Vettel Monsters Monza

Vettel Monsters Monza

One of the most historic and evocative sporting venues of them all played host to the travelling circus that is Formula 1 today. Over the years, Monza has seen every side of this sport - be it triumph, tragedy, controversy or world champions in floods of tears. It was a race which Red Bull expected to struggle in, but unfortunately for the other teams it was the easiest struggle they were ever likely to see.

As usual, Sebastian Vettel started on pole position, with the menacing McLarens of Hamilton and Button with their formidable race pace lurking directly behind. The first corner here is a fiddly right-left chicane preceded by 800 metres of flat out blast from the starting grid – throw into the mix 24 slightly egotistical adrenalin junkies and it's the perfect recipe for drama. Alonso pulled off a blinding start and took the lead from fourth on the grid much to the delight of the Tifosi, with Vettel, Hamilton, Schumacher (who started eighth), Massa and Button in pursuit. This year, the first corner mess was caused by the ever mediocre Liuzzi, who had arrived at the first corner sliding sideways across the infield seemingly having forgotten that when everyone else brakes directly in front of you, it is probably smarter to follow suit. He wiped out Rosberg and Petrov and caused all sorts of issues for Barrichello and everyone else trying to avoid the carnage. Inevitably, the Safety Car was scrambled to enable the marshals to collect some souvenirs.

At the restart, Schumacher took third from a snoozing Hamilton while Webber took sixth from a similarly sleepy Button. Vettel was having no such nap, brilliantly passing Alonso around the outside of the Curva Grande with a couple of wheels on the grass for good measure. The first corner again proved to be too much for some a lap later, when Webber attempted to pass Massa. They made contact, with Webber spinning Massa around with his front wing which duly smashed, adding to the already vast quantity of carbon fibre shards at the first corner. This enabled Button to make up two of his lost places without breaking a sweat. Webber retired later that lap when his car went straight on at the Parabolica, his front wing loss meaning he lacked the downforce and grip to brake or steer.

Meanwhile, Schumacher began to give a demonstration of his own particular brand of defensive driving as he held up the McLaren of Hamilton for around six laps before Button joined the queue. Hamilton soon fell victim to a robust defence from Schumacher who left him with nowhere to go but the grass, causing him to lift off around the flat-out Curva Grande. Button saw his chance and pounced, outbraking Hamilton into the second chicane and then outbraking Schumacher around the outside into the tricky high speed Ascari chicane, doing in one lap to Schumacher what Hamilton had struggled to do for over ten.

After the first round of pit stops, Hamilton and Schumacher were joined in battle once again. Lap after lap Hamilton tried to pass the most successful driver in the history of the sport and lap after lap he was denied as Button flew up the road in pursuit of Alonso and Vettel. Schumacher looked very much like his controversial old self, somehow avoiding a penalty on at least a couple of occasions when most other drivers would have been heavily penalised. Hamilton eventually passed the Mercedes driver on the way into Ascari but the damage had been done by that point.

The second round of pit stops passed without incident. Button came closest to having an incident when he pitted at exactly the same time as Barrichello who was about to be lapped by the Englishman. They came very close to colliding at the pit entry but managed to escape unscathed. After the pit stops, Button quickly closed to within a couple of tenths of Fernando Alonso. Button pulled off another great move on the Spaniard to take second place. Considering he is supposedly the less exciting McLaren driver, Button has certainly pulled off some exquisite moves this year – his tally for number of overtaking manoeuvres this season now in the forties.

Vettel was just too far in front and too fast for Button to do anything about, so attentions turned to Hamilton who was now closing on Alonso for third place. Going into the last lap, Hamilton was tantalisingly close, but Alonso just held on to his podium spot. Further down the field, Alguersuari finished seventh having started seventeenth and Senna picked up his first points finish in ninth place.

For Vettel, it all seemed so easy. As he has done so often this season, he controlled the pace and didn't put a foot wrong. For the first time this year, he is in a position to be able to put the title out of reach for everyone else at the next race. If it hadn't been for the changes this year and the great races that we've seen, his dominance has been such that it would have been a relatively tedious season. So the sport's European season is now over and the final flyaway races are all that are left of a year that has transformed the sport almost beyond recognition – the title may be nearly over but there is a lot of great racing to be done and plenty of pride still left on the table. Vettel's rivals will be determined to salvage as much of it as possible.

Stuart McCann is from IntentsGP.com:  For Silverstone or Spa, make your F1 Weekend Hassle Free - Camp with intentsGP!

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