Volare! Vettel Takes Italian GP Pole

Photo Credit: Nissan/Infiniti

The 13th race on the 2011 Formula 1 tour, the Italian Grand Prix on the historically fast Monza circuit. Racing on the 3.6 mile (5.793 kilometer), 11-turn road course, the long straights provide one of the best opportunities for the V-8 Formula 1 race engines to sing at high RPMs. Driving race cars wearing low-downforce packages, the 26 Formula 1 drivers and teams ready for Saturday's qualifying for what will be a 53-lap main event Sunday.

Following the times produced in the previous 3 practice sessions at Monza, it was assumed the battle for top spot in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix would be between the Mercedes-Benz engines powering the McLarens and the force of Red Bull Racing featuring Renault power. Indeed, it was a tight battle between the McLaren F1 drivers of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button as well as Red Bull-Renault of the red hot Sebastian Vettel. Into the final round of qualifying, the McLaren-Mercedes cars launched to an early top time with Hamilton mustering the best effort with a 1 minute, 22.725 second lap. However, the undefeated force of Red Bull Racing in 2011 Formula 1 qualifying emerged with Sebastian Vettel in the late stage of the session. Crossing the line with a 1 minute, 22.275 second best lap, Vettel will start from pole position for the 10th time this season.

The Monza race track has served as a significant staging place for the career of Sebastian Vettel. In 2008, racing as a lesser known driver for the Scuderia Toro Rosso team, the German driver Vettel delivered a major upset becoming the youngest driver to win a Formula 1 race. Since that very first win, the talented driver was upgraded to the Red Bull Racing team where he is currently making history by winning 16 additional grand prix races since 2009.

Presented as the most regular rival to Red Bull Racing this season so far, McLaren-Mercedes once again starts close to that front with Hamilton starting alongside Vettel on the front row of the Italian Grand Prix. Jenson Button is place in the 3rd grid position with Fernando Alonso's Ferrari slotted in 4th. The second Red Bull-Renault car piloted by Sebastian Vettel will start 5th beside Felipe Massa's Ferrari. On the 4th row for the Italian Grand Prix, Lotus Renault GP's Vitaly Petrov collected his best qualifying result since the Spanish Grand Prix.

Qualifying 8th, Schmacher has recently begun showing he is still the same driver who won 7 World Championships. In the last grand prix event in Belgium, the senior driver in the Mercedes GP team stormed from a 24th place start to cross the line 5th on race day. Michael Schumacher's teammate Nico Rosberg will start the Italian Grand Prix one position behind in 9th place ahead of Lotus Renault GP driver Bruno Senna.

Holding the 62nd Italian Grand Prix on the Formula 1 schedule, the Monza road course will get underway at 2 PM local time (8 AM Eastern time). Weather forecast for Sunday predicts the race will be an affair taking place under a very hot day.

2011 Formula 1

Italian Grand Prix

Starting Grid

1. 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing
2. 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren
3. 4 Jenson Button McLaren
4. 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari
5. 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing
6. 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari
7. 10 Vitaly Petrov Lotus Renault GP
8. 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP
9. 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
10. 9 Bruno Senna Lotus Renault GP
11. 15 Paul di Resta Force India
12. 14 Adrian Sutil Force India
13. 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams F1
14. 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams F1
15. 17 Sergio Perez Sauber
16. 18 Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso
17. 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber
18. 19 Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso
19. 20 Jarno Trulli Team Lotus
20. 21 Heikki Kovalainen Team Lotus
21. 24 Timo Glock Marussia Virgin Racing
22. 25 Jérôme D’Ambrosio Marussia Virgin Racing
23. 22 Daniel Ricciardo HRT F1
24. 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT F1

Monza Madness as Alonso Takes Ferrari to Italian GP Win

Photo Credit: Andrew Ferraro/ LAT Photographic

Six races remaining in the 2010 Formula 1 schedule, the series' top-3 teams (Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull Racing) have shown incredible parity with each other. Though Mark Webber delivered Red Bull Racing a second after the last race at the Belgium Grand Prix, the team's Renault-engined car appeared to have suffered a speed shortage on the low-downforce circuit. While the McLaren's Mercedes engine was rumoured to be down on power since the season's first race at Bahrain, a new rear wing and diffuser design allowed the British team to equalize pace with the high-horsepower Ferraris.

