Fernando Alonso's performance in yesterday's Italian Grand Prix was epic, and his stunning move past Hamilton and Vettel to take the lead into the Prima Variante will stand time as one of his finest moments in F1. He almost always starts well, but following a remarkably similar jaw dropping performance earlier this season at Catalunya, Alonso's place among the all-time greats must now be firmly cemented.
Through sheer force of will and extraordinarily disciplined car control, Fernando managed to gift the Scuderia and the Monza Tifosi a podium finish that almost certainly was not on offer.
The F150 in Massa's greatly improved hands has proven a midfield runner at best. Given the strength of Red Bull and McLaren, it is mind boggling to consider that the European season has closed with Alonso lying 2nd in the championship. Given Ferrari's endless struggle with tire temperature and compounds, it is hard to grasp how Alonso has managed to keep up with everyone else chasing Vettel.
Fernando was certainly aided in his quest by Michael Schumacher, who served a significant part of the GP as yet another thorn in Lewis Hamilton's wayward season. I have to feel for Lewis, as though I much enjoyed Schumacher's drive among the front runners, Hamilton was probably robbed the opportunity to close on Alonso and eventually assume his spot on the podium. I don't subscribe to the suggestion that Schumacher was driving dangerously, only that he pushed boundaries as he always has.
I did find it curious, however, at how effortlessly Button managed his way past Schumi when Lewis continually found himself blocked.
Finally, Liuzzi had no one to blame but himself for the season's best display of a F1 car posing as a bowling ball. Having sat right at that spot in 2006 and 2010, I can't imagine what it must've been to witness first hand that errant HRT skittering across the grass!
All in all, another fantastic race in what has been a season full of memorable Grand Prix moments!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Looking Back: Monza '06
Watching the Italian Grand Prix this morning had me thinking back to my first Grand Prix at Monza - 2006. We stayed in a little town called Cinesello Balsamo, which is just a train stop away from Monza. This is the trip I think of as our “planes, trains and automobiles” trip, though in reality it was more like trains, busses, cabs, shuttles and a whole lot of walking, and when I say a whole lot of walking, I’m not exaggerating even a little bit.
Our first Grand Prix ever was in 2004 at Imola, also in beautiful countryside much like Monza, only in Imola our lovely host drove us from our apartment right up to the race track. Staying in Cinesello Balsamo, we thought, how much trouble could one extra train stop be? Well, for starters, a bus ride was required from our hotel to the train station, and then from the train station in Monza either bus or race shuttle to the track entrance – and when I say entrance, that’s a loose term. The bus dropped us off at the far edge of the Parco di Monza – what seemed about a 3-mile walk to the actual entrance to the track. But I digress, we were excited to be there, no matter how much walking was required, I was just glad I had brought good shoes.
The good thing about the walk into the track was that all along the way were lots of places to get cappuccino, espresso, panini and brioche. The park is also quite beautiful and as we walked around, checking out the track and getting the lay of the land, I’ll never forget how astonishing it is to see the old banked track in person. The steepness is like nothing I’ve ever seen and can only be fully appreciated in person, particularly after the race when the fans are allowed to climb up and over it to get out onto the track.
Aside from the walking, the other thing that stands out is how good the food was at the circuit – pomodoro e mozerella and prosciutto e formaggio panini – the latter being my favorite. Even after the race weekend was long over and we were on our way to Tuscany, I still thought about how wonderful those simple sandwiches were - on bread that is nothing like anything you can find in a US grocery store.
On Thursday, after the pit walk, as the crowd was shooed towards the exit at the end of the day, we followed signs to a place that will, for us, always be a part of our Monza experience – The Pit Stop. A little bar tucked away off the beaten path, far enough off, in fact, that we thought somehow the signs were wrong. Just as we were wondering if we’d made a wrong turn, we saw the small patio with six tables. Inside was a bar with a few more tables, and not crowded like you would think, a friendly, welcoming place to rest our feet and have a beer.
