FORMULA ONE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX:SEBASTIAN VETTEL'S rivals haven't had much to feel optimistic about during a season in which the young German has been spectacularly dominant, but heading to the Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing's failure to ever win at Monza was the sliver of hope all were desperately clinging to.
Now, after watching Vettel stroll to an extraordinarily comfortable win in the former royal park, all hope is surely gone. With 112 points in hand over nearest rival Fernando Alonso, the sport’s youngest ever world champion now stands on the brink of becoming F1’s youngest double title winner, with the crown on offer, narrowly, at the next race in Singapore.
“Very emotional,” said Vettel of this eighth win of the season. “Monza means a lot to me and has been very special, obviously I had my first win here (in 2008), so when I crossed the line I remembered every single bit. And the podium is unbelievable, when you stand up there you feel so blessed because it doesn’t happen to many people; so many people underneath and coming all the way from Curva Grande it’s filled with people. It’s just unbelievable.”
Vettel’s win, indeed his whole weekend, was simplicity itself. In qualifying, when the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button failed to improve in the final top-10 shootout, and thus abandoned their final runs, Vettel powered past to his 10th pole position of the year, just under half a second quicker than anyone else on track.
The lap left a disbelieving Button to comment that the Red Bulls “don’t look like they are carrying a lot of wing but they are half-a-second quicker than us in the last sector which is the high-speed corner. It’s so difficult to understand.”
It was no less fathomable on Sunday in the race when, on one of just two current tracks at which Red Bull Racing have failed to score a podium, Vettel, after overcoming some trouble at the start stretched ahead of the field by that same half a second a lap, every lap.
First though, he had to deal with the brief annoyance of a lightning-quick start from Alonso, who blasted from fourth on the grid to take the lead.
Behind the leading trio of Alonso, Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, chaos ensued as HRT’s Vitantonio Liuzzi spun out and slid down the grass verge and through the first chicane, his uncontrollable car smashing into the side of Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and the Renault of Vitaly Petrov.
The accident forced a number of cars to take evasive action, with Jenson Button and Mark Webber losing out. Michael Schumacher, though, profited, negotiating the melee well and slotted into fourth and soon third as he passed Hamilton.
At the front Alonso tried to expand and contract the field behind the safety car in the hope of forging a small gap back to Vettel when racing resumed but the German wasn’t to be shaken off and when the green lights came on again, he latched on to Alonso’s gearbox and prepared to make his move.
It came on lap four, Vettel trying to pass around the outside of the Curva Biassono. Alonso held the line, Vettel briefly dipped two wheels on the dirt but held his nerve and stability to slip past the Ferrari as they went into the next turn. It was the last bit of drama the German would encounter over the following 49 laps.
The victory leaves Vettel with the chance to seal the title in Singapore in two weeks’ time, if he wins and none of his near rivals are on the podium, but the German is still not willing to contemplate his second title yet. “I think we have put ourselves in a very good position,” he said. “I think we just do Singapore as we did all the other races this year. Go there and take it step-by-step and see what we can do.”
Alonso, who was passed for second place by Jenson Button, was more definitive, for the first time this season conceding that his championship challenge is over. “Six races to go, so obviously the championship is impossible, not mathematically but we are no longer in contention,” he said.
Button, meanwhile, again drove a superb race. Dropped to seventh in the chaotic start, a clash between Mark Webber and Felipe Massa soon promoted him to fourth behind Hamilton and Schumacher and as the pair duelled, Button kept a watching brief. When team-mate Hamilton made a minor error, Button pounced.
Results and Standings
Italian Grand Prix:1 S Vettel (Germany) RedBull - Renault 1:20:46.172; 2 J Button (Britain) McLaren +00:09.590; 3 F Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 00:16.909; 4 L Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 00:17.417; 5 M Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 00:32.677; 6 F Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 00:42.993; 7 J Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1 lap; 8 P Di Resta (Britain) Force India - Mercedes 1 lap; 9 B Senna (Brazil) Renault 1 lap; 10 S Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1 lap.
Drivers standings: 1 S Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 284 points; 2 F Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 172; 3 J Button (Britain) McLaren 167; 4 M Webber (Australia) Red Bull 167; 5 L Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 158; 6 F Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 82; 7 N Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes GP 56; 8 M Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes GP 52; 9 V Petrov (Russia) Renault 34; 10 N Heidfeld (Germany) Renault 34.
Constructors standings: 1 RedBull - Renault 451 points; 2 McLaren - Mercedes 325; 3 Ferrari 254; 4 Mercedes 108; 5 Renault 70; 6 Force India - Mercedes 36; 7 Sauber - Ferrari 35; 8 Toro Rosso - Ferrari 29; 9 Williams - Cosworth 5; 10 Virgin - Cosworth 0; 10 HRT - Cosworth 0; 10 Lotus - Renault 0.
