The Expectations II

Then there is today’s Ferrari. The Scuderia arrived at Monza with a very basic set-up, a slightly larger rear wing with the front wing resembling their earlier two-element flap set-up. However, the Scuderia did bring their final full-tilt engine upgrade, spending the last three development tokens on a thorough combustion upgrade for its traditional home Grand Prix. Ferrari must remain with this specification for the remainder of the 2016 season.

As a comparison, Renault retains 21 development tokens. Despite the resurgence of the Red Bull team, which uses an unlabelled Renault PU, it seems Renault prefers to remain in place, waiting until the token system disappears end of the season.

In the Honda camp, many believe the Japanese crew will spend its remaining three tokens upgrading its power unit for the October’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Incredibly, Mercedes still has six tokens available to spend.

Without question, today’s F1 tires demand clean, undisturbed air to perform at their best. With this season’s average ambient temperatures so much hotter than expected and with track temperatures even more so, the Pirelli tyres, especially the rears, have seen massive degradation which induces gross oversteer as they lose grip. In compensation, teams will run higher rear downforce at Monza as any sliding due to low downforce would destroy the tires. In traffic, the relative lower downforce fronts chew themselves up in traffic, as the front wing loses efficiency due to the wake of the car it is chasing, not to mention the cooling problems arising from the hot exhaust air coming from the car in front.

Monza then is the supreme test of managing grip without giving up straight-line speed and holding on to whatever grip remains. As it has been through each Grand Prix era, each of this F1 season’s drivers and engineers looked forward to Monza to prove who has the ultimate ability to be fast, stable and consistent to win at over 355kph.