As the light starts to wane here, the sun has also set on the European leg of the season, teams and drivers now preparing for the voyage into the exotic fly-away concluding races of the season. As the championship rolls closer to the finale in Brazil the hopes of catching and defeating the all dominant Vettel are becoming increasingly unlikely as the German Bloke refuses to stop winning - we've been in that position before when a German in red car was enjoying a similar exercise of destroying the field.
Today saw a race of two halves, an opening section doused in excitement and a little bit of destruction topped off in the latter segment with serenity and stability, all of which for the most part was going on a long way behind the run-away leader. Very similar in fashion to the GP2 races which had some opening stint contact and racing before settling in for the run home - which in all occasions seemed to kick in around the half-way point. As for the other support action, well Eurosport once again has made a complete fool of itself - I think they've completely failed to realised there are two GP3 races this weekend and will show the second one at 23:20 Boo and Hiss in large amounts, I thought I was supposed to be the baddie.
But Panto audience participation aside there was a race of missed opportunities, misfortune and a little bit of carnage to pick our way through - so here we go...
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| Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk |
The Race
On the run up to another race on a significantly high speed circuit, there were more concerns and recommendations regarding camber and the maximum angle the teams could run to remain with the safe operating conditions of the tyre. The stricter controls avoided blistering in qualifying and less whining on the grid, the only issues affected Rosberg who was allowed to start on a different set as a result of damage to the originals.
The start line was a wash with anticipation before the beginning of what promised to be an outstanding race, with the exception of Spa the start of the races has been drama free, drivers taking a conservative approach waiting for the DRS to make up ground. But with the tight opening corner there was still going to be a risk, both the GP2 races saw contact in the Reatfilio on the first attempt. The car were sitting there waiting for those all important lights to go out - one light box fortunately I wasn't in control of - and they didn't have long to wait.
Each of the top three cars got away better than the car in front, and all managed to converge into the same piece of tarmac Button was boxed in as a Ferrari swept to the inside. Running three wide down the main straight with Alonso to the inside, Hamilton in the Middle and that German Bloke on the outside. Fernando had wheels on the grass as they tried to make room for each other, with luck and probably some skill they survived with Alonso taking the lead.
Luck was not the order of the day towards the back where, Liuzzi couldn't find some breathing space and put his wheels on the grass, which unsettled the car sending it spinning down the grass towards the rest of the field. Wing Commander Petrov couldn't apply evasive manoeuvres as the out of control HRT slammed into the Renault Squadron machine. Vitaly was propelled into the side of Rosberg while Rubens was pinned in between the three damaged but could restart. Inevitably the Safety Car was brought onto the track while the mayhem was cleaned up.
At the restart Hamilton had dropped too far off the back of Vettel in front - allowing Michael to get a run on the McLaren deploying the superior speed to blast past and into third, while Webber passed Button. On the next lap both Red Bull cars were on the attack on the respective Ferraris in front of them - Mark had a go at Massa which didn't end well, Webber found himself without a front wing and Felipe facing the wrong way. At the head of the field Vettel did a more complete job, launching the car round the outside of Fernando in Curva Grande using some grass on the exit to complete the pass. It would be the last time anyone would see the German Bloke as he vanished into the distance.
In a lap of contrasting fortunes for Red Bull things went from bad to worse for Mark Webber, with the dislodged front wing wedged under the nose of the car he went straight off on the entry to the Parabolica unable to stop the car bumping into the barrier. The first retirement for Webber since Korea last year which was also damage related.
Elsewhere an epic battle was developing between Michael Schumacher and Hamilton - the McLaren tried everything to find a way past but the Older German Bloke could still remember how to keep a car behind. He had the significant advantage in straight line speed to fend off a DRS charge with a simple application of KERs. Lewis did find a way through on the main straight but, it was only temporary as the Mercedes just powered round the outside in Curva Grande as Button joined the fight. After some more laps of dicing Hamilton looked up the inside in the same corner Michael re-passed him only to find the door forcefully slammed as Lewis took evasive action on the grass. Costing him a lot of speed, and a place to Button.
It was now Jenson's turn to wage war against the German, McLaren taking a tag-team approach to defeat the Mercedes. Button unleashed the passing prowess he has built up this season and on the first time of asking he found some space round the outside of Ascari and Schumacher couldn't fight it on ailing tyres. Before the round of pit stops began. Allowing things to calm down for a while.
Positions remained stable towards the front, Vettel was in a different dimension so things were more competitive further back. Alonso was rather alone in second as Schumacher had bought the lead two some time, with Button in third. Hamilton completed his stop and found himself once more behind his favourite Mercedes ready for another round of duelling with the German - exercising unnatural amounts of caution and precision. Will have to note that down - Hamilton doesn't hit anyone. But the battle was short-lived as Michael missed a gear on the run to Ascari allowing Lewis easily through, a slightly disappointing end to the fight.
