Dominant Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull cruse to victory in Monza

German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel took his sixth win of the season in the Formula 1 Gran Premio d'Italia 2013 at Monza on Sunday afternoon, beating emerging Spanish Suderia Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso who finished in a distant second, and his Australian Red Bull team mate Mark Webber, who occupied the last spot on the podium.

After scoring his 40th pole position, the German triple Formula 1 world champion took the lead as Brazilian Scuderia Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was shortly in second position ahead of the second Red Bull of Australian driver Mark Webber and the Ferrari of Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

As German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel extended his lead at the front, despite some concerns about a tire with a flat-spot, Spanish Scuderia Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso fought past Australian Red Bull driver Mark Webber with a courageous move on the third lap, then caught and passed his Brazilian team mate on the eighth lap. Unfortunately there was nothing the former double Formula 1 world champion could do about the dominant and flawless performance of the German Red Bull driver in the lead. Although the Spanish Scuderia Ferrari driver finished only 5.4s behind German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, the real gap was closer to double that before the German eased off his pace in a considerable manner.

In the second part of the race Australian Red Bull driver Mark Webber fought back and put Spanish Scuderia Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso under immense pressure until he was told by his team to start short-shifting. However, he was still less than a second behind the Ferrari at the end. Brazilian Scuderia Ferrari driver Felipe Massa finished in a distant fourth place.

German Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg and his fellow-countryman Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg had a race-long fight for fifth which ended in favor of the Sauber driver by six-tenths of a second, although the German Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was the fastest man on track within the last three laps. Daniel Ricciardo made strong use of his superfast-in-a-straight line Toro Rosso to keep French Lotus driver Romain Grosjean at bay, but British Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was closing on both and actually passed the Lotus going into the second chicane on the final lap.

Unfortunately for the British Mercedes driver, he selected the run-off area to do it and had therefore to hand back the place.
It must be mentioned here that Lewis Hamilton had his race strategy compromised by a slow puncture in his Mercedes’ right front tire on the 12th lap, and thus had to make two pit stops, while almost everyone else was on a one pit stop startegy.

As if what happened to the Finish Lotus driver at the Belgian 2013 Formula1 Grand Prix was not enough , the run of bad luck continued in a very consistent manner, as if Kimi Raikkonen was persistent to bury his last hopes for the 2013 Formula 1 crown with his own hands.
He was the other man who had to visit his team pits twice after sustaining accident damage running his Lotus into the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes of Sergio Perez in the first corner after locking up. Like British Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, the Finn drove a great race to recover, but could not hold Hamilton back on the 49th lap. He did however catch and pass the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes of Sergio Perez, but missed out on the final point when he could not do the same with Jenson Button.

Behind Perez in 12th, fellow Mexican Esteban Gutierrez brought his Sauber home ahead of the Williams duo of Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas, while further back Charles Pic beat Caterham team mate Giedo van der Garde, as Jules Bianchi led home Marussia team mate Max Chilton at the rear of the field.

On the other hand, it was a bad race for Force India, with Paul di Resta a first-lap casualty after running into the back of French Lotus driver Romain Grosjean and Adrian Sutil retiring on the penultimate lap when running behind the Lewis Hamilton/Kimi Raikkonen battle.
Jean-Eric Vergne had kept both British drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton at distance in the early stages until a transmission problem on his Toro Rosso put him out of the promising race on the 15th lap.

German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel’s sixth win of the 2013 Formula 1 season extended his championship lead over Spanish Scuderia Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. The German now has 222 points to the Spaniard’s 169, while Lewis Hamilton is almost stagnating on 141 from Kimi Raikkonen on 134, as Mark Webber moves up to 130.

In the constructors 2013 Formula 1 world champion, Red Bull are leading with 352 points, while the strong performance of Scuderia Ferrari puts them back into second place on 248 points ahead of Mercedes on 245. Lotus remain fourth on 191 with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes in fifth on 66 and Force India sixth on 61.

AE
08.09.2013
Monza - Abu Dhabi - Dubai