Why Sebastian Vettel Will Be the Driver to Watch at the 2015 Italian Grand Prix
Even Il Grande John couldn't keep them quiet.
John Surtees waved both horizontally and vertically, spoke a few words of Italian and, after realising he was fighting a losing battle, kept a dignified silence, giving them all the time they needed to get the poison out of their collective system.
But the good intentions of Formula One's perfect gentleman only served to worsen the situation.
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Sebastian Vettel had just claimed his sixth victory of the 2013 season in the Italian Grand Prix, effectively placing one hand on his fourth consecutive title.
As he stood on the podium at Monza, the scene of his very first F1 victory five years earlier, here was a chance for him to reflect on the peak of his career and how far he'd come since that soggy afternoon in September '08.
Yet the world champion, on a day of celebration, was reduced to a piece of meat dangling over the mouths of thousands of lions.
Vettel had grown accustomed to being booed throughout 2013, such was the general public's frustration with his relentless success with Red Bull Racing and their anger over his controversial pass on team-mate Mark Webber to win that year's Malaysian GP.
The reception he received at Monza, however—the only venue on the calendar where the podium hangs over the racetrack itself, leaving the drivers exposed to the spectators who gather below—was something different, far more intense and hostile than ever before.
It was the moment Vettel made the jump from being F1's latest pantomime villain to a genuine figure of hate as the Tifosi booed and jeered every word to escape his mouth, while singing that familiar refrain in praise of the man wearing red.
"Vettel: The more booing the better.That's what happens if you win at Monza &aren't dressed in red! As they booed a lot we can be happy today
— Sebastian Vettel (@FansOfSebVettel) September 8, 2013"
In the eyes of those waving Ferrari flags, Fernando Alonso was the real winner, the real champion, and Vettel was nothing more than an irritant, someone with a dreadful habit of getting in the way and preventing the right result.
The contrast between the hero and villain was made abundantly clear at the close of the podium ceremony, when Alonso—after Vettel had retreated to take cover within the sanctuary of the pit complex—remained on the balcony and took a series of photographs, capturing the essence, the beauty of what it means to be a Ferrari driver at Monza.
But it is only now, as Vettel prepares to compete in his first Italian Grand Prix in those scarlet-red overalls and Alonso braces himself for what will surely be the most painful race of McLaren-Honda's season, that the true meaning of Monza 2013 has become apparent.
The selfie Alonso took from the podium encapsulated his superficial nature and how he would only play the Prancing Horse's heartstrings whenever it suited him.
Jacques Villeneuve, a former team-mate of the Spaniard, told Sport Bild (h/t GrandPrix247) of Alonso's "God complex" and how the "love" shown to him by Ferrari was never truly reciprocated by someone who thinks "more about Twitter and being a politician than team spirit."
To Alonso, Ferrari was a tool in his armoury, an extension of his own excellence, an asset on the good days and an irrelevance on the occasions he wanted "someone else's car," as he memorably told BBC Sport's Andrew Benson after the 2013 Hungarian GP.
Alonso's manipulation of Ferrari meant despite a number of heroic performances of his five seasons with the Scuderia, he was never fit to spearhead the most sacred team in F1.
This weekend's race in Italy may only be Vettel's 12th race in Ferrari colours, but the German has already established himself as the best possible leader for the pit lane's damsel in distress.
Like the most triumphant drivers in Ferrari's history, Vettel has quickly recognised the importance of serving—rather than riding—the Prancing Horse and the value of emerging as the focal point of a collective environment.
That, to all intents and purposes, has been at the root of Ferrari's improvement from last season to this, which has seen the team claim two victories and six further podium finishes after their first winless campaign in over two decades in 2014.
On the evidence of August's Belgian GP, where Vettel could only manage ninth in a qualifying session dominated by Mercedes-powered cars, Monza's long straights should not play to the strengths of Ferrari's SF15-T car.
Yet the magic tricks performed by Vettel's Ferrari throughout 2015—from conquering Mercedes in Malaysia and surging from the back of the grid in Canada to winning with ease in Hungary—means it would be dangerous to discount the Scuderia in their own backyard.
And even when those tricks don't quite come off—take, for example, his tyre failure on the penultimate lap at Spa-Francorchamps—the German maintains his loyalty, with his vehement defence of Ferrari's tyre strategy in Belgium, via a statement on his official website. It is akin to a football manager refusing to even consider that his own players may have been at fault for a defeat.
Having revealed on the eve of the season how he pestered the team over a move as long ago as 2008, per Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Autosport), Vettel has revelled in the opportunity of finally experiencing life inside Ferrari and the Italian GP, no matter how he performs, will revolve around him and him alone.
Whatever he previously thought he knew about Ferrari will be challenged in what is certain to be one of the most draining but satisfying weekends of his career, where the fickle temperament of sports fans will be there for all to see.
It's taken the Tifosi some time to realise it, but Vettel is the hero Ferrari always needed.
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