Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso
By Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media
Sebastian Vettel has solidified his title effort with a remarkable weekend at Monza where he made the effort of dominating an event look easy. The young German has proved without a doubt that the title of Meister has been passed from the previous generation and the Red Bull driver is not some lucky rookie, but the real deal. It didn’t look like that claim could be made when he was out dragged on the straight by Fernando Alonso, much to the joy of the thousands of tifosi who crowded the circuit, but just a little bit further down the track and Vettel walked away from the Ferrari and wasn’t challenged again.
Fernando Alonso
Second place would be where the real race was with honors going to Jenson Button and Alonso falling to third. McLaren does seem to be the best of the rest, but the title race is all but over. Alonso moved up to second in the championship, but the gap is almost as large as Greece’s debt.
The second McLaren of Lewis Hamilton was hot on the Ferrari’s heels towards the closing laps, but didn’t really challenge for a podium finish. Michael Schumacher played the AMG driving card this weekend, a bit slow in the turns, but god awful quick on the straights to ruin Hamilton’s chances. The Brit did make it past the elder statesman, but the damage was done.
Felipe Massa
Massa did his best to recover after tangling with Mark Webber in the opening laps and finished in sixth place. The Brazilian can still drive, but he’s not going to be one that challenges for a win. The bookies are already lowering the odds for bets that he stays with the Scuderia.
Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa
There was a high attrition rate and some of the also rans actually left the weekend with championship points behind their names. Both Toro Rossos finished in the points with Alguersuari in seventh and Buemi in tenth. Paul di Resta took home four points for Force India with his eighth place finish and Bruno Senna received his first points ever for finishing in ninth place.
Felipe Massa, Stefano Domeniclai, Fernando Alonso
With the close of the Italian GP, we see the end of racing on the continent until next year. Red Bull more or less has it wrapped up barring some spy-gate or a serious shunt. It could be a hell of a party under the lights for the Singapore GP, but the organizers of the remaining five events are hoping that Bernie intervenes long enough for the events to become sell outs. Odds at this point are that no one is going to set a box record. It is safe to guess that most of the effort is now focused on the 2012 car at most of the teams. Red Bull will do some minor tweaks, but McLaren and Ferrari’s main efforts will be in ensuring that the press offices are contradicting any rumors of their demise this year. And yet some still wonder why this is considered a circus…
Race Results
| 1 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 1h20m46.172s |
| 2 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 9.5s |
| 3 | ALONSO | Ferrari | + 16.9s |
| 4 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 17.4s |
| 5 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes | + 32.6s |
| 6 | MASSA | Ferrari | + 42.9s |
| 7 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | + 1 lap |
| 8 | DI RESTA | Force India-Mercedes | + 1 lap |
| 9 | SENNA | Renault | + 1 lap |
| 10 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | + 1 lap |
| 11 | MALDONADO | Williams-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 12 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 13 | KOVALAINEN | Lotus-Renault | + 2 laps |
| 14 | TRULLI | Lotus-Renault | + 2 laps |
| 15 | GLOCK | Virgin-Cosworth | + 2 laps |
| NC | RICCIARDO | HRT-Cosworth | + 14 laps |
| 17 | PEREZ | Sauber-Ferrari | + 21 laps, gearbox |
| 18 | KOBAYASHI | Sauber-Ferrari | + 32 laps, gearbox |
| 19 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | + 44 laps, steering |
| 20 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | + 49 laps, accident |
| 21 | D’AMBROSIO | Virgin-Cosworth | + 52 laps, gearbox |
| 22 | PETROV | Renault | + 53 laps, accident |
| 23 | ROSBERG | Mercedes | + 53 laps, accident |
| 24 | LIUZZI | HRT-Cosworth | + 53 laps, accident |
| Fastest Lap |
HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m26.187s |
Driver’s Championship Standings
| 1 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 284 Points |
| 2 | ALONSO | Ferrari | 172 Points |
| 3 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 167 Points |
| 4 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 167 Points |
| 5 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 158 Points |
| 6 | MASSA | Ferrari | 82 Points |
| 7 | ROSBERG | Mercedes | 56 Points |
| 8 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes | 52 Points |
| 9 | PETROV | Renault | 34 Points |
| 10 | HEIDFELD | Renault | 34 Points |
| 11 | KOBAYASHI | Sauber-Ferrari | 27 Points |
| 12 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | 24 Points |
| 13 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | 16 Points |
| 14 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | 13 Points |
| 15 | DI RESTA | Force India-Mercedes | 12 Points |
| 16 | PEREZ | Sauber-Ferrari | 8 Points |
| 17 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | 4 Points |
| 18 | SENNA | Renault | 2 Points |
| 18 | MALDONADO | Williams-Cosworth | 1 Point |
Constructor’s Championship Standings
| 1 | RBR-RENAULT | 451 Points |
| 2 | McLAREN-MERCEDES | 325 Points |
| 3 | FERRARI | 254 Points |
| 4 | MERCEDES | 108 Points |
| 5 | RENAULT | 70 Points |
| 6 | FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES | 36 Points |
| 7 | SAUBER-FERRARI | 35 Points |
| 8 | STR-FERRARI | 29 Points |
| 9 | WILLIAMS-COSWORTH | 5 Points |