Lewis Hamilton put the disappointment of the Belgian Grand Prix behind him by winning the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in front of the Tifosi. Sauber’s Sergio “Checo” Perez drove an amazing race to come home in second place from 12th on the grid; overtaking both Ferrari’s along the way. But the net winner of this race is Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who extended his World championship lead to 37 points with Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Jenson Button all retiring from the race.
Ferrari’s Alonso finished the race on the final step of the podium after losing out to Perez on lap 46. The second Ferrari of Felipe Massa came home in fourth place, equally the Brazilian’s best finish this season after moving aside for team leader, Alonso. Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen finished in fifth place, up two places on his starting position ahead of Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher, who was down two places on his starting position. Nico Rosberg finished one place down, completing the race in seventh place. Force India’s Paul di Resta moved up one place from his starting position while Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi moved backwards one place to finish 8th and 9th respectively.
The final points paying position went to Williams’ Bruno Senna who benefited from Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo’s last lap car issues which dropped him back behind both Williams. Jenson Button pulled off the track on lap 34 with a suspected fuel pump issue, no fuel, no engine power. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel retired with a handful of laps remaining with an alternator failure after serving a drive-through penalty for running Alonso off the track. While Mark Webber retired with two laps remaining after a spin which dropped him out of the points, a day to forget for Red Bull!
I would definitely call myself a fan of Perez, he has impressed me massively; earning himself a second, 2nd place finish this season, finishing the Italian Grand Prix a massive 40 seconds and seven places ahead of his team mate Kobayashi, who started ahead of him. I’m obviously disappointed by Jenson Button’s retirement from the race through no fault of his own. I thought after last weeks Spa-Francorchamps win that he could still be a power in the drivers title race; but this retirement now puts him 78 points behind drivers championship leader Alonso, three whole race wins behind with six races remaining, it’s a near impossible task to win the drivers crown.
Italian Grand Prix race classification after 53 laps:
1 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 1:19.41.221
2 Sergio Perez (Sauber) +4.300
3 Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) +20.500
4 Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +29.600
5 Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) +30.800
6 Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) +31.200
7 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) +33.500
8 Paul di Resta (Force India) +41.000
9 Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) +43.800
10 Bruno Senna (Williams) +48.100
Driver Championship Standings after the Italian Grand Prix:
1 Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 179
2 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 142
3 Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) 141
4 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 140
5 Mark Webber (Red Bull) 132
6 Jenson Button (McLaren) 101
7 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 83
8 Romain Grosjean (Lotus) 76
9 Sergio Perez (Sauber) 65
10 Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 47
