Italian Grand Prix Report

The Italian Grand Prix proved to many that the double DRS zone was not a significant part of the race, with drivers struggling to get by in the first zone going into the Ascari chicane.

(c) Octane Photographic

The race was an eventful one with many retirements limiting runners to 15 by the chequered flag, with Sebastian Vettel claiming another win to move 112 points ahead of second place in the championship Fernando Alonso.

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The Italian Grand Prix was one which will stick in, not only Sebastian Vettel, but fans minds with the first 10 laps being jaw dropping and amazing, with cars overtaking, lunging down the inside, crashing and slip streaming as the effect of the new DRS and KERS kicked in on a tight field.

The start was chaotic, with Vettel and Hamilton getting slow starts Alonso took the advantage as the 3 went side by side before Hamilton backed out. Alonso took the lead as he hit the first corner apex, but behind Schumacher had made a blinding start to lie 4th after the first chicane. This was because Button had got bogged down with clutch slip, blocking Webber behind as well. He then got past Petrov on the run to the first corner and tucked in behind Hamilton.

At the back Italian driver Tonio Liuzzi in his HRT lost control on his home race, on the run to the first chicane. He had out braked himself and veered to the grass in avoidance. This caused him to lose control skidding across the grass and into the innocent Petrov and Rosberg. It was certainly the highest a HRT had ever been in a race, 10th at the time of impact. Barrichello and Kobayashi also got involved in the accident as they took avoidance.

The safety car came out straight away as cars and debris littered the first corner, but the quick work by the marshals led to the race being restarted on lap 4. Alonso left the pack behind with Hamilton being asleep, getting jumped by Schumacher into the first chicane.

Vettel soon took the lead back with a daring move on Alonso going into the second chicane on lap 5, and never looked back as he pounded in the quick times to increase the gap, to which Alonso could not reduce.

Button had been ahead of Webber but after the restart he found himself staring at the Red Bulls behind after a move into the first chicane after the restart, but Button had the last laugh when Webber over eagerly attempted a pass on Massa into the first chicane a lap later, spinning the Ferrari and knocking off his front wing. This gifted 2 places to Button as he began closing in on team mate Hamilton in 4th. Meanwhile a failed attempt at recovering to the pit lane left Webber ploughing into the barrier at Parabolica with no front grip.

Hamilton was stuck. He made several attempts at passing wide reared Schumacher, with the later changing direction maybe a few times too many, which held both drivers up. With Hamilton dropping over a second per lap on Vettel and a second on Alonso it left him with his team mate staring at his gearbox too.

Hamilton was close going out of the first chicane on lap 16 and attempted a pass going into Curve Grande, but Schumacher shut the door speeding away with his sublime straight line speed. Hamilton lost momentum with Button getting by and attaching his Mclaren to the read wing of Schumacher.

Button then took 3rd from Schumacher around the outside of the Mercedes car into the first apex of the Ascari chicane, a brave move, but those 16 laps stuck behind the 7 time world champion had left him nearly 20 seconds adrift of the race leader.

Hamilton duly overtook Schumacher on lap 27 on the run to Ascari, with Schumacher seemingly gifting him the place abit too easily, but that had ruined Hamilton's race. Hamilton had been ahead after Schumacher pitted on lap 16 but after the Brit pitted on lap 18 he emerged behind again, but got by eventually.

The first stops showed Button had leap frogged Schumacher, even though the German stopped first, after that overtake with Vettel stopping on lap 15, and the rest of the field following in. Alonso and Hamilton stopped on the same lap, but the difference between how far apart they were came apparent when they both emerged with Button and Schumacher separating them. Hamilton then got past Schumacher as said above.

Massa had been on an uphill struggle after the contact with Webber sent him pointing the wrong way around, but he soon disposed of Maldonado, Perez, Di Resta and Alguesuari to fill the gap between the midfield and Schumacher.

Alonso had been 8 seconds infront of Button after he got by Schumcher, but after Button's stop on lap 17, and his own on lap 20, the gap was just a few seconds.

Button soon got by on lap 36 with a move into the first chicane after Button had pitted 33. It was a strange incident as Button was lapping Barrichello, but they both pitted coincidentally side by side, costing Jenson a few seconds. Jenson came out in clear air and put in some blinding laps to move ahead of Alonso after his put stop on lap 35, with a move into the Curve Grande.

Vettel however was unchallenged as he pitted on lap 36 from the lead, and still emerged in first place. Second briefly was Schumacer before he pitted for the second time.

When things calmed down Vettel led from Button, Alonso and a fast charging Hamilton. That is how it finished.

Behind Hamilton, who was just 1 second behind Alonso by the flag, was Schumacher who had dropped back from the Mclaren by 15 seconds. Massa was 6th alone throughout the race, with Alguesuari a career best 7th ahead of Di Resta, an impressive Senna and Buemi.Alguesuari had benefited from the first corner collisions to move up to 11th by the first lap, and moved up to 9th by the first 10 laps. He finished unchallenged with Di Resta a fair few seconds back, and never looking to challenge. 

(c) Octane Photographic

Di Resta got a hurry up with a few laps to go as Senna was charging on a soft tyre finishing strategy. But Senna ran out of time, just a few seconds behind. Buemi had been set for 9th place after he lost time cutting the chicane at turn 1, losing time which could of left him ahead of Di Resta. He then got overtaken into turn 1 by Senna in the closing stages. Senna even pitted on lap 2 for a new set of tyres and fear of damage after the turn 1 contacts.

Maldonado and Barrichello finished 11th and 12th, with Maldonado running 6th at one stage early in the race, and Rubens being held up badly after getting stuck between a stranded Rosberg, and a broken Petrov at the turn 1 chaos. He soon recovered but could only manage 12th.

13th finished the first of the new teams, Kovalainen, equalling their best result. Both Team Lotus drivers gained heavily from the first corner incidents but could not keep up and soon were passed by faster cars. Trulli finished half a minute back in 14th with Glock the last classified runner in 15th.

Ricciardo had not pulled away at the start, and 'retired' soon after but came back out on track to be 13 laps behind at the end.

Retirements between lap 1 and 53 were Perez, who was on set for points on a 1 stop strategy, with gearbox failure and Kobayashi suffering similar problems, causing both to retire within 11 laps. Kobayashi had to pit on lap 2 with a broken nose as people dived for space at the first corner, but he retired on lap 34, 11 laps before his team mate. This caused Sauber to fall behind Force India in the manufacturers championship in 7th.

Other retirements were Sutil who pulled off at the exit to the second chicane on lap 11, Webber who crashed, D'Ambrosio who pulled into the pits on lap 3 with a mechanical failure, and the first lap victims Petrov and Rosberg of Liuzzi's side swipe.

Rank	Driver Name	Team Name	Time
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull
2	Jenson Button	McLaren	+9.5s
3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+16.9s
4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	+17.4s
5	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	+32.6s
6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+42.9s
7	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso	+1 lap
8	Paul di Resta	Force India	+1 lap
9	Bruno Senna	Renault	+1 lap
10	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso	+1 lap
11	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	+1 lap
12	Rubens Barrichello	Williams	+1 lap
13	Heikki Kovalainen	Team Lotus	+2 laps
14	Jarno Trulli	Team Lotus	+2 laps
15	Timo Glock	Virgin	+2 laps
16	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT	+14 laps
17	Sergio Perez	Sauber	DNF
18	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	DNF
19	Adrian Sutil	Force India	DNF
20	Mark Webber	Red Bull	DNF
21	Jerome D'Ambrosio	Virgin	DNF
22	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	DNF
23	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	DNF
24	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT	DNF