Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Defending champion scores eighth win of the season
Sebastian Vettel claimed victory in the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, his eighth such success of the 2011 Formula One season.
The Red Bull driver further underlined his credentials for what now must surely be a world title defence by leading home McLaren's Jenson Button and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso after a dominant performance at Monza.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton finished fourth ahead of Mercedes GP's Michael Schumacher, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa coming home sixth ahead of Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari.
Force India's Paul di Resta finished eighth ahead of Renault's Bruno Senna, while Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi claimed the final world championship point.
There had been talk before the race that Vettel might struggle to match his qualifying performance - he had claimed pole position from Hamilton on Saturday by almost half a second - in the race itself.
The theory was that Vettel could be caught either if he made a poor getaway or failed to build a sufficient early lead before the track's two DRS overtaking zones came into play.
Vettel's car was running shorter gear ratios, meaning he was able to accelerate out of corners more quickly than his rivals, but he would then lose out in terms of top speed further down Monza's long straights as his engine would reach its rev limit sooner.
He did indeed get a slow start and lost the lead early on. However, Vettel soon hit the front once more and was in full control thereafter.
It was not Hamilton who took the lead at the lights, though: Alonso instead delighting the home crowd by diving aggressively up the inside as Vettel and Hamilton almost touched wheels after the German moved rightwards across the McLaren.
Chaos
However, the safety car was soon out as chaos ensued in the pack. It was caused when Vitantonio Liuzzi took to the grass in avoidance of another car. The Hispania driver then lost control and his car flew into others at the Rettifilo chicane, with Renault's Vitaly Petrov and Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg also out on the spot.
Racing resumed on lap four, with Alonso fighting off Vettel as the fast-starting Schumacher got the drop on Hamilton to take third place.
The Ferrari-Red Bull battle reached boiling point the following lap when Mark Webber, in sixth place, hit the back of Massa's car under braking for Rettifilo. The Australian lost his front wing in the process and then spun off the track at Parabolica as he hastily attempted to return to the pits.
Vettel took the lead back just seconds later after a daring move around the outside of Curva Grande - the Red Bull with two wheels on the grass - gave him the inside line ahead of Alonso into the Della Roggia chicane.
By lap seven, Vettel was pulling comfortably clear of the Ferrari driver, with Schumacher third from Hamilton, Button - who had dropped to seventh from third on the grid - Williams' Pastor Maldonado, Sauber's Sergio Perez, Massa, Di Resta and Alguersuari.
Massa's Ferrari soon moved past Maldonado and Perez - who later retired with a gearbox problem - while Hamilton put Schumacher under consistent pressure, finally getting past under braking for Rettifilo on lap 13. But Schumacher was soon back in front, with their battle allowing Button to close up.
Vettel, who held an 8.9s lead by lap 14, and Alonso were quickly pulling clear as Schumacher - slower in terms of lap time but quicker in terms of
