Season 1 Italian Grand Prix was the third race on the Formula GP Season 1 calendar. The race was run under wet conditions. Home driver Danilo Mastronardi took pole position, but would crash out during the race. This would give the win to Stefan Aldenberg, who was joined on the podium by Kalman Mezei and Ture Simonsson.
Report[edit | edit source]
Ladies, if there are any, and gentlemen - it is time to start the Italian Grand Prix. We are off and away on a wet circuit and it is pole sitter Mastronardi with a good start, keeping the lead from Hernandez, Aldenberg and A. Wilson. Championship leader Simonsson has a good start, gaining a good amount of positions. He is now up in P8 already. At the front, home racer Mastronardi is starting to pull a gap on Hernandez, who is under heavy pressure from Aldenberg! Magnussen, who is up in P6 and behind Mezei now, is also putting on the pressure. At the back, Piazza is having a good fight with Stangl and Ling for P14.
Finally, after a few good attempts, Aldenberg makes his way past Hernandez! The question will now be whether he will be able to catch up to Mastronardi or not. Meanwhile, Magnussen still has not found a way past Mezei, and now Johansson has joined the fight for P5.
We are now around the halfway point of the race, and this is the current top 5: Mastronardi, Aldenberg, Hernandez, who is closely followed by A. Wilson, Mezei. Mezei however, is now involved in a four-way scrap over that fifth position with Magnussen, Johansson and Simonsson all trying to claim that position!
It is now lap 28 and suddenly, we see not just one, but two cars at the side of the road! It is Hernandez and A. Wilson! They were quite close, did they hit each other? It looks like A. Wilson has had an engine failure, there's a big puff of smoke coming out of his car. As for Hernandez, it looks like he completely missed turn 1. That could be a brake failure... That is really unfortunate for the two drivers who were performing very well! This does mean that the fifth place battle has now become a battle for the podium.
And there is another big cloud of smoke coming out of one of the cars! It looks like that is Castillo! After 32 laps, his car has had enough and he is out! And what is that?! The marshalls are still clearing Castillo's car and there is another one on the side of the road! It is Stangl! Once again, it looks like an engine failure. What is going on today?! His car broke down just one lap after Castillo's.
In the meantime, we will look at the battle for third again! Magnussen is now in front of Mezei, with Simonsson making his way past Johansson! Then, it's M. Wilson, Pretre and team mate Almeida. Who are followed by Correa, Ling and Piazza.
Lap 38: Another car is off! This time, it looks like a driver mistake. Correa has gone off at Ascari and his car is parked in a dangerous position. The Safety Car will have to come out! This could provide another entertaining finish!
The Safety Car comes in again and we are back underway, Simonsson has had a good restart and is alongside Mezei! Mezei however defends well and Simonsson has to sit back for now. Ling also had a good restart, and he has managed to find his way around Almeida!
The battle for 3rd place is heating up once again, with Magnussen defending from Mezei and... Oh! He completely misses the corner! Is that a driver error or is something wrong with the car? It looks like a brake failure from the replays and unfortunately, Magnussen has to park the car. That is a big shame after he was running so well in third place! This promotes Mezei up on the podium.
Oh no! That is a Gamma-x RC car in the wall! It is the race leader! Mastronardi, who had been leading all race, is off the track and into a wall! It was all looking so good for him! The car can be removed quickly and safely, so there is no Safety Car. All of this chaos leaves us with Aldenberg in the lead, followed by Mezei and Simonsson who are still battling. It also means we have only 11 cars left in the race, and Hachette is currently the only driver outside the points as Veres takes up that 10th place for now.
And the race is over! Aldenberg becomes the second driver to win a race after Simonsson won the first two rounds! Mezei is able to fend off Simonsson in the final couple of laps to take 2nd. In 9th position, Piazza comes home to score Silver Arrows' first points of the season!