SEBASTIAN Vettel went straight into the lead from his pole position at the start and left everyone in his dust trail. Fernando Alonso put in another outstanding performance and didn’t take too long to get into second position ahead of both Mark Webber and Felipe Massa. He drove a very hard race and finished only five seconds behind Vettel, but this was not a true reflection, as Vettel had slowed up considerably to conserve his engine towards the end of the race. At one stage, Webber had put a lot of pressure on Alonso until he was told by his team to short-shift for the rest of the race (change gear at lower RPMs in order to conserve fuel and engine).
Massa finished in a worthwhile fourth position but one wonders whether this is enough to keep his seat at Ferrari or whether Kimi Raikkonen might still take his place? Another pair who had a good duel were Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber Ferrari and Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes. This was eventually resolved when Rosberg put in some very quick times, including fastest lap, but was beaten in the end by Hulkenberg by less than a second.
Daniel Ricciardo’s Torro Rosso was very quick, in a straight line with its Ferrari engine and very efficient aerodynamics, and Vettel’s teammate-to-be did a very good job in holding Romain Grosjean at bay to come in at seventh. Lewis Hamilton did well to improve on his lowly 12th grid position and finished ninth despite a slow puncture in the Mercedes, which cost him an extra stop, whilst Jenson Button did a reasonable job on McLaren’s 50th birthday to bring his car home in the points in 10th. Raikkonen tried very hard but was just not on it in qualifying, nor in the race, and finished where he started in 11th position.
It wasn’t the exciting Monza that could have been, but Vettel showed again how good he is and the form book was pretty honest. It was an interesting race all the same.
Race:
1 Sebastian Vettel; 2 Fernando Alonso; 3 Mark Webber; 4 Felipe Massa; 5 Nico Hulkenberg; 6 Nico Rosberg; 7 Daniel Ricciardo; 8 Romain Grosjean; 9 Lewis Hamilton; 10 Jenson Button.
Drivers’ points:
1 Sebastian Vettel 222; 2 Fernando Alonso 169; 3 Lewis Hamilton 141; 4 Kimi Raikkonen 134; 5 Mark Webber 130; 6 Nico Rosberg 104; 7 Felipe Massa 79; 8 Romain Grosjean 57; 9 Jenson Button 48; 10 Paul Di Resta 36.
Constructors’ points:
1 Red Bull 352; 2 Ferrari 248; 3 Mercedes 245; 4 Lotus Renault 191; 5 McLaren Mercedes 66; 6 Force India 61; 7 Torro Rosso Ferrari 31; 8 Sauber Ferrari 17; 9 Williams 1.
