By now I figure you’ve had a chance to watch the race. But if not, race results and fallout below the fold…
For the second race in a row, German wunderkind Sebastian Vettel sprinted away from the field. Starting one place better than at Spa, the Red Bull chassis launched from the pole at the Gran Premio d’Italia and once again demonstrated its superiority in clean air in Vettel’s hands, as the points leader pulled away lap after lap to an insurmountable race lead and, with his 6th victory of the season, perhaps an insurmountable lead in the Drivers’ Championship, as well. Once again, the young prodigy demonstrated his mastery over the classic European circuits with his wins at the Nürburgring, Spa-Francorchamps and now at Monza.
Fernando Alonso was left to salvage the pride of the tifosi and Ferrari, which he did with a storming drive past his soon-to-be-former teammate Felipe Massa* and soon-to-be-ex Red Bull #2 Mark Webber for 2nd place on the podium. Webber pressed Alonso quite strongly until the very last lap and was 3rd, while Massa held on for a respectable 4th.
Nico Hulkenberg, who was excellent all weekend long, earned struggling Sauber’s top finish of the season, 5th, after fighting off Nico Rosberg’s faster Mercedes by a mere 0.6 seconds at the end.
Other notables: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton had a slow puncture that required an extra pit stop and destroyed his race strategy–he finished 9th. Red Bull’s choice to replace Webber next season, Daniel Ricciardo, had a very strong 7th in the very fast-in-a-straight-line Toro Rosso. And Jensen Button salvaged the last point at 10th for the underwhelming McLaren. Lotus’ Kimi Räikkönen finished outside the points in 11th, while teammate Romain Grosjean snagged 8th just behind Ricciardo.
Top 10 finishers and times here:
FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO D’ITALIA 2013
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 53 | 1:18:33.352 | 1 | 25 |
| 2 | 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 53 | +5.4 secs | 5 | 18 |
| 3 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 53 | +6.3 secs | 2 | 15 |
| 4 | 4 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 53 | +9.3 secs | 4 | 12 |
| 5 | 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 53 | +10.3 secs | 3 | 10 |
| 6 | 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 53 | +10.9 secs | 6 | 8 |
| 7 | 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 53 | +32.3 secs | 7 | 6 |
| 8 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 53 | +33.1 secs | 13 | 4 |
| 9 | 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 53 | +33.5 secs | 12 | 2 |
| 10 | 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 53 | +38.3 secs | 9 | 1 |
Full race results here at Formula1.com.
Top 5 in the Drivers’ standings heading into Singapores, Sept. 20-22:
| Pos | Driver | Nationality | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | German | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 222 |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Spanish | Ferrari | 169 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | British | Mercedes | 141 |
| 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Finnish | Lotus-Renault | 134 |
| 5 | Mark Webber | Australian | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 130 |
*In the aftermath of the Italian Grand Prix, it was announced that Filipe Massa will not drive for Ferrari next year and that Lotus’ Kimi Räikkönen will take the seat for the 2014 campaign. The Finn returns to the team with which he won the 2007 Drivers’ Championship on the last day of the season by a single point.