Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel cruised to victory yesterday at the 2013 Formula One Italian Grand Prix, held at the legendary Autodromo di Monza, but once again the more thrilling driver to watch was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. Easily the crowd favorite, Alonso produced another magnificent performance to take second place after starting at fifth on the grid. Third place went to Vettel’s Red Bull Racing team-mate Mark Webber.
Vettel started the race from pole, with Webber by his side. However, Ferrari’s other driver Felipe Massa was quick off the line and managed to take second early on. By the third lap Alonso had also passed Webber and by the eighth lap he passed Massa, though Vettel was already 3.6 seconds ahead at this point. The German would continue to extend this lead, finishing the race 5.4 seconds ahead of the next best driver.
Fourth place went to Massa while Nico Hulkenberg, who had started at third on the grid, finished fifth. Behind them were Mercedes AMG’s Nico Rosberg, Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo, Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, second Mercedes AMG driver Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Jenson Button rounding out positions six to ten, respectively.
Sadly for Kimi Räikkönen, having started 11th, the Finn had to pit his Lotus to change its nose after a first lap collision. In the closing stages, there was a bit of action when a fight for a lowly 11th place broke out between Räikkönen and another World Champion driver, Hamilton. The young Briton tried all he could to pass the Finn. Eventually he did get past and also dispensed with Button. Räikkönen couldn’t pass Button and had to settle for 11th.
Thanks to his sixth win of the season, Sebastian Vettel’s points lead in the Drivers’ Championship extends to 222 points. In second place is Fernando Alonso with 169 points followed by Lewis Hamilton in third with 141 points. In the Constructors’ Championship, Red Bull Racing commands 352 points versus the 248 points of Ferrari and the 254 points of Mercedes AMG.
Teams now head to Asia for the 2013 Singapore Grand Prix, which takes place in two weeks. There are still seven races to go but it looks like Vettel, should he continue his current form, will soon be adding a fourth Drivers’ title to his tally.
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