When we were unable to successfully get a cab from The Pit Stop back to our hotel, we took the bus to the Monza centro storico where we made two great discoveries. The first being a wine shop that sold some fantastic wine from Italian F1 driver Jarno Trulli, the second Prater Pizzeria where we had a great dinner, but I think the dinner the following night at Ristorante Costa was our favorite.
On Friday, after making our way back to Cinesello Balsamo from a long day at the autodromo, the concierge at our hotel recommended Ristorante Costa to us for dinner. Not wanting to do any more walking, we asked if he could call us a cab. To him, my request made no sense, as he assured me this restaurant was only 50 meters from our hotel, just a few short blocks. He even wrote the brief instructions on the back of the hotel business card – make a left at the light, walk 50 m to the square where the restaurant is.
This is where we learned how true our Italian instructor’s joke about the Italian term “due piedi” is. The term literally means “two steps” and as she explained to us, when you ask for directions in Italy, you are often told the destination is only “due piedi” when in reality, it’s quite a hike. After twenty minutes of walking, we were just about to give up when we saw the restaurant on the far corner of a square. Glad we didn’t give up. We got a great meal, even with my super limited Italian – fortunately my Italian vocabulary is strongest when it comes to food. In addition to the great food and a particularly good tiramisu, they also had a man on a tiny stage playing keyboards who was very entertaining. When we first arrived, we was playing The Beatles and James Taylor. Later he was joined by a woman who sang Italian songs.
On Saturday we decided to forget the bus to the train to the shuttle to the edge of the park ritual, and hired a cab to take us right to the entrance of the circuit for qualifying. This was a good call, not just for saving our feet, but also because that’s how we met our great friend Jon who, along with his traveling companion, was also looking for a more direct route to the track and was more than happy to share a cab with us.
At the end of the end of the day, we returned to what would become our favorite post race hang out, The Pit Stop. Too tired and hungry to imagine making a trek anywhere else, we ordered a meat plate where I was first introduced to the mysterious cold cut called “speck.” Delicious, but I had a hard time figuring out exactly what it was. It was only later that I learned that it is cured ham – similar to prosciutto. We also ordered some pasta, nothing fancy, but both the torchetti pesto and the tagliatelle Bolognese were surprisingly good for what was basically bar food.
Race day was the perfect combination of everything I think the Monza experience should be – the weather was beautiful, Ferrari won (this particular race it was Schumacher – his last win at Monza, at least up to now) and after the race was over, we celebrated with a bottle of Jarno Trulli’s wine with our friends on the patio at The Pit Stop. Wish I was there right now.
Traci Carroll
Our first Grand Prix ever was in 2004 at Imola, also in beautiful countryside much like Monza, only in Imola our lovely host drove us from our apartment right up to the race track. Staying in Cinesello Balsamo, we thought, how much trouble could one extra train stop be? Well, for starters, a bus ride was required from our hotel to the train station, and then from the train station in Monza either bus or race shuttle to the track entrance – and when I say entrance, that’s a loose term. The bus dropped us off at the far edge of the Parco di Monza – what seemed about a 3-mile walk to the actual entrance to the track. But I digress, we were excited to be there, no matter how much walking was required, I was just glad I had brought good shoes.
The good thing about the walk into the track was that all along the way were lots of places to get cappuccino, espresso, panini and brioche. The park is also quite beautiful and as we walked around, checking out the track and getting the lay of the land, I’ll never forget how astonishing it is to see the old banked track in person. The steepness is like nothing I’ve ever seen and can only be fully appreciated in person, particularly after the race when the fans are allowed to climb up and over it to get out onto the track.
Aside from the walking, the other thing that stands out is how good the food was at the circuit – pomodoro e mozerella and prosciutto e formaggio panini – the latter being my favorite. Even after the race weekend was long over and we were on our way to Tuscany, I still thought about how wonderful those simple sandwiches were - on bread that is nothing like anything you can find in a US grocery store.
