Sebastian Vettel scored his eighth victory of the season with an impressive drive in the Red Bull RB7 at Monza.
The championship leader achieved his maiden win back in 2008 for Toro Rosso and this latest triumph, his eighteenth career Grand Prix victory means Sebastian Vettel is edging closer towards the drivers’ title.
Jenson Button won the battle over Fernando Alonso for second position, with Lewis Hamilton having to settle for fourth after spending much of the race stuck behind Michael Schumacher.
As for Mark Webber – Vettel’s closest challenger in the points prior to the weekend – crashed out following a clash with Felipe Massa.
Alonso had briefly raised the tifosi’s hopes for success by surging his Ferrari to the front in a spectacular start from fourth on the grid. Vettel was slow away from pole position and was immediately attacked by Hamilton’s McLaren before Alonso appeared down the inside, taking a bit of the grass along the way.
Carnage further back prompted the safety car. Tonio Liuzzi losing control of his HRT under braking and spun down the inside grass before slamming into Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and Vitaly Petrov’s Renault in the middle of the Rettifilio.
Rubens Barrichello’s Williams and Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber picked up damage in the consequent traffic jam, while Bruno Senna, Sebastien Buemi and Adrian Sutil had to trundle through the gravel in avoidance.
The race restarted on lap four with Schumacher taking advantage over Hamilton to move into third for Mercedes.
Webber was taking sixth from Button during this moment of time, both having lost ground at the start. But when the Red Bull attacked Felipe Massa into the Rettifilio a lap later, Webber ended up tagging the Ferrari into a spin and damaging his front wing, which then folded under the car and caused him to crash at the Parabolica.
The sister Red Bull was faring better with Vettel seeking an opportunity to get by race leader Alonso. On lap five, the championship leader had better acceleration – thanks to a short gear ratio – to make a brilliant around-the-outside-pass at Curva Grande. After that, Vettel was unstoppable, storming away and holding a 15-second margin as he notched up yet another victory.
Alonso then came under attack from Schumacher and Hamilton for a while, but soon the latter pair were too busy fighting each other. The Mercedes’ supreme straight-line speed and some firm defending from the seven-time world champion kept Hamilton at bay.
Button caught the Schumacher-Hamilton duel, and was able to pass both in quick succession on lap 16 – taking Hamilton when he had to abruptly back off as Schumacher closed the door shut at the Curva Grande, and then slicing down the outside of the Mercedes into Ascari.
That left Button in clean air to chase down Alonso – who he overtook shortly after the second round of pit-stops when the Ferrari got a poor exit from the Rettifilio.
The battle between Schumacher and Hamilton was exciting. The Mercedes’ had the straight-line speed advantage but had to defend quite aggressively to prevent the McLaren getting by. It didn’t help that Hamilton was hitting the rev-limiter as he tried in vain to pass the Silver Arrow.
Hamilton eventually pass Schumacher on the approach down to Ascari on lap 27, and then mounted his own pursuit of Alonso – catching the Ferrari on the final lap but running out of time to try a pass.
Massa recovered from the Webber incident to finish in sixth position for Ferrari behind Schumacher.
Sergio Perez looked assured of seventh on a one-stop strategy until his Sauber’s gearbox failed, which meant Jaime Alguersuari could take the place after a strong drive from P18.
Paul di Resta, Senna and Buemi recovered from their first-corner delays to complete the points-scorers for Force India, Renault and Toro Rosso respectively.
A fine start and a safe passage through the first-lap chaos saw Pastor Maldonado run as high as sixth place for Williams. But he did not have the race pace to remain there and slipped down to P11 by the chequered flag.
Behind the delayed Barrichello, the high attrition rate allowed Lotus duo of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, and Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock, to take potentially useful finishes in P13 through P15.
So a fantastic result for Red Bull Racing. This result proves that the team had firmly conquered its Monza weak spot by dominating the Italian Grand Prix thanks to Sebastian Vettel. The German can actually win the world championship in Singapore. Currently he is 112 points clear with 284. Alonso moved to second place today with 172, with Button and Webber third on 167 and Hamilton fifth with 158.
Italian Grand Prix race results, 53 laps:
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h20:46.172
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes +9.590
3. Alonso Ferrari +16.909
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +17.471
5. Schumacher Mercedes +32.677
6. Massa Ferrari +42.993
7. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
8. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
9. Senna Renault +1 lap
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
11. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
13. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault +1 lap
14. Trulli Lotus-Renault +2 laps
15. Glock Virgin-Cosworth +2 laps
Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:26.187
Not classified/retirements:
Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 40 laps
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 34 laps
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 23 laps
Sutil Force India-Mercedes 11 laps
Webber Red Bull-Renault 6 laps
D’Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 3 laps
Petrov Renault 1 lap
Rosberg Mercedes 1 lap
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1 lap
World Championship standings, round 13:
Drivers:
1. Vettel 284
2. Alonso 172
3. Webber 167
4. Button 167
5. Hamilton 158
6. Massa 82
7. Rosberg 56
8. Schumacher 52
9. Petrov 34
10. Heidfeld 34
11. Kobayashi 27
12. Sutil 24
13. Alguersuari 16
14. Buemi 13
15. Di Resta 12
16. Perez 8
17. Barrichello 4
18. Senna 2
19. Maldonado 1
Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault 451
2. McLaren-Mercedes 325
3. Ferrari 254
4. Mercedes 108
5. Renault 70
6. Force India-Mercedes 36
7. Sauber-Ferrari 35
8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 29
9. Williams-Cosworth 5
Next race: Singapore Grand Prix, Marina Bay. September 23-25.
