Vettel dominant at Monza

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 straightline speed - stayed ahead of both McLarens. Hamilton took to the inside grass when Schumacher closed the door through Curva Grande at the start of lap 16, his lost momentum allowing Button up to fourth. Given a run at Schumacher, Button took third place almost immediately and the Mercedes pitted soon after. Button stopped on lap 18, with Hamilton pitting the following lap. Alonso stopped on lap 20, with Vettel also in the following lap.

Changing direction

When the order settled down, Vettel led by 11.7s from Alonso and Button, with Schumacher fourth and pushing the rules to their limits to keep Hamilton behind him. F1 rules dictate that a driver can change direction only once in order to defend his position - a fact Schumacher's team boss Ross Brawn reminded him of more than once during the battle. Hamilton finally got past him out of the second Lesmo bend on lap 28 but by then he was almost eight seconds behind his team-mate as Button shadowed Alonso in second. However, the Ferrari driver then pulled more than one second clear again, leaving the McLaren outside the DRS detection zone. All was not lost, though. Button stopped for a second and final time on lap 34 and with Alonso and Hamilton pitting the following lap, the Ferrari re-emerged just half a second ahead of the lead McLaren. Button duly made his move through Curva Grande to take second place. Meantime, Vettel had pitted on lap 35 and rejoined in the lead, moving 15.7s clear of Button as the order settled once more. Schumacher climbed to second before stopping three laps later - Hamilton doubtless relieved to see his nemesis rejoining the fray behind him. Interest during the closing laps centred on the attempts of Senna in 10th place to catch Buemi. The Renault driver had gone against the grain by starting on the slower, medium compound tyre and so had softs to hand to get past the Toro Rosso on lap 48. Hamilton then set the race's fastest lap on the 53rd and final circuit as he closed right up to Alonso but the Spaniard held on to claim the final podium place.

Emotional

Vettel, who now leads Alonso by 112 points in the drivers' championship, said the 18th victory of his F1 career was an emotional one as he had won his first F1 race for Toro Rosso at Monza in 2008. "This circuit is very special, and when I crossed the line I remembered every single bit of my last win and the podium is incredible," he said. "You feel so blessed with so many people underneath. It's unbelievable. "It's a circuit that has been tough for us in the past, but the car was great in qualifying and even better in the race. "So a great race for us, a very special win. Last time the Italian people were cheering a bit more, but it was still very special for me to be in that place again." Button hailed his race a "fun" one, adding: "It was great fighting with Lewis, Michael and then Fernando. "It wasn't for the lead, though, after what was a tough start to the race, but a lot of fun, and with the crowd here electric. "It was a great job by the whole team, but there are still things we need to work on." Alonso, meanwhile, felt his third was great reward for Ferrari and the fans who cheered him to the rafters when he received his trophy at the podium ceremony. "It was a fantastic race and a fantastic feeling on the podium," said Alonso. "It's so passionate, with the fans giving you big emotion after what has been a very stressful weekend for the whole team. "And with one Red Bull and one McLaren behind us, that was great for us." Result
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1hr 20mins 46.172secs, 2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:20:55.762, 3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:21:03.081, 4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:21:03.589, 5 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:21:18.849, 6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:21:29.165, 7 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 8 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India at 1 Lap, 9 Bruno Senna (Bra) Renault at 1 Lap, 10 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 11 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams at 1 Lap, 12 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams at 1 Lap, 13 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 at 2 Laps, 14 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 at 2 Laps, 15 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing at 2 Laps Not Classified: 16 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) HRT-F1 39 Laps completed, 17 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 32 Laps completed, 18 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 21 Laps completed, 19 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 9 Laps completed, 20 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 4 Laps completed, 21 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing 1 Lap completed, 22 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 0 Laps completed, 23 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 0 Laps completed, 24 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 0 Laps completed
Drivers' Championship: 1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 284, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 172, 3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 167, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 167, 5 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 158, 6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 82, 7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 56, 8 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 52, 9 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 34, 10 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 34, 11 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 27, 12 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 24, 13 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 16, 14 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 13, 15 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 12, 16 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 8, 17 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 4, 18 Bruno Senna (Bra) Renault 2, 19 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1, 20 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) Sauber-Ferrari 0, 21 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0, 22 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 0, 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 0, 24 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing 0, 25 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 0, 26 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) HRT-F1 0, 27 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 0, 28 Karun Chandhok (Ind) Lotus F1 0
Constructors' Championship: 1 Red Bull 451pts, 2 McLaren 325, 3 Ferrari 254, 4 Mercedes GP 108, 5 Renault 70, 6 Force India 36, 7 Sauber-Ferrari 35, 8 Scuderia Toro Rosso 29, 9 Williams 5, 10 Lotus F1 0, 11 HRT-F1 0, 12 Virgin Racing 0