On Thursday, after the pit walk, as the crowd was shooed towards the exit at the end of the day, we followed signs to a place that will, for us, always be a part of our Monza experience – The Pit Stop. A little bar tucked away off the beaten path, far enough off, in fact, that we thought somehow the signs were wrong. Just as we were wondering if we’d made a wrong turn, we saw the small patio with six tables. Inside was a bar with a few more tables, and not crowded like you would think, a friendly, welcoming place to rest our feet and have a beer.
When we were unable to successfully get a cab from The Pit Stop back to our hotel, we took the bus to the Monza centro storico where we made two great discoveries. The first being a wine shop that sold some fantastic wine from Italian F1 driver Jarno Trulli, the second Prater Pizzeria where we had a great dinner, but I think the dinner the following night at Ristorante Costa was our favorite.
On Friday, after making our way back to Cinesello Balsamo from a long day at the autodromo, the concierge at our hotel recommended Ristorante Costa to us for dinner. Not wanting to do any more walking, we asked if he could call us a cab. To him, my request made no sense, as he assured me this restaurant was only 50 meters from our hotel, just a few short blocks. He even wrote the brief instructions on the back of the hotel business card – make a left at the light, walk 50 m to the square where the restaurant is.
This is where we learned how true our Italian instructor’s joke about the Italian term “due piedi” is. The term literally means “two steps” and as she explained to us, when you ask for directions in Italy, you are often told the destination is only “due piedi” when in reality, it’s quite a hike. After twenty minutes of walking, we were just about to give up when we saw the restaurant on the far corner of a square. Glad we didn’t give up. We got a great meal, even with my super limited Italian – fortunately my Italian vocabulary is strongest when it comes to food. In addition to the great food and a particularly good tiramisu, they also had a man on a tiny stage playing keyboards who was very entertaining. When we first arrived, we was playing The Beatles and James Taylor. Later he was joined by a woman who sang Italian songs.
On Saturday we decided to forget the bus to the train to the shuttle to the edge of the park ritual, and hired a cab to take us right to the entrance of the circuit for qualifying. This was a good call, not just for saving our feet, but also because that’s how we met our great friend Jon who, along with his traveling companion, was also looking for a more direct route to the track and was more than happy to share a cab with us.
At the end of the end of the day, we returned to what would become our favorite post race hang out, The Pit Stop. Too tired and hungry to imagine making a trek anywhere else, we ordered a meat plate where I was first introduced to the mysterious cold cut called “speck.” Delicious, but I had a hard time figuring out exactly what it was. It was only later that I learned that it is cured ham – similar to prosciutto. We also ordered some pasta, nothing fancy, but both the torchetti pesto and the tagliatelle Bolognese were surprisingly good for what was basically bar food.
Race day was the perfect combination of everything I think the Monza experience should be – the weather was beautiful, Ferrari won (this particular race it was Schumacher – his last win at Monza, at least up to now) and after the race was over, we celebrated with a bottle of Jarno Trulli’s wine with our friends on the patio at The Pit Stop. Wish I was there right now.
Traci Carroll
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
"Senna" Discussion Pt.3
CAUTION: SPOILERS
I was reminded by a friend that I can find a dark cloud around any silver lining. I've heard that so many times before that I'm sure that my reputation is ripe in that regard. I'm also sure that to some my comments on "Senna" fall perfectly in that category.
Oh well, I might have suggested to my friend that he take two pills and call me in the morning . . . but a more productive suggestion might have been that he go back and reread what I've offered with his own negative filters turned off.
Ayrton Senna had an enormous impact on my life. I can't say that he became my all-time favorite F1 driver, but from a distant vantage I was captivated by the manner this man scantly 14 months my elder so intensely attacked the world's greatest, most challenging form of motor sport.
I remember that it was right around Senna's 1985 season with Lotus that on-board cameras began to appear in sparse use. It was the dawn of a sensational new era for those who followed the sport and Senna was taking center stage. In the following years television audiences worldwide exploded.
Yet despite those staggering numbers, F1 has remained largely overlooked in the cinema. Very few motor racing films have been made, and most are arguably disappointing. "Le Mans"and the racing sequences in Frankenheimer's "Grand Prix," (both made prior Senna's era), are the most notable exceptions.
