Fernando Alonso Completes the Perfect Ferrari Weekend by Taking Victory in Monza

Fernando Alonso has become the first Ferrari driver to win in Monza since Schumacher in 2006. It was a hard fought and well deserved victory, but Alonso will have to say an extra special thank you to his team who delivered the perfect strategy after Jenson Button nearly rained on the Tifosi parade!

Jenson Button may not have finished where he would have liked, but he too drove a storming grand prix and took full advantage of his decision to select a radically different set up from his team mate.

But what of the race itself? Well, on a personal level I was ecstatic to see my two F1 heroes finish P1 and P2. However, I can’t help but tell you that the race was, in truth, more dull than we might have expected.

Ferrari’s weekend may have ended with near perfection, but the race was far from enjoyable for the folks in the red garage.

Jenson Button took advantage of a spectacular start and fended off Alonso’s aggression to hold P1 as the cars exited turn one.

The Ferraris were side by side at several early stages of the first lap and Hamilton had also made a great start, putting immense pressure on third place Massa. The big winners at the start were Kubica and Schumacher. The biggest loser was Webber (down five places). Button may have counted himself in both groups as although he was leading, he had suffered small contact with Alonso damaging his diffuser.

Hamilton’s weekend came to an abrupt end though when he just pushed a little too hard trying to pass Massa in a tight snake coming through turns four and five. The McLaren driver went straight into the side of his Ferrari rival and terminally broke his steering arm (that’s on the car…. Not the driver!).

It was Hamilton’s fault, but it was extremely tight in the snake and I think the McLaren man was just as unlucky as he was over-aggressive.

Meanwhile, further back, Kobayashi retired having started from the pit lane with gear issues and Sutil decided to pit early and gamble on a long run.

So with Hamilton out of the race and Button off to a great start, here are your positions after one action packed lap:

Button, Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, Kubica, Hulkenberg, Vettel, Schumacher, Webber, Buemi, de la Rossa, Alguersuari, Liuzzi, Petrov, Trulli, Glock, di Grassi, Kovalainen, Yamamoto, Senna, Sutil

The early exciting pace continued as Alosno and Massa put pressure on Button and Webber fought his way back by masterfully fighting Schumacher for P8. (The close battle began at turn one and finished with Webber forcefully holding position through turns 4 and 5.

By around lap 19 the race had significantly cooled and although there were some stories from Sutil working his way through the new teams and Alguersuari being penalised for cutting corners, nothing much had changed.

Everyone perked up when Vettel radioed in to report engine issues but although the German was passed by his team mate, his new Renault power box managed to sort itself out.

The race at the front was closeish, but the problem was that both drivers were significantly faster at different parts of the track. This simply meant that towards the end of the lap Alonso had caught Button, only to lose him through sector one. Sure the pressure was interesting, but it wasn’t edge of your seat stuff.

Perhaps the biggest drama at this stage came from the sight of an ambulance in the pit lane! God knows how it happened… but Yamamoto managed to exit his pit box with his radio engineer still fiddling around in the cockpit!

No doubt a terrifying experience for the radio man, but thankfully he’s only got to worry about a few grazes and a bruised ego!

The pit stops seemed to come rather late for this Grand Prix and it was Kubica who was the first of the top runners to come in. The Pole pitted on lap 34 and rejoined one place down in P9.

The crucial stops came a few laps later when Button took to the pits on lap 37. The McLaren driver had driven excellently all race but had he done enough?

Meanwhile Hulkenberg was thrown from the pit lane into a fiery battle when he joined just in front of a scrap between Kubica and Webber. The Williams man slowed Kubica up enough for Webber to force his way through to P7.

Back to the front now and on lap 38 Alonso took to the pits. Button was now in P3 and gunning like mad for the first turn! Unfortunately for Button, The Ferrari team did a super job and Alonso found himself wheel to wheel with his rival going into turn one. The fight was close but driven expertly by both men, Alonso came out of it the victor.

Massa pitted one lap later but was unable to leapfrog Button effectively deciding the top three.

This all meant that the positions were now:

Alonso, Button, Massa, Vettel, Rosberg, Hulkenberg, Webber, Kubica, Schumacher, Petrov, Barrichello, Buemi, Liuzzi, de la Rossa, Alguersuari, Sutil, Glock, Kovalainen, Trulli, di Grassi, Yamamoto

The final laps were dominated by a fierce battle between Webber and Hulkenberg. The German Williams driver did a good enough job holding the superior Red Bull at bay, but this was thanks in no small part to the fact that Hulkenberg kept cutting corners. Once or twice is acceptable, but the rookie just couldn’t keep to the track and for some unexplained reason, the stewards took no action!

Webber was furious and although he finally made it past on lap 50, his post race interview showed just how angry the Australian was. Webber believed that if it wasn’t for Hulkenberg he could have finished P4.

There was some promised excitement from Vettel’s last lap pit stop, but in reality the German driver had done enough on track to recover a strong P4 result.

Alonso crossed the line to the cheers of thousands of proud Italians, but the podium celebrations were a little subdued. I think Alonso may have been tired, Button was certainly pleased, but Massa looked pretty unhappy?

So not a classic Italian Grand Prix, but it has blown the Championship open again. Great to see my two favourite drivers first and second, and a fantastic result as far as the Title is concerned. Next stop Singapore…

Drivers’ Title Top Three
Webber 187
Hamilton 182
Alonso 166

Constructors’ Top Three
Red Bull 350
McLaren 347
Ferrari 290

Result
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari
2 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
3 Felipe Massa Ferrari
4 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault
5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault
7 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth
8 Robert Kubica Renault
9 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP
10 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth
11 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari
12 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes
13 Vitaly Petrov Renault
14 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari
15 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari
16 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes
17 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth
18 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth
19 Sakon Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth
20 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth

Ret Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth
Ret Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth
Ret Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
Ret Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari