Sebastian Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix yesterday, his 8th win of the year, and also celebrated Red Bull Racing first Monza win. Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso complete the podium finish. Hamilton and Schumacher finish in fourth and fifth, making the first five places exclusive to current living and competing F1 world champions only!
The race has a dramatic start. Truth to his calibre, Alonso made a perfect gateway from fourth on the grid, immediately tailgating Hamilton who starts from second and split seconds later, slingshot past Hamilton on his right, taking some grass in the process, to complete a dramatic three abreast leading towards the first corner. Alonso then emerged out of it in the lead, with Vettel in the second place, and Schumacher and Hamilton dicing for third.
Meanwhile, Liuzzi has lost control of his HRT and slides sideways along the starting grid, sweeping the hapless Petrov and Rosberg in the first turn. That triggered the safety car to clear the mess.
Vettel took on Alonso in Lap 5, with a move that started on Grande corner which he chose the outside lane, taking a bit of grass even, the Alonso pushed him wide at the exit. Planted his feet on the pedal, the German stick to his line, and secure the inside line towards the Variante Della Roggia. The Spaniard tried to slipstream towards Lesmos, but such is the superiority of the RB7, this perhaps the last time Alonso sees Vettel in the race.
Hamilton on the hand is having a mega dice with Schumacher. The pair maintained their gap to less than a second apart till lap 28 when Hamilton finally managed to overtake the sole Petronas Mercedes GP car. Schumacher used every trick that he knows to fend Hamilton off. Every lines Hamilton tried, the old German knows to defend. He was particularly helped by his car high top speed, even the DRS-ed Mclaren struggled to match its top speed along the straight.
Button overtook the pair on Lap 17, when Hamilton lost the rhythm after being push to the grass by the feisty Michael. Having passed Hamilton before the third corner, the 2009 world champion DRS-ed passed Mercedes GP car before Ascari curve before the agressive Mercedes driver managed to even block him. Is Button now really more polished than Hamilton? Looks like it now....
Button then started to hurried Alonso, which he successfully overtook in Lap 36. For the front runner, the order remained the same till the end. The first five places are reserved only for current and previous world champion!!
For full result head to Gpupdate.net website for detailed race analysis. Full technical updates on the car leading to Monza GP can be checked out at Formula1.com. Copyrighted photos can also be viewed at both sites.