F1:Monza Part Two - Red Bull vs. The World

Whassup, bro's!

Let's see how the race unfolded in Monza, shall we...?


THE RACE

Onto the race and the start was an impressive affair, for once from Mark Webber who actually didn't manage to get bogged down with his car's clutch as mentioned in the last review at Belgium. Instead he was right up there fighting for that all important first position forcing a triple lock-up from Vettel as he fought hand over fist for every inch of tarmac going into the first chicane.

What must've surprised him was the arrival in his mirrors of one Felipe Massa, who's electric start was the clear definition that he was going to be his main rival, in a non-RBR sense of course. Alonso managed to slot in behind him and would probably have been a shoe-in for first at that first turn in had Massa not been in front of him as he chased down Webber.

Elsewhere, at the chicane, Räikkönen got into a little bit of trouble himself when Sergio Perez closing him off. As a result, he locked up both front wheels but it was not enough to prevent him from pushing the McLaren driver onto the exit road, which must've come as a surprise to those drivers emerging from said chicane to see a driver come from the far left side of the track instead of behind them, as they were supposed to. No harm to Perez's machine, so no foul necessary and he slotted back in effortlessly.

The action hadn't got past the very first lap before it saw its first retirement of the day, a collision between Romain Grosjean and Paul Di Resta, an incident that would then be referred to the stewards for 'after the race' penalty consideration. The team radio that played a short time later confirmed as Paul holding his hands up saying he locked up and ran into Grosjean, but whether that has any bearing on proceedings, is another matter entirely (ED - It turns out that according to this article, he has since been blamed for the incident, has Di Resta, but they recognised his avoiding actions). This was the first time that Di Resta had gone out of a race since his entry into the top class in "Formula-" racing and of course is the second time in as many races that he has missed out on finishing after Maldonado clocked him last time out at Spa.

Hulkenberg, after his excellent third placed qualifying position, was the driver to have lost out at the start, though he only suffered a two place slip and was currently riding in 5th.

With this being Ferrari's home race, all locals in the crowd were likely to be cheering on their favourite, Fernando Alonso, who managed a sublime piece of overtaking to get the advantage on Webber and now all that was left was to reel in his partner in crime, Massa, and get on after race leader Vettel. By this time he'd opened up almost three seconds in advantage so if any time was going to be relevant then it would be now more than ever, before the Red Bull driver got too far ahead of him.

Lap eight saw that manoeuvre and he must have been greatly relieved to have got it done so early, especially how imperious Seb was looking and surely impervious to harm were his title chances now.

On the Mercedes pit wall there were some investigations after Lewis Hamilton's team radio failed and he received a message that the team could not hear what he was saying, only to later on find out that he couldn't hear them either!

The next casualty came in the form of Jean-Eric Vergne, the driver who'd come in an impressive .3 off the pace only, at the end of Q1, as his car was pulled off to one side just moments after smoke was seen emerging from the back of his car; transmission failure!

On lap 24, Vettel comes in from the race lead to give Alonso the first chance to put his own case forth to win his team's home grand prix. Though the biggest warning sign of what was to come was that the RBR team's pit-stop expertise brought out Vettel in 3rd places; a mere two back from where he went in at. So on such form as this, the odds were on that Vettel would soon be breathing down Alonso's neck for the race win and to spoil the party and severely upset the crowd, which he would do in due course...

With Mark Webber now holding a consistent third now and Vettel having got said overtake done on Alonso, this was looking likely to be how the race was going to finish. The only way anyone else could spoil the party would be if they were to topple the Red Bull/Ferrari/Red Bull sandwich. It's at times like this where you see the real cream rise to the top and sure enough, that would be how it would end up finishing.

Further back down the grid, the two McLaren's were battling hard in 9th position with Perez and Button looking to prove that neither age/experience was a factor worth considering the way they went at it racing together close but fair.

Since the race start, Daniel Ricciardo only lost one net position and was currently in eighth place. Would he equal his best ever finish of a seventh placed finish? It was likely given the new RBR signing's tenacity!

Right out the front, whilst all this had gone on, Vettel had been sure to be the one to beat and was now over 11 seconds in the lead, meaning that domination was the aim of his game. This was despite an earlier tire warning that suggested he may have to compromise in race strategy when compared with the hard/medium compounds.

We were on lap 44 out of 53 now and it was looking as though Vettel was a shoe-in for victory, so all eyes would turn to Mark Webber in 3rd position. All in a bid to see if he could finish his last ever European Grand Prix on the podium, something he'd never managed to do before since joining the F1 circuits back in 2002.

At this point, he was for the second time getting messages that he needed to short-shift the gears 2 and 3 at the chicane, leaving me wondering if the gearing ratio had either been compromised in race (though Vettel got a similar message near the end and it halted him none!) or was down to a faulty set-up pre-race. This allowed Massa to close him down as no doubt he was told of this impediment and was trying to overturn him. He wouldn't manage to do so and Mark would get his first ever podium, which was also his last in Italy in F1.

The battle further down the grid saw Lewis Hamilton take on Romain Grosjean for eighth position but had to cut a corner meaning no advantage could be gained from that manoeuvre so he let Grosjean pull away by a margin to keep himself out of the stewards' eyes.

On the final lap, Adrian Sutil retired and this was pretty much a dismal day at the office for Force India who scored no points and saw both cars looking worse for wear at the end of it.

So the podium was then confirmed as Vettel, Alonso & Webber, though the crowd were openly hostile towards the race winner when he was being interviewed by John Surtees. This is understandable, if a little churlish because the Italians love their Ferrari and Alonso, whom must surely be considering Italy as a second home by now with the way they treat him when he's there.

Yet it is Vettel who has won four out of the last six races, so must surely be considered as the man everyone wants to beat, even if you don't like him (though how that can be, is ridiculous!).

The next places were taken up by a resurgent Massa, Hulkenberg whose Sauber team must be impressed with his -2 place net position change since race start and Rosberg (who had by and large been quiet today). After that it was Ricciardo, Grosjean (who also was quiet apart from the Di Resta incident), Hamilton and Button who pipped Perez to his position.

Hamilton it was, though, who was left ruing his qualifying mishap and cursing his luck, even though a tenth placed position was surely worth writing home about. Not for him though, not for him as you could see the clear disappointment upon his face afterwards.

DRIVER OF THE DAY

Onto the award that I'm pretty sure you're anxious to see which way I've gone with my vote, having seen a fair amount of action along with some exciting overtakes. From Ricciardo equalling his best ever position, to Nico Hulkenberg achieving a 5th placed finish, the candidates were many, but the places are few as, like the Highlander; "there can be only one"!

Sebastian Vettel

Despite Alonso's excellent performance and his resilience in keeping up there all the time at the front end of the grid, I have to go with the race winner!

Simply because of the way he led pretty much from start to finish with only pit-stops accounting for a change of position for him, Vettel is the only option here really, because he ended up finishing well out in front with a 5.4 second gap and, though I doubt whether what E.J. said to Christian Horner was true (about the championships being over for this season now after today's result), there can scarce be enough of a reminder just what a talent the 26 year old is.

He is well on course to beating Michael Schumacher's record of seven World Championships and has been quoted as saying that he was willing enough to accept that, especially as it's in the form of a compatriot.

Next time out it's the start of the Asian leg of the F1 calendar and Singapore, so we'll see if Vettel cannot edge towards another championship along with his team...

Peace out!


The Lanky Penguin