From: aghao@sersun2.essex.ac.uk (Aghanya O A)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport
Subject: F1: Italian GP Q1 report
Date: 11 Sep 92 13:08:23 GMT
Reply-To: aghao@sersun2.essex.ac.uk (Aghanya O A)
Organization: University of Essex, Colchester, UK

Greetings.

Well, what a session that was.  Certainly action packed - the elimination of
qualifying tyres has certainly improved the spectacle for the spectators,
although I have to say at the expense of the drivers' collective peace of
mind!

I joined the coverage after about 5 minutes, and Patrese was fastest with a 
1:23.322.  Alboreto's Footwork and Hakkinen's Lotus, plus a Ligier and a
Minardi were the only cars on the circuit at that time.  Not much happened,
then Mansell emerged 5 mins later, just as Patrese came into the pits, and was
stopped at the weighbridge.  Mansell took one warm-up lap, then went for it.
At the 1st split Mansell was 0.16s faster that Riccardo, 0.3s at the 2nd split, 
and 0.2s up over the line.  On the next lap, still flying, he improved on
his previous 1st split time by another 0.2s, even though he was very untidy 
through the 1st 2 chicanes, but then was baulked by traffic, and backed off, 
going back to the pits.

After 15 mins, the order was Mansell, Patrese, Grouillard, Boutsen, Alboreto,
Gachot, Suzuki, Comas, Hakkinen, and Martini.  Brundle came out after 17 mins.
He was ~0.5s down on Mansell through the splits, but lost time through the
Lesmo bends, and the Parabolica, recording 1:25.947 for 9th.  After 20 mins, 
Senna emerged in his (actively-suspended) McLaren MP4/7, and was immediately
effective, being only 0.2s down on Mansell at the first split, and leapfrogging
into 3rd with a 1:24.464.  Mansell then came back out, and broke 23 with a
1:22.972.  Senna also improved to 1:24.118, but stayed 3rd with 25 mins gone.

Then the fireworks started.  How?  Alesi climbed into his F92AT, that's how!
You know, it's a terrible combination - Ferrari, Italian GP and Jean Alesi.
Anyone of a nervous disposition turn away right now!  On his first flying lap,
Alesi was *all over* the place - opposite lock, locked brakes, up the kerbs -
and it got worse!  However, I have to say that it worked, because he flew 
spectacularly into 2nd place, only 0.3s down on Mansell!  Naturally, he carried 
on, and at the second split on his next lap he was faster than Mansell, 
although he lost a bit of time through the final Parabolica curve, and ended up
0.04s shy of provisional pole (!).  Naturally, he carried on (again!), and this
time he meant business.  Jean was over 0.5s faster than Mansell through the 1st
split and, IMHO was headed straight for pole.  The yellow flags flew at the
Lesmos, though, and he had to lift.  Naspetti had destroyed the front of his 
March at the exit of Lesmo 2, and there was dust and debris on the track.  
I must also say that I felt Alesi must have been running very little wing, due
to the looseness of his Ferrari.  He was *more* than equal to the task, though, 
and I hope it stays dry for tommorow, because it could get VERY interesting!

At this point, Tim Schenken, the Clerk of the Course for the Australian GP,
was interviewed, and he said that they had tried as hard as they could to
ensure that the events of last year weren't repeated at Adelaide in 1992.
The drainage had been improved around the circuit, and especially along the
straight, to prevent puddles and rivers of water.

Senna was still trying, but couldn't improve.  Schumacher now emerged, and 
posted 1:24.814 for 5th, which he improved to 1:24.549, albeit a second
slower than his time in the morning untimed practice.  Capelli improved to
6th with a 1:25.218, and we had seen nothing of Gerhard Berger in the number 2
McLaren after 45 minutes.  Mansell came back out, improving to 1:22.586, and
still going strong.  Berger finally came out, and took 5th place from 
Schumacher, and the all of a sudden, it was all action on the circuit.
Patrese, Alesi, Schumacher, and Senna all re-emerging from the pits.  

Alesi was again the most spectacular of all, 0.3 seconds faster than Mansell
at the first split, but slower overall, with a time of 1:23.065.  He kept
on going.  Senna, meanwhile, unseen by the cameras, had pipped Alesi for second
with a storming 1:22.822, less than 0.3s down on Mansell.  Alesi didn't like 
that at all, and he set about Senna's time, just failing to make it when he 
recorded 1:22.976 on his final flying lap.  He was on another one, which he had to abort, because Berger baulked him, so he stayed third.  Senna and Schumacher 
then had a misunderstanding at the Parabolica, which caused them both to lose 
time, and I think Senna might well have snatched pole in those dying minutes of 
the session (as might have Schumacher) had they not tripped each other up.  As 
it was, they both exited Parabolica slower, and the lost speed meant that they 
both were ~0.5s down on pole as they crossed the line to greet the chequered 
flag.  Meanwhile, Gugelmin outbraked himself into the final chicane, and
parked his Jordan in the gravel, thankfully without hitting anything.  Senna
also ran out of fuel (?) on his last cooling-down lap.

So at the end of the session, the top 16 were

1. Mansell	1:22.586
2. Senna	1:22.822
3. Alesi	1:22.976
4. Patrese	1:23.622
5. Berger
6. Schumacher	1:24.143
7. Brundle	
8. Hakkinen
9. Capelli
10 Boutsen
11 Gachot
12 Comas
13 Alboreto
14 Grouillard
15 De Cesaris
16 Martini


Sorry about the lack of full information - I still can't copy down all the
data fast enough!  More tomorrow.

Cheers,

	Obi.


PS.  Isn't it getting close at the top?  This *IS* more like it - more of the
     same, please!

===============================================================================
    .-----,   .           !    Obi Aghanya
   /     /   /        @   !    Fault Tolerant Systems Research Group
  /     /   /----,   /    !    Dept. of Comp. Sci, University of Essex
 /     /   /    /   /     !    Colchester  CO4 3SQ,  UK
(_____'   (____'   (__    !    EMAIL : aghao@essex.ac.uk
       (Waterloo in '92 - for Ayrton! :-) [Told you so! :-)]
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport