to the top step of the podium in Valencia the previous week. And after two races outside the points, Webber conceded that the path to the title now has a few more obstacles to overcome.
“It’s not about Brawn and Red Bull any more, there are a lot of other guys arriving.”
“It’s not about Brawn and Red Bull any more, there are a lot of other guys arriving,” he said. “You saw it in Spa with my drive-through [penalty]. I dropped 10 or 15 seconds and I’m out of the points, while at the Nürburgring, I had the same thing – and look what happened there!
“It seems to be very difficult to get a clear advantage now,” he added. “I certainly don’t expect us to have that at Monza. I think we’ll be in the hunt, but to expect a clear advantage is very optimistic. It’s going to be interesting to see how the KERS cars go around here. One thing’s for sure – we’re going to need to be doing a very good job when we’re not on the throttle… we’ll need to be doing a very, very good job.
“Also, there are new bloody aero packages everywhere again! So, we’ll need to see what everybody rolls out. Tomorrow’s going to be an interesting day, to lay the platform for where teams are going to be in the third part of qualifying.”
But while Monza could represent a turning point in Webber’s season, he took time out to note a landmark in another driver’s career – the transfer of Giancarlo Fisichella to Ferrari for the former Force India driver’s home race.
“It’s Ferrari, isn’t it?” said Webber of the move. “The first Adelaide grand prix I ever went to, I remember Jean Alesi coming around the corner with that V12 engine and that sensational paint job and the little yellow emblem on the side of his car… it’s so famous and evocative, and just an incredible part of car racing, so to drive for the famous Ferrari brand, which is so full of passion, must be amazing for him.
“It’s not the end of his career, but it’s clearly not the start, either, so it’s maybe a nice little handshake towards the end of his career.”
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