Italian ?? Grand Prix
- Friday 31st Aug – Sunday 2nd Sept
- Race 14 – Monza ?
We are now in the business end of the season with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. It’s the final round in Europe before we fly away to Asia and the Americas for the final seven rounds of the 2018 championship. We are set up with two very close teams at the front, two very close drivers at the front and a title battle that could well go down to the wire. It is almost perfectly poised.
Monza is the fastest lap of the year and provides some thrilling onboard moments. Since the start of the turbo hybrid era in 2014 Mercedes have dominated the Italian Grand Prix. That is not such a surprise given how dependent lap time is on having the best engine and that has been the Mercedes one for some years.
They have won every year since 2014 and have also taken three 1-2 finishes in that time, which equates to a total of 154 points out of 172. And that’s with a retirement. Ferrari’s power unit appears to have surpassed the Mercedes one in 2018, as has been demonstrated in the past few races. Does this all indicate there will be the first non-Mercedes win since 2013?
Spa suggested that Ferrari now have the best engine. Lewis Hamilton referred to it having a few “trick things” going on, though he clarified that he wasn’t suggesting they were cheating or subverting the regulations.
Prediction:
1) Vettel $1.80
2) Raikkonen $6.50
3) Hamilton $3.25