With Italy associated as Ferrari's home territory, the hearts of the Italian auto racing fans probably skipped a beat when the prancing horse's driver Fernando Alonso soared to supremecy in qualifying Saturday afternoon. Taking the grid the pole position, the Spanard's Ferrari would be overtaken on the start by fellow front row sitter Jenson Button. As the one McLaren-Mercedes shot to the Italian Grand Prix's early lead, the other team car would not make it past the first lap. 2008 F1 drivers champion Lewis Hamilton collided with the #7 Ferrari of Felipe Massa resulting in a suspension break which saw Hamilton's Italian Grand Prix end in the gravel. Admitting fault in being over-anxious on the first lap, Hamilton said on his official website “I was trying to position the car in a certain way, I was too close to Felipe, and his left rear clipped my right front. The car was damaged after that, and there was nothing I could do; you try your best, but some things just don’t go your way". Felipe Massa was more fortunate as his Ferrari continued competitively after the contact.

As the green flew for the Italian Grand Prix, the Red Bull Racing squad found the race to be a consistent struggle as both Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were out of touch with the top-3 runners all day. After setting fast time during a Friday practice, Vettel found through the weaker effort his Saturday qualifying that his Renault engine could have been down on power. Changing the powerplant prior to the grand prix start, the pace of Vettel's car was more hindered by a brake issue during the race. At one point, Sebastian Vettel allowed Red Bull teammate Mark Webber by for than 5th place.

In regards to Mark Webber's pass on Sebastian Vettel, there was at least one allegation leveled by Speed channel reporter implying team order might have been communicated indirectly to Vettel. This speculation was based on Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner's apparent endorsement of team orders after an FIA ruling where no further penalties were levied against Ferrari for an incident in the German Grand Prix late July. While team orders for determining the outcome of Formula 1 races had been strictly forbidden, Ferrari's judging was said to be a "presedent" by Horner as the FIA did not punish the Italian team further for the German Grand Prix outcome. As Mark Webber is better positioned in the 2010 Formula 1 driver's championship where the 5th spot would help the Australian Webber, team orders were neither confirmed or denied on that occasion.

While Jenson Button held onto the Italian Grand Prix lead, Alonso Ferrari maintained a very tight interval on the rear of the Mercedes-powered McLaren. Unable to completely break away from Alonso, a lap 39 pit stop by the Scuderia Ferrari team proved a deciding factor the Italian Grand Prix. Thanks to an ultra-fast pit stop by the Ferrari crew, Alonso was launched out of pit road ahead of Button's McLaren-Mercedes. Fernando Alonso's trademark skill on cold tires sustained his position at the front. In fact, Button narrowly avoided losing the runner-up position to the other Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

As the top-3 maintained their position at the finish, Alonso won at 2.9 seconds on Button with Brazil's Massa rounding out the podium for the Italian Grand Prix. With Ferrari's 1st and 3rd at Monza the Italian supporters, known throughout Formula 1 as the tifosi, allowed horns to blare on the air and applause echo through the trees of the Monza landscape.

In distant but hard fought 4th place, Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel recorded the finish thanks to some pit stop strategy that recalled the German driver late in the race for his tire change. Nico Rosberg in 5th led the factory Mercedes GP team taking the position late from Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber. Rosberg said in post-race “Fifth place was an ok result today except for losing the place to Sebastian at the end there. It was a tough fight and I was pushing to the maximum throughout the race, firstly with Robert at the start and then with Sebastian towards the end.

Finishing 6th, Webber was able to make opportunity from the somewhat off-colour effort as the Australian retook the driver championship point led from Lewis Hamilton. Williams F1 Nico Hulkenberg, Renault's Robert Kubica, Mercedes GP's Michael Schumacher and the 2009 Italian Grand Prix winner Rubens Barrichello in a second Williams-Cosworth were 7th through 10th at Monza.
Following the 2010 Italian Grand Prix, the season's point standings are dramatically reshaped. Lewis Hamilton's zero-point day as result of his early retirement allowed Mark Webber to emerge 5 points in front for the Formula 1 driver's points. Fernando Alonso's win with Ferrari was the first time since 2006, the Spanish driver gained 20 points on the leader in the Formula 1 drivers championship. Alonso is only 21 points behind Mark Webber but Jenson Button is only 1 point behind him in 4th place in the standings. Salvaging a decent finish from a difficult race, Vettel's points gain allowed him to stand only 2 points behind Button.


2010 Formula 1
Italian Grand Prix
Race Results

1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari
4. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
6. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
7. Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth
8. Robert Kubica Renault F1
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 F1
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
21. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth
22. Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth
23. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
24. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari