F1 Monza Qualifying

Varying fuel strategies at Monza

Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix for McLaren Mercedes ahead of Adrian Sutil in his similarly-powered Force India with Kimi Raikkonen third in his Ferrari. The fastest three are the lightest cars in the field in terms of fuel load and are running a two stop strategy.

Hamilton will be the first to pit while Sutil may be able to complete an extra lap before is first stop while Raikkonen will pit a lap later. Behind, the rest of the field are fuelled for either a very long first stint or more likely, a one stop strategy.

Heikki Kovalainen starts in fourth position with a heavy fuel load on his McLaren should be able to pit nine or ten laps later than his team-mate to exploit his one stop strategy. With a pitstop taking in the region of 25 seconds to complete in total, the Finn could well be able to challenge for the race win as could Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button who can run as long as lap 25.

All this assumes a clean start of course, but is does seem that the top three will be in one race, the rest in another until they regroup following the second round of stops and race to the flag.

Monza Qualifying Weight (kg)
P. Driver Car Weight
1 . L. Hamilton - McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 - 653.5 .
2 . A. Sutil - Force India Mercedes VJM02 - 655.0 .
3 . K. Raikkonen - Ferrari F60 - 662.0 .
4 . F. Alonso - Renault R29 - 677.5 .
5 . V.Liuzzi - Force India Mercedes VJM02 - 679.5 .
6 . S. Vettel - Red Bull Renault RB5 - 682.0 .
7 . H. Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 - 683.0 .
8 . M. Webber - Red Bull Renault RB5 - 683.0 .
9 . J. Button - Brawn Mercedes BGP 001 - 687.0 .
10 . R. Barrichello - Brawn Mercedes BGP 001 - 688.5 .
11 . G. Fisichella - Ferrari F60 - 690.0 * .
12 . N. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber F1.09 - 697.5 * .
13 . R. Kubica - BMW Sauber F1.09 - 697.5 * .
14 . R. Grosjean - Renault R29 - 699.8 * .
15 . J. Trulli - Toyota TF109 - 703.0 * .
16 . J. Alguersuari - Toro Rosso Ferrari STR4 - 706.0 * .
17 . S. Buemi - Toro Rosso Ferrari STR4 - 706.0 * .
18 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW31 - 706.2 * .
19 . N. Rosberg - Williams Toyota FW31 - 708.6 * .
20 . T. Glock - Toyota TF109 - 709.0 * .

* Declared weight (outside of top ten)

Earl ALEXANDER
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