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Sebastian Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix from pole position to extend his lead at the top of the championship. Fernando Alonso had another strong finish in the form of a second place finish, but he too couldn’t challenge Vettel, who seems to be running away with the championship. Nico Hulkenberg put on another strong show to prove his worth and that he deserves a top drive while Lewis Hamilton finished in the points despite a troubled weekend. These are some of the drivers who impressed us the most, but who was your driver of the day? Let us know in the comments section.
Sebastian Vettel – 10/10
Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing celebrates after winning the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at Autodromo di Monza in Monza, Italy. (Getty Images)
Sebastian Vettel did everything right in Monza to take his sixth victory of the season that takes him 53 points clear of nearest rival Fernando Alonso in the drivers championship. He is also now tied with the Spaniard in the all time list of Grand Prix winners with 32 wins apiece.
Vettel didn’t have the best of starts and locked his front tyres on the run down to turn 1. But the German still managed to retain the lead as the field passed through the all important first chicane. From there on, he only extended his lead at the front, before slipping a bit due to a gearbox issues. In the end he won the race by a margin of 5 seconds, which might not sound as dominating as his win at Spa a fortnight ago, but it still gives him a championship lead that is enough to assure a fourth consecutive championship, until something dramatic happens.
Fernando Alonso – 9/10
Fernando Alonso of Ferrari takes a corner on his way to finishing second during the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at Autodromo di Monza in Monza, Italy. (Getty Images)
Fernando Alonso had a strong afternoon in Monza in the form of a second place finish. Alonso, who started the race from 5th place, made a clear getaway and passed Hulkenberg on the run down to first chicane. On lap 3, he put on a spectacular move over rival Mark Webber to occupy the final spot on the podium. He then closed up on teammate Felipe Massa who eventually handed him an easy second place after the latter was asked to do so upon team orders. But the Spaniard didn’t have the pace to challenge race leader Vettel and instead was forced to keep Webber at bay after losing time in his sole pit stop.
The result moves Alonso further behind Vettel in the drivers championship, but he remains the German’s strongest rival.
Mark Webber – 8/10
Mark Webber of Red Bull during the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at Autodromo di Monza in Monza, Italy. (Getty Images)
Mark Webber made a great start and initially challenged Vettel for first before eventually losing out to Felipe Massa in the first corner. He was then overtaken by Fernando Alonso on lap 3 in a manoeuvre which damaged Webber’s front wing end-plate. However, the damage wasn’t much and he was able to continue the race without a front wing change.
Webber then leapfrogged the Ferrari of Felipe Massa by pitting a lap earlier and gained further ground to Alonso. However, a gearbox issue prevented him from passing Alonso and securing a Red Bull 1-2.
Nico Hulkenberg – 10/10
Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber F1 during the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at Autodromo di Monza in Monza, Italy. (Getty Images)
Nico Hulkenberg continued his strong qualifying performance in the race with a strong fifth place finish for Sauber. Having qualified in third place, Hulkenberg slipped to fifth – losing out to the fast starting Ferrari’s. But from there he showed good pace throughout, keeping the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg behind by a comfortable margin, on his way to scoring his and team’s best finish of the season. In fact, the German scored more points in the race than he scored in all the previous races of the season.
Lewis Hamilton – 7/10
Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team during qualifying for the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy. (Getty Images)
After a terrible Saturday that saw him getting eliminated in Q2, Lewis Hamilton started the race with prime tyres. But his Mercedes didn’t have the pace on hard tyres, probably due to high fuel loads, and he only went backwards during the opening 14 laps of the race before a slow puncture forced him to make an unscheduled stop. To make matters worse, he had problems with his team radio, which stopped working, and he was unable to communicate with the team.
Despite those troubles, Hamilton’s two strong stints on medium tyres coupled with some great overtaking moves helped him to return to points scoring position and finish the race in 9th place. However, if we compare his race with Sebastian Vettel’s drives from the back of the grid in Abu Dhabi and Brazil 2012, albeit in different conditions, Hamilton’s performance wasn’t as extraordinary.
