Italian Grand Prix – Final Practice Results: P8

Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com | twitter

A solid morning for Lotus F1 Team at Monza, with Kimi continuing to challenge at the sharp end of the pack while Jérôme racked up the laps in the final practice session before qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix begins this afternoon.

Key Moments :

00mins : KR & JDA complete install laps on hard tyres
15mins : KR & JDA out for initial stints ; bite point learns for the Belgian, fastest lap for the Finn
29mins : KR & JDA emerge once more ; shorter runs this time
34mins : JDA rattles the kerbs at the Rettifilo chicane, RG in for minor repairs
48mins : KR out on mediums for the first time ; back up into the top ten
50mins : JDA follows suit ; improving steadily all the time
60mins : Chequered flag ; KR P8, JDA P17

Summary :

Another clear, dry and increasingly warm morning here at Monza as the E20’s roared out of the garage for their install laps ; matching sets of silver marked hard compound Pirelli tyres apiece.

With a quarter of the session gone, Jérôme emerged for his first stint of the day ; rolling bite point learns forming part of the routine for the Belgian as his Finnish counterpart set the early pace.

After a shorter second run, an eventful period of the session ensued for the team as Jérôme took a leap over the kerbs at the Rettifilo chicane, while Kimi returned to base for repairs after the engineers spotted a minor issue with his car.

Final assaults on the track in the final stages of proceedings for both drivers – each sporting the white marked medium compound Pirelli rubber for the first time – saw the pair making steady improvements to end a productive morning with plenty of laps and a solid base setup heading into qualifying.

Pos  Driver              Car                   Time       Gap       Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.578s            18
 2.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m24.579s  + 0.001s  15
 3.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m24.849s  + 0.271s  20
 4.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m24.909s  + 0.331s  16
 5.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.994s  + 0.416s  17
 6.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m25.036s  + 0.458s  22
 7.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m25.160s  + 0.582s  23
 8.  Kimi Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault         1m25.255s  + 0.677s  19
 9.  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes  1m25.289s  + 0.711s  20
10.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Renault      1m25.383s  + 0.805s  18
11.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m25.389s  + 0.811s  21
12.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m25.406s  + 0.828s  17
13.  Bruno Senna         Williams-Renault      1m25.461s  + 0.883s  21
14.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m25.563s  + 0.985s  23
15.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m25.689s  + 1.111s  22
16.  Daniel Ricciardo    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m25.706s  + 1.128s  16
17.  Jerome d'Ambrosio   Lotus-Renault         1m25.973s  + 1.395s  20
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m26.003s  + 1.425s  19
19.  Heikki Kovalainen   Caterham-Renault      1m26.657s  + 2.079s  18
20.  Vitaly Petrov       Caterham-Renault      1m27.267s  + 2.689s  16
21.  Charles Pic         Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.454s  + 2.876s  20
22.  Timo Glock          Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.728s  + 3.150s  19
23.  Narain Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth          1m28.035s  + 3.457s  23
24.  Pedro de la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth          1m28.384s  + 3.806s  17