With this in mind, the movie "Senna" is a remarkable accomplishment simply in the fact that it arrives as one of the stronger films on the topic.
I could have focused on those things which work so well . . . the unbelievable archival footage, the fantastic score, the fluid editing, and poignant ending. No doubt, I am fully appreciative of the film on many levels. Perhaps I should have left my commentary on that point.
However, my broader reaction to the film is almost identical to the contradictory nature I sometimes recognized in Senna's career. If the film and ensuing discussion serves to keep Senna's impact on motor sport vibrant, then let's have at it.
I want to leave the topic with two further viewing recommendations.
"A Star Named Ayrton Senna" is a noble documentary effort that comes close to presenting a more complete picture of the man, albeit with some handicaps such as a very weak score.
I would also recommend Senna's 1989 qualifying lap at Suzuka as presented on the DVD "50 Years of Formula 1 Onboard." The fascinating aspect to this narration free clip is not the lap alone but the intensity clearly evident in Senna's approach as he studies his competitor's times (probably Prost's!), climbs into his car, and pulls on his gloves. Stunning.
SPA
Has Spa-Francorchamps ever produced a boring Grand Prix? I highly doubt it.
Despite the fact that Sebastian Vettel has pretty much run away with the title, I continue to find each round in this year's championship incredibly exciting, and Spa was no exception.
This year's weather brought back memories of our trip there in 2008.
I can't wait to return!
I was reminded by a friend that I can find a dark cloud around any silver lining. I've heard that so many times before that I'm sure that my reputation is ripe in that regard. I'm also sure that to some my comments on "Senna" fall perfectly in that category.
Oh well, I might have suggested to my friend that he take two pills and call me in the morning . . . but a more productive suggestion might have been that he go back and reread what I've offered with his own negative filters turned off.
Ayrton Senna had an enormous impact on my life. I can't say that he became my all-time favorite F1 driver, but from a distant vantage I was captivated by the manner this man scantly 14 months my elder so intensely attacked the world's greatest, most challenging form of motor sport.
I remember that it was right around Senna's 1985 season with Lotus that on-board cameras began to appear in sparse use. It was the dawn of a sensational new era for those who followed the sport and Senna was taking center stage. In the following years television audiences worldwide exploded.
Yet despite those staggering numbers, F1 has remained largely overlooked in the cinema. Very few motor racing films have been made, and most are arguably disappointing. "Le Mans"and the racing sequences in Frankenheimer's "Grand Prix," (both made prior Senna's era), are the most notable exceptions.
With this in mind, the movie "Senna" is a remarkable accomplishment simply in the fact that it arrives as one of the stronger films on the topic.
I could have focused on those things which work so well . . . the unbelievable archival footage, the fantastic score, the fluid editing, and poignant ending. No doubt, I am fully appreciative of the film on many levels. Perhaps I should have left my commentary on that point.
However, my broader reaction to the film is almost identical to the contradictory nature I sometimes recognized in Senna's career. If the film and ensuing discussion serves to keep Senna's impact on motor sport vibrant, then let's have at it.
I want to leave the topic with two further viewing recommendations.
"A Star Named Ayrton Senna" is a noble documentary effort that comes close to presenting a more complete picture of the man, albeit with some handicaps such as a very weak score.
I would also recommend Senna's 1989 qualifying lap at Suzuka as presented on the DVD "50 Years of Formula 1 Onboard." The fascinating aspect to this narration free clip is not the lap alone but the intensity clearly evident in Senna's approach as he studies his competitor's times (probably Prost's!), climbs into his car, and pulls on his gloves. Stunning.
SPA
Has Spa-Francorchamps ever produced a boring Grand Prix? I highly doubt it.
Despite the fact that Sebastian Vettel has pretty much run away with the title, I continue to find each round in this year's championship incredibly exciting, and Spa was no exception.
This year's weather brought back memories of our trip there in 2008.
I can't wait to return!
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