Race At Monza To Be "Spectacular" Says Button, Whitmarsh

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

09-02-2011, 03:23 PM

Barrister

Teamspeed Pro

Thread Starter

Join Date: Apr 2008

Location: Orange County

Posts: 23,875

Barrister has a reputation beyond repute

Race At Monza To Be "Spectacular" Says Button, Whitmarsh

Race At Monza To Be "Spectacular" Says Button, Whitmarsh
Text and Photo by Dana Larkin

Jenson Button is anticipating some "spectacular" racing at the Italian Grand Prix next weekend.

For the first time in 2011, the FIA is allowing two independent DRS zones. One of the DRS zones will run along Monza's start/finish straight and the other will be between the Lesmo and Ascari chicanes.

Monza - known for its low-downforce character - might not benefit as much from double DRS zones. Yet, Button still believes that it will spice things up dramatically.

Speaking to AUTOSPORT.com, the 2009 F1 World Champion said, "The first zone's going to be interesting because it's always been very tough to challenge for position under braking for Ascari – the track's pretty narrow and it's a fast entry – so I'll be really interested to see how well DRS will work into that corner. We might see some pretty spectacular moves!

"I think the more conventional passing opportunity will come from the second DRS zone, getting as close as possible into Parabolica, holding on through the corner – which won't be straightforward – and then deploying DRS down the start/finish straight before, hopefully, passing into Turn One.

"The DRS is going to be a pretty major asset for a following car, and it might shape the race in some really interesting ways."

In turn, Lewis Hamilton is seeking to bounce back from another disappointing race at Spa. Last year Hamilton entered the race at Monza in a strong position to win the driver's championship. But after a frustrating retirement, he lost momentum and never really recovered.

"Last year, I won at Spa and failed to finish at Monza. For this year, I guess I'm looking to reverse that sequence! I've already moved on from my non-finish in Belgium and I'm really looking forward to returning to Italy, a place where I spent a lot of time racing karts: it's a country I really love.

"I think we go into the weekend feeling pretty optimistic. I've never won at Monza and I'd love to get a good result this year. I'm particularly looking forward to qualifying, because I think DRS will make a huge difference to our lap times, and I really want to get the maximum out of the car in qualifying – and then look forward to a strong race, of course.

"I think things are set for another very closely matched race – I'm really looking forward to it."

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh is also looking forward to the DRS-enhanced race. He remarked that the race could be a flashback to the slipstream races from days past.

"Perhaps it's a bit premature to be discussing the return of the epic 'Monza slipstreamer', but I think the whole team is going to Italy keen to see if DRS will create the sort of exciting and unpredictable grands prix that we either watched or read about when we were younger."

Last edited by Barrister; 09-02-2011 at 03:25 PM.