Italian Grand Prix 2011 – Race Report

Sebastian Vettel took his eighth win of the season in another commanding performance in today's Italian Grand Prix. After overcoming the fast-starting Ferrari of Fernando Alonso early on, there was no stopping the Red Bull pilot who thereon enjoyed an untroubled run to the chequered flag. Jenson Button finished in second place for McLaren with another impressive drive, whilst Alonso was able to defend third from a late onslaught from Lewis Hamilton in the sister McLaren.

Vettel stamped his authority all over the qualifying session on Saturday, taking pole position by half a second from Hamilton and Button, both of whose final laps were disrupted by errors. Alonso lined up fourth ahead of Mark Webber in the second Red Bull and Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari. Former hero of the tifosi Michael Schumacher lined up in eighth for Mercedes, one place ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg and one behind Vitaly Petrov's Renault.

At the start, a good getaway from Hamilton and a mediocre one from Vettel saw the pair run side-by-side as they approached the first chicane, Rettifilo, for the first time, but neither counted on Alonso making an utterly scorching getaway. To the delight of the Italian crowds, the two-time champion ducked to the right of Hamilton, and after putting a wheel on the grass swept back in front to lead the pack. Vettel held on to second place, but Schumacher's equally electrifying start allowed him to move up into third ahead of Hamilton. Behind however, carnage ensued.

Local driver Vitantonio Liuzzi placed a wheel on the grass as he headed into Rettifilo, causing him to spin across the grass on the right-hand side and broadside the hapless Petrov. The Russian in turn shunted into the equally unfortunate Rosberg, whilst the Williams of Rubens Barrichello behind simply had nowhere else to go. The Brazilian was able to continue after he pitted for a fresh nose, but the other three drivers involved were out of the race immediately. With three cars stranded in the middle of the track, the Safety Car was deployed.

The order was thus Vettel from Alonso and Hamilton, who re-claimed third place from Schumacher through the second Roggia chicane on the first lap. Massa was fifth, ahead of Button sixth and Webber seventh. On the restart two laps later, Hamilton found himself caught out by Schumacher, who made good use of his Mercedes' fearsome top speed. He sauntered past Hamilton before the duo before they arrived at Rettifilo, whilst behind Webber made a similar move to deprive Button of sixth place, the McLaren drivers both hobbled by a low final gear ratio which reduced their top speed relative to their competitors.

Back at the front, Alonso soon found his mirrors full of a certain German Red Bull driver. After some robust defending on the part of the Ferrari driver at Roggia on lap 4 and Rettifilo the following lap, It became evident that it was a question of when, rather than if, Vettel would assume the lead. After bravely hanging his Red Bull around the outside of Alonso through the flat-out Curva Grande on lap 5, Vettel found himself on the inside for Roggia; to the dismay of the tifosi, there was nothing their man could do. Vettel proceeded to storm away from the Spaniard, and from then on the outcome of the race was never truly in doubt.

At the same time, Webber attempted to deprive Massa of fifth place at Rettifilo, but only succeeding in clattering into the luckless Brazilian and causing him to spin, breaking his Red Bull's front wing in the process. Whilst the Ferrari number two would continue in twelfth place, Webber endeavoured to continue without his front wing, but ended up neatly demonstrating the disastrous impact this had on his cornering performance by locking up and sailing into the barriers at Parabolica. The Australian was thus left to contemplate his first retirement of the season as Massa set about recovering from this setback.

Meanwhile, it was apparent that Schumacher was holding up Hamilton behind him. Although his top speed was good enough to resist any of Hamilton's advances at Rettifilo, his inferior traction meant that the seven-time champion was obliged to indulge in some rather questionable tactics in order to keep hold of the final podium place. This had the effect of allowing Alonso to escape into the distance while the now fifth-placed Button cruised up behind. On lap 16, Hamilton was forced off the throttle through Curva Grande as the slower Schumacher chopped across his line, allowing Button to swoop by his teammate into fourth.

Having watched his teammate's frustrated efforts to pass Schumacher for the past several laps, Button gave Hamilton a lesson in overtaking when he made a textbook pass around the outside of Schumacher at the Ascari chicane on the same lap. Schumacher made his first pit-stop at the end of the lap, with Hamilton following suit two laps later. After re-joining behind the silver machine, it would take Hamilton until lap 27 to replicate the move of his teammate, not before Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn made a rather stern radio call to his driver to ensure his defending didn't contravene the rules.

Button by this time had already made considerable inroads into the advantage of Alonso ahead, which was reduced even further once the duo switched to the harder medium compound tyres during their second stops on lap 33 and 34 respectively. With the Ferrari taking its time in heating up the fresh rubber, Button was quickly able to draw to the back of the scarlet car. The Brit took full advantage of a slow getaway from Rettifilo by Alonso, setting himself up for a relatively easy pass at Roggia. Once the deal was done, there was no real way back for Alonso, even after his tyres finally reached the optimum temperature.

The gap between Alonso and arch-rival Hamilton behind now stood at roughly eight seconds after the latter's drawn-out stint sat behind the slower Schumacher. Hamilton however was able to reduce this gap to less than a second as the former teammates begun their final lap. His only real chance to seize the final podium position was at the Ascari chicane, but on this occasion Hamilton decided that discretion was the better part of valour. Ahead however, Vettel continued to drive flawlessly towards an eighteenth career win, giving him an all but insurmountable championship lead of 112 points with just 150 left to play for in the remaining six rounds.

Button crossed the line in second place, drawing himself level to Webber's points tally, with Alonso's third position moving him five points clear of the beleaguered Red Bull driver. Hamilton finished the day in a somewhat disappointing fourth place, ahead of Schumacher and Massa, who had a fairly uneventful afternoon after his earlier incident with Webber. Jaime Alguersauri finished an impressive seventh place, which will no doubt help him to retain his Toro Rosso seat for next year, ahead of Force India driver Paul Di Resta and Renault's Bruno Senna, who scored his first points in ninth. The young Brazilian snatched the place away from the other Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi with six laps to go with a bold move at Rettifilo.

Pastor Maldonado wound up eleventh having held eighth position for Williams in the early going, whilst teammate Barrichello could manage no more than twelfth after being caught out in the first corner carnage. Heikki Kovalainen matched his Lotus team's best result of the season with thirteenth, ahead of teammate Jarno Trulli and Virgin's Timo Glock. Daniel Ricciardo was the final finisher for Hispania, although after suffering an early mechanical problem was fourteen laps down and thus was not classified. Gearbox failure claimed Sauber drivers Sergio Perez (whose one-stop strategy had him on course for a seventh place finish) and Kamui Kobayashi as well as the other Virgin of Jerome D'Ambrosio, whilst power steering failure brought a premature end to Adrian Sutil's race.

With the destiny of the championship crown decided, our attentions must now turn to what is shaping up to be a fine battle for second. Just fourteen points separate Alonso in second and Hamilton in fifth, meaning everything is still to play for with six rounds to go. You could argue that it's a shame that we're not experiencing the kind of nail-biting fight for the championship that we enjoyed this time last year, but there's no denying that Vettel thoroughly deserves the success that he's achieving. Quite simply, it's the best driver in the best car who is justifiably dominating this championship.