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It is a different feeling altogether winning a Grand Prix at home and on one of the best tracks in the calendar. The history, the magic moments, the legends, the excitement, the fans and speed are what define Monza – the home to Ferrari and the Italian Grand Prix. While Fernando Alonso gave his best to give the Tifosi something to cheer about, two Ferrari drivers on the podium would have made the celebrations even wilder.
The icing on the cake would have been either Fernando Alonso or Felipe Massa taking the win which would have put an end to the monotony of seeing Sebastien Vettel at the top of the podium. But the Ferrari fans had to be content with a 2/4 finish at the end of the race and they will not be complaining.
Qualifying
That Alonso was the crowd favourite was never a doubt and the Spaniard had his performance in the free practices to second that thought. Alonso was just behind Vettel in the final practice and heading into qualifying. Massa was not a threat for the Red Bull cars. Ferrari had their towing trick ready to give Alonso a better and faster run with the idea to catch the Red Bulls.
Q1 and Q2 were not the fastest but both the Ferraris managed to reach Q3 without much difficulty and ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton. The towing trick didn’t seem to work when needed the most as Massa pulled ahead of Alonso in the timed lap and the distance between the two drivers did not help Alonso. The Ferrari’s were heading for the second row but Nico Hulkenberg’s surprise third pushed them down to fourth and fifth with Massa just getting his nose ahead of Alonso.
Race Day
Ferrari had to get a good start to give any competition and chase the Red Bull cars, and with some rain around Alonso must have been thinking of pulling out his skills in the wet to get a win. With drama all around them, the Ferraris did well to pass the first corner unscathed and push the Red Bulls.
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari tries to overtake the Red Bull of Mark Webber
Alonso got behind Webber’s car in the first lap and tailed him for 3 laps before making his move with the DRS. He passed Webber with ease and looked to hunt down his own teammate. He finally caught up with Massa who was humble enough to let him pass without any resistance. I couldn’t stop picturing a prancing horse chasing a charged Bull, only the bull seemed to have wings, helping it stay ahead.
Vettel led briefly before finally pitting in, restarting the close chase for the top spot on the podium. The other Red Bull of Webber was close on his tail. Though Alonso was pushing hard to catch Vettel, he probably thought it better not to be over enthusiastic and just keep Webber behind him. The race ended that way with Webber just 0.9 seconds behind him to take the final spot on the podium. In the process, Alonso kept alive his hope of getting the Driver’s Championship though he later admitted it would be next to impossible to catch Vettel on current form.
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa
Massa pretty much knew his time at the Italian team was probably coming to an end and had to put in a hard drive for the team to believe in him. Following team orders to help his teammate was one thing he couldn’t have said no to, even though it meant sacrificing his own race. Massa was the fastest of the Ferraris at the start of the race and he even squeezed out Webber at the first chicane.
He tried his best to catch to catch up to Vettel before his teammate came up behind him and he had to oblige to let Alonso through. But the sad part was the Ferrari was too focused on Alonso and Red Bull took advantage by bringing Webber in for a pit stop ahead of Massa, after which Webber got ahead of him to snatch a deserving third place. For Massa, it made sense not to attempt anything silly and throw away a decent fourth place in front of the Ferrari home crowd. He cruised to the chequered flag of the Italian Grand Prix in the red Ferrari probably for the last time, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber-Ferrari.
An eight-on-ten race for Ferrari on home soil, yet one can only speculate on what could have transpired had it rained during the race. For Ferrari, the result was probably the best given the conditions and the Red Bull domination and the points amassed helped them move up the Constructor’s table, behind Red Bull and ahead of Mercedes.
