With the season reaching its business end the calendar brings the Formula One show to Italy this weekend with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The home support over the weekend will be for the prancing horses at Ferrari, with Fernando Alonso looking to put his poor performance at Spa two weeks ago behind him. At the other end of the scale Lotus will be welcoming some more finishes with their drivers after the good run of results in previous races with Kovalainen and Trulli both reaching the finish in Belgium a fortnight ago.

The problem for the team at Monza is the overall layout of the circuit, Lotus have constantly struggled for performance throughout the season and this will tell over the race weekend, against the pace setters at Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren the Lotus Cosworth is considerably slower in a straight line, only slightly improving through the corners.

The design of Monza requires good performance and a good Aero package to cope with the mix of high speed straights and high speed corners, the challenging blend of corners will provide some close action during the race as well as giving Lotus an idea of their own performance capabilities during the race weekend. As one of the most iconic and historic circuits on the formula one calendar the Italian track is one of the major fan and driver favourites with the Retifillio chicane holding the same iconic status as the Eau Rouge corner at Spa. The history behind the circuit will make it a daunting prospect for Lotus, however if the team can record another double finish it will be a major step forward and one of their best performances of the season.

While the reliability troubles may have disappeared over the last few races the need to climb the field will still be an ambition for Lotus. While the unpredictable conditions of Spa allowed Lotus a mid table qualifying position and a midfield finish, the conditions at Monza won’t be as unpredictable. The team will know their own limitations during the weekend, if Kovalainen and Trulli can match their best qualifying of the season and convert it to another promising race result it will give them real optimism for the 2011 campaign.

While the team lack the performance they do have the consistency and with the services of Kovalainen and Trulli they also have the most experienced drivers of all the new teams this season. The team will certainly want to continue their good form and as long as the team avoid any major dramas during the race they could match their best performance of the 2010 season.

*

Click on the image below to view the Anna Rafaela Bassi Gallery:

Related posts: