Italy – Race: Vettel Head and Shoulders Above the Rest

For this race in Monza, the activity and uncertainty began earlier than usual. Indeed, 45 minutes before the start, heavy rain fell on the Monza park. The teams therefore decided to fit intermediate tires on the cars for their traditional pre-grid laps. But since the rain didn’t last and the track dried quickly, the drivers went back to their pits one after the other to switch back to slick tires. In any case, the temperatures are much cooler than they have been since the start of the season, with 25°C in the air and 29°C on the track.

The start takes place with all drivers on slicks while the track remains wet. All drivers are on mediums, except for Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, and Esteban Gutierrez, who are on hards. Sebastian Vettel has an average start and squeezes his teammate. Behind, it’s Felipe Massa who has an excellent start. The Brazilian is thus in second place, ahead of Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. Kimi Räikkönen is guilty of a bump in the first corner, which forces him to pit at the end of the first lap to replace his front wing and relegates him to the back of the pack, while Paul di Resta misses the second chicane and hits Romain Grosjean, which tears off his front left wheel and forces him to retire.

Sebastian Vettel immediately takes a comfortable lead as he is already 1.4 seconds ahead by the end of the second lap. But his teammate falls victim to a magnificent overtaking maneuver by Fernando Alonso, on the outside of the second chicane, which inevitably triggers the joy of the thousands of tifosi present. In the process, a radio message is sent to Felipe Massa: « Now we focus on our race. The pace is good. » Five laps later, we can see the translation on the track, with Fernando Alonso moving at the end of the straight to overtake the Brazilian.

In the ninth lap, a great battle between the two former teammates at McLaren, with Jenson Button overtaking Lewis Hamilton at Ascari to gain 10th place while Sebastian Vettel’s streak of fast laps allows him to have more than a five-second lead over Fernando Alonso. It is then announced that the incident between Paul di Resta and Romain Grosjean will be reviewed after the race.

At the thirteenth lap, Lewis Hamilton has to go through the pits to change tires as he was on hards. He was suffering from a slow puncture, which was significantly slowing him down. As for Kimi Räikkönen, he has already passed both Marussia and is stringing together the fastest laps in the race. Felipe Massa is under threat from an increasingly menacing Mark Webber.

Two laps later, Jean-Eric Vergne is forced to retire. The significant smoke at the back of his car suggests a mechanical failure. He immediately pulls over to the side at the exit of the second chicane. For now, Nico Hülkenberg has no trouble keeping Nico Rosberg over a second behind.

Translate: On the twentieth lap, Romain Grosjean initiates the pit stop sequence and dives into the pit lane to switch to hard tires. The order was then Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Webber, Hülkenberg, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Perez, and therefore Grosjean. Jenson Button is instructed to give it his all in this lap to cover the Frenchman’s stop. If Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez stop at the same time, the McLaren mechanics cannot allow the Mexican to pass the future Red Bull driver.

On the other hand, Mark Webber is able to pass Felipe Massa thanks to a pit stop made one lap earlier than the Ferrari driver. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton sets the fastest lap times in the race to climb up the ranks. He is ninth by the 25th lap. When Fernando Alonso comes in at the end of his lap, Sebastian Vettel is told that he is going faster than necessary to ensure he maintains the lead. Indeed, he had come within just 11 seconds of the Spanish driver.

**After the first pit stops, on the 27th lap**, the only notable change is Mark Webber overtaking Felipe Massa. Kimi Räikkönen, with his off-set strategy, has moved up to 5th, ahead of Nico Hülkenberg, and Lewis Hamilton is in 8th ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

At the 29th lap, Kimi Räikkönen stops at his pit to switch to medium tires while Lewis Hamilton continues his show by catching up to Nico Hülkenberg. Nico Rosberg is even instructed to use his teammate to try to catch up. The Brit finds an opening on the inside of the first Lesmo. He is now 5th.

At the start of the 36th lap, Nico Rosberg managed to get closer to his compatriot but missed at the end of the pit straight and went straight through the chicane. He thus found himself outside the one-second zone necessary for DRS.

In the 38th lap, Romain Grosjean takes the inside line at the end of the straight to overtake Sergio Perez for 10th place. Lewis Hamilton then stops at his pit to switch to medium tires. He has 15 laps remaining with them. In front, Mark Webber closes in on Fernando Alonso while Sebastian Vettel continues to dominate: he has nearly a twelve-second lead.

At the 42nd lap, Kimi Räikkönen takes advantage of the traffic to get ahead of Esteban Gutierrez, moving him into 12th position. He then goes after Adrian Sutil while Lewis Hamilton also overtakes the Mexican Sauber driver. The Lotus driver finally finds an opening two laps later, overtaking on the outside at the entrance of the Parabolica!

At the 49th lap, Lewis Hamilton makes a high-class overtake by going around the outside of Kimi Räikkönen in the first Lesmo. He is now at the door of the points, in eleventh position. But he doesn’t stop there and immediately overtakes the McLaren of Sergio Perez, then that of Jenson Button.

On the 51st lap, Kimi Räikkönen finds an opening on Sergio Perez.

The final standings are therefore Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Felipe Massa, Nico Hülkenberg, Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Romain Grosjean, Lewis Hamilton, and Jenson Button. As for Kimi Räikkönen, he loses big in the championship by finishing only 11th.

2013 Italian Grand Prix Standings: