Like Belgium, Italy wasn’t supposed to suit Red Bull, but Sebastian Vettel not only won, he dominated in a performance that should rank as one of his best of the year. Supreme in qualifying, an aggressive pass, and a wonderful controlling performance that made it all look so easy.
Starting from pole position he lost the lead to a quite superb start from Fernando Alonso using all of the road and a bit of grass. Three abreast as they approached turn one he slotted in behind the Ferrari and kept the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton behind him.
The safety car was deployed soon after as Vitantonio Liuzzi in the HRT careered down the grass smashing into Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov, ruining both their races before they’d even begun. Liuzzi has since been given a five grid penalty for the next race, although that’s not exactly a punishment for a driver who qualifies at the back anyway!
In Liuzzi’s defence he blamed Heikki Kovalainen for squeezing him on to the grass. Anyway Vettel was was right behind Alonso when the race restarted on lap 4 and as they started lap 5 he was closer still.
In to the Curve Grande Vettel was on the back of the Ferrari, he moved to the left taking the outside line. Alonso held firm giving him just enough room but pushing nearer the grass than was comfortable. Vettel didn’t lift, he used the grass, dirt kicking up in the air and now he had the inside line for the next chicane and he was through, a truly sensational move.
From then on, it was a case of controlling the race, even if the McLaren’s hadn’t got stuck behind Michael Schumacher, it’s very doubtful they’d have been able to live with Vettel.
Fight of the race: Schumacher vs Hamilton
Finally a proper battle between Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton was served up for us at Monza, two of the most aggressive drivers in Formula 1. And let’s face it, this will probably split opinion. I’ve already read a fair amount of comments in the Formula 1 press saying Schumacher was bordering on the edge of acceptable behaviour and on a couple of occasions stamping all over what was acceptable and then kicking dirt on it too.
In fairness they’re probably quite right, particularly in regards to moving more than once to defend his position. Mercedes boss Ross Brawn even came on the radio to remind Schumacher to give Lewis Hamilton more room.
It’s up for debate how bad some of these incidents were. The first one was when Lewis dived up the inside at Curve Grande and suddenly found himself with no room and had to take to the grass at what was approaching 190mph. My opinion is he was being overly optimistic, Schumacher was taking his line, although he appears to turn in a little earlier, but Lewis jumped the gun and could possibly have taken him at the end of the straight such was his momentum at that point.
Schumacher basically ran him out of road in an attempt to make him back off, it's aggressive but no worse than other drivers do. No penalty was given, so the stewards didn’t see anything wrong with it although it did lose Lewis a place to Jenson Button who also soon passed Schumacher.
The second main incident was coming out of the second chicane approaching the first Lesmo, Schumacher clearly moves twice to defend the place which is not allowed, although it's arguable he could have just been regaining a better line for the corner. Would a penalty have been justified? I don’t think so, he was warned not to do it again and he didn’t.
The main aspect that should be discussed was what a fantastic battle it was. Michael passed Lewis at the restart, then they scrapped, Lewis passed Michael into the first chicane only for Schumacher to replicate Vettel’s move and go round the outside into Curve Grande to reclaim the place.
Hamilton was struggling to effectively use his DRS as he hit the rev limiter while Schumacher’s car was set up with less wing and could just about out drag the McLaren. Eventually after a sometimes wince inducing battle Lewis was through at Ascari in a rather undramatic move on lap 27. He came close to catching Alonso, but eventually wound up 4th with Schumacher despite the incidents a still impressive 5th.
Jenson Button takes second off Alonso
If Lewis Hamilton’s stock appears to be falling after various incidents this year, Jenson Button’s is just getting higher. No one expected him to prove such competition to Lewis Hamilton; I suspect that maybe not even Lewis himself did which is perhaps another cause of his frustrations this year.
Button again had a fine race; he didn’t even do a bad job in qualifying getting 3rd on the grid. Such a shame then that he had a poor start and dropped to 7th, but he was soon climbing up the order. He passed Lewis after Schumacher had put his team mate on the grass, he disposed of Schumacher far more succinctly as well saying ‘I closed my eyes when I turned in’.
He tore after Alonso and was soon onto the back of him after they changed to the harder compound tyre. The Ferrari just can’t heat them up quick enough, a problem they don’t seem able to rectify. It was at the Curve Grande that Button made his move, slotting up the inside, Alonso had no chance and had
to settle for 3rd which all in all wasn’t a bad result for them.
It would have been interesting to see how the race panned out if Button had got a decent start. As in Belgium it was a race he could have potentially won, although I think Vettel would still just have edged it today.
Jaime Alguersuari again
I’ve mentioned the second Spaniard of Formula 1 a number of times already this season, and after finishing a fantastic 7th from 18th on the grid I feel no shame in mentioning him again. I feel pretty certain he’s done enough to justify his position in the team for 2012.
He had the advantage of fresher sets of tyres but he was again able to use them to full affect to take his 5th points finish from the last seven races. He’s in fantastic form, as is his Toro Rosso team mate Sebastian Buemi, but it just doesn’t seem to be going as well as he’d like. Buemi claimed another point for 10th but it increasingly looks like he’s getting left behind by Alguersuari even if it very close between them.
With Daniel Ricciardo outqualifying Liuzzi and releasing some of his potential as he gets to grip with Formula 1, there’s still a lot of pressure in the Toro Rosso situation, which Alguersuari has looked to flourish under.
Rest of the top ten and other notables
Felipe Massa endured another tough race, finishing 6th. He was punted into a spin by Mark Webber on lap 5, Webber ultimately left the track with his front wing neatly tucked under his front wheels.
Massa was lucky to be able to mount a fight back, but just didn’t have the speed to catch up with the McLaren’s or the lone Mercedes.
Paul di Resta had another strong drive, he surely will be crowned rookie of the year. Starting 11th he drove a strong race to 8th and was quicker than his team mate all weekend after Adrian Sutil had looked to be mounting a comeback.
Bruno Senna lost his front wing again, but bounced back to 9th overtaking Buemi in the closing stages and just ran out of laps to pass di Resta too. A strong drive which will make Renault take notice of him for next year, especially if he continues this form and retains all his body work.
Sergio Perez had a strong drive and looked like he’d have easily made the top 10, having not even pitted when he retired with gearbox failure on lap 32. He’d been running on the hard tyre and due to pit for softs which would have given him great pace for the remaining laps.
Let’s give a mention to Team Lotus while we can before they’re renamed. Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli finished 13th and 14th, avoiding the chaos at the start and taking advantage of the high rate of retirements, a good result which should secure their place ahead of Virgin and HRT.
Looking ahead
Hamilton has not had a good year and is obviously aware he’s been involved in a few too many incidents. He certainly talked of just wanting to finish so perhaps this is why he wasn’t as aggressive as perhaps many expected from him in his fight with Schumacher. He also refused to make any significant comment on his battle with Schuey, a sign he just wants to keep his head down.
Hamilton needs to regain focus yet again this year, he can still win some races and hopefully he’ll focus on that and be his usual attacking self in Singapore. I expect Button to continue his great form too, and that is something Hamilton will be increasingly aware of and want to put a stop to as his team mate’s influence at McLaren increases.
Alonso is mighty in Singapore, having won twice around the night time streets but will anyone be able to live with Vettel. He hasn’t won there before but in his current vein you wouldn’t bet against him. If Alonso finishes 4th or lower, and Button and Webber finish 3rd or lower, Vettel will be the youngest double world champion ever. Is it time to crown the king in 2011?
All photo's from autosport.com
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