Elsewhere, once again off camera Jaime El Incognito was living up to his title and slipped undetected into the points along with his team-mate, Di Resta and remaining Renault Squadron member Senna. But at the other end of the fortune scale were Sauber - One Stop Perez stopped once, alas it was at the side of the road with gearbox issues. The same problem also struck down team-mate Kobayashi who was on for some bonus points and close to some less important actual points. Mechanical dramas had also claimed Sutil and D'Ambrosio - an unusually high rate of attrition, possible related to the high temperatures and the specific demand of the track.
Throughout the field gaps were building between cars, with few battles developing - after an opening half of action and overtaking the race had settled down into an rather quiet event. Button however was running against the tide of cars settling for their position and had made inroads into Alonso in front, who was slower on the harder compound tyres. It was only a matter of time before he was caught by the McLaren, the lack of traction Fernando had in the Ferrari allowed Button to get a run out of Retafilio and up the inside of Curva Grande to take the place - not Fernando's favourite corner today clearly.
Vettel was the next car up the road from Jenson but he would need several more race distances and a rocket powered McLaren to even make an impression, so that was the end of Jenson's charge for the day. In fact it pretty much spelled the end of the racing action everywhere, Senna managed to pass Buemi but that was all. Hamilton closed on Fernando but couldn't get quite close enough to make a pass onto the podium. But it just seemed fair to leave one Ferrari up there for the Tifosi to shout at the podium celebrations.
Somewhere, in an alternate universe perhaps - a space so far in the lead you'd be closer to finding Narnia than finding second place. And it was in this space that Vettel existed crossing the line uncontested in an utterly dominant victory, Button was a rather lonely 2nd with Alonso holding off Hamilton for 3rd. After finally losing out to the two McLarens Schumacher came home 5th, realistically the best result for the Mercedes. Massa recovered to 6th, the bottom of division one, illustrating the void to division two and the wedge of cars eliminated early on. Outside division one came Jaime Alguersuari, from 18th to being the best of the mid-field is another great drive. Paul Di Resta held off Senna for 8th while Buemi rounded out the points in 10th.
The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners
Deciding the points for this race was a challenging task because outside the opening 20 laps the race did sort of die off with the cars too spaced out. Thus eliminating the chances for drivers to really make a charge and do anything really worth bonus points. I suppose days like this are why the FIA use their inferior scoring system giving points for being faster or something. But I shall not be defeated here are the winners from the Italian GP.
10pts - Jaime El Incognito, it may have been off camera as usual but Jaime did move from 18th to 7th mostly in that opening phase.
8pts - Michael Schumacher, for being very entertaining and making the first stint brilliant racing with both McLarens, that's what you get points for
6pts - Sebastien Vettel, I suppose I have to after that ridiculously dominant today with a brilliant pass to regain the lead after the restart
5pts - Jenson Button - for once again being resilient making more passes beating the theoretically faster Hamilton. Staking a strong claim as team leader
4pts - Fernando Alonso - for a brilliant start and precision to avoid a major wreck on the main straight
3pts - Lewis Hamilton - for remarkable restraint, no crazed lunges and no visit to the stewards office
2pts - Vitantonio Liuzzi, two point was his bowling score for turn one so here are your points Tonio
1pt - Felipe Massa - for being first in queue for the commandeered Team Lotus toilet
The Also Official Penalties Championship
Oddly enough there were no penalties, despite some turn one bowling and questionable defence from Schumacher - no-one was given an actual penalty, and I don't think I missed any. I suppose that really summed up the race - entertaining but orderly - a little too orderly towards the end. Even in GP2 things were oddly orderly. But I think next race could well make up for that.
The Still Official Dubious Dealings Championship
Again things were rather orderly, everyone had been very well behaved - even the drivers were stealing the Lotus Team's toilet were queueing while raiding the amenities, probably Massa's only pole position all season. But there is one penalty point which has to be handed out and that goes once again to Eurosport for making a complete mess of the support race coverage. Fools.
Looking ahead to Singapore
From one extreme to the other, moving away from the massive speeds of Monza with the shortest race time of the season off to the longest race of the year in the confines of the Singapore Marina Bay street track. The most unique and spectacular event of the season, the layout may not be as awe inspiring as Spa or as traditional as Silverstone. But under the lights in the Eastern darkness, the cars glisten and the sparks glow under the night sky.
As a member of the influx of tracks joining the season in recent years, Singapore is one of the most impressive new venues and provides exciting and unpredictable racing as is always the way of street tracks. Darting between the walls and under the flyovers the first leg of the concluding races of the year beyond Europe on the illuminated streets is the perfect way to start the run home in spectacular style. It may be new but the Singapore GP has already earned it's place on the list of races to look forward to in a season.
From looking at my statistics, there is a decent number of page views coming from Singapore so it's nice to be covering a home race for a quantity of the people who read this - even more reason to look forward to the brilliant Singapore Grand Prix in a fortnights time
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