The latest grand prix took place at Ferrari’s hunting ground, Monza. It’s the fastest track on the calendar, the car’s aero packages visually different compared to the twisty tracks like Monaco. With the edition of heat-sensing cameras purely set on the tyres, we can see the they’ll be durable throughout the race – during the long fast sections, the tyre only shows little to no signs of heat.
Qualifying saw a few surprises to liven things up a little with a few big names making mistakes.
The usual suspect fought to make Q2, both of the Williams in the drop zone until Esteban Gutierrez managed knock Pastor Maldonado out. However, in the dying seconds, Pastor set a blistering lap good enough for Q2.
Drivers not making the cut: Gutierrez, Bottas, Van der Garde, Pic, Bianchi and Chilton.
Q2 and Lewis Hamilton went off at Parabolica and into the gravel at high speed. Despite bouncing his Mercedes across the gravel, he regained control and avoided the barrier.
When the Red Bulls emerged from the pits, Mark Webber instantly took second quickest, just behind Fernando Alonso. Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo looked good in third, no doubt impressing his future team Red Bull. It didn’t take long for Vettel to turn in fastest lap, dipping into the 1m 23 secs – once again it looked like a foregone conclusion.
The excitement was all on Hamilton as it looked like he was going out of Q2. Minutes later he did after his penultimate lap just wasn’t quick enough and his final attempt was scuppered being stuck behind a Force India.
Lotus will be very disappointed as both their cars aren’t quick enough at this high-speed circuit.
Drivers not making Q3: Raikkonen, Hamilton, Grosjean, Sutil, Maldonado and Di Resta.
With the final shootout underway, Webber could only manage second, and adding to the surprises, Felipe Massa out-qualified Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso. The scarlet duo were third and fourth respectively…
… until Hulkenberg decided to put his Sauber in third – he wows both his fans and commentators and manages to put the Ferraris into fourth and fifth.
We all know who would come out on top, and the German Vettel took his fourth pole position with a sizeable cushion over second placed Webber.
Although there were rumours of rain, the start of the Italian grand prix was dry.
The start was also full of action, with Felipe Massa rocketing into second place behind Vettel, even daring a lunge at the Red Bull into Turn One. Vettel locked up trying to defend and, momentarily backing up the field, he caused multiple braking with a few cars making contact near the back – carbon fibre sprays everywhere.
Championship chaser Fernando Alonso also made a good start and scrambled into forth, right up the gearbox of Webber in third. Lewis Hamilton bounced his Mercedes again at the first chicane, whilst fellow Brit Paul Di Resta crashed out.
On lap three an impatient Alonso passed Webber on the outside at the second chicane. Although Webber gave him room, it wasn’t enough and the Spaniard took off a section of Webber’s front wing.
A lap on and the championship leader Vettel set the fastest lap and extended his lead to nearly 2 seconds. The replay of the start showed Kimi Raikkonen rear-ending Sergio Perez, which explained why the McLaren had to cut the corner. Raikkonen headed into the pits to change the front wing and came out last.
Meanwhile Hamilton had radio trouble and couldn’t hear his team.
Lap 8 saw Alonso finally pass Massa for second, and now clear of the Brazilian, Alonso had to close the 3.6 second gap to Vettel. Jenson Button put a pass on his former McLaren teammate Hamilton, taking him on the outside at the second chicane for 10th place.
Despite his team’s constant efforts in radioing the news of a slow puncture, Hamilton finally pitted for a fresh set of tyres.
Alonso added a little excitement when he started to close the gap on Vettel, but Vettel responded and he maintained his 5.8 second lead.
Ferrari fans were briefly happy as Alonso and Massa flew around Monza in 1-2 formation when Vettel stopped for tyres on lap 24. A lap later Massa pitted and lost out, coming out behind Webber in forth.
Sebastian Vettel showed no signs of slowing down and coasted at the front with a massive 10.3 second lead over Alonso and Webber. Despite Webber looking very racy and about to pass Alonso, his team order him to take it easy on his tyres.
Webber continued to hassle Alonso, but the Red Bull driver kept on losing a few tenths in the middle sector, which eventually saw him fall out of the DRS zone. And because he is the world’s unluckiest driver, Red Bull then inform him of a problem with his car and he needs short-shift on the exit of Turn Two.
Other drivers are also unlucky, with both Raikkonen and Massa nursing Kers issues. Kimi was told not to use Kers out of Parabolica because it will flatten the battery, despite trying to defend 11th place from Hamilton.
Hamilton eventually uses all of his Kers and gets a better exit at Curva Grande to pass Kimi on the outside take 11th.
Hamilton then took the final point spot from Sergio Perez, passing the Mexican into Turn One to move up into the points in 10th and quickly goes after Button. Again, Hamilton swept past Button with help from his Kers and secured 9th spot.
It’s the chequered flag fro Vettel, and despite a late lunge at Grosjean, Hamilton has to settle for 9th.
Final top-10: 1) Vettel 2) Alonso 3) Webber 4) Massa 5) Hulkenberg 6) Rosberg 7) Ricciardo 8) Grosjean 9) Hamilton 10) Button
Sebastian Vettel extends his championship over Alonso by 53 points with 175 left for the taking.
Next up, the Singapore Grand Prix.
