Five Talking points of the Italian GP

For the second time in a row, the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel cruised to the chequered flag winning his sixth race of the season at the Cathedral of Speed, Monza. His closest rival in the race and in the championship, Fernando Alonso, finished second managing to keep the second Red Bull of Mark Webber behind him in third place. Though some late issues with the gear shift could have proved to be a problem, Vettel and Red Bull hung on to take another step towards their fourth Driver’s and Constructor’s Championship respectively.

Here are the talking points at the 2013 Italian GP

One hand on the Fourth Title?

Sebastian Vettel after winning the Italian GP

With this win at Monza, Vettel is comfortably headed for another title. He might not have to wait till Brazil to clinch the title. Although he began the race with a lock up at the first chicane, Vettel was lucky that to pass through without any damage to his car while there was carnage behind him. Vettel once again started pulling away from the rest of the pack and never looked in trouble.

The lone pit stop was perfectly timed and though the Red Bulls weren’t the fastest on the speed trap, Vettel managed to set a couple of fastest laps through to the chequered flag. There were some nervous moments in the final stages of the race when his team asked him to short shift on the gears and keep a check on the front tyres but the two time race winner at Monza managed to keep it steady and win with a 5.4 seconds margin over Alonso. The Red Bull and Vettel domination might be starting to get a bit boring, not to forget the continuing booing at podiums, but both the team and the driver seem to be unfazed about the criticism.

End of the road for Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton?

Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso might be the only contender to give Sebastian Vettel a fight for the Driver’s Championship. The other two drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton, who could have fought for the top spot seem to have lost the battle at Monza with just 7 races left to catch up with Vettel. Alonso who kept his cool in the Ferrari, managed to overtake Webber in the first few laps before getting an easy pass through by teammate Felipe Massa for second place.

The race was a disaster for Raikkonen who finished 11^th and Hamilton who salvaged 9^th place after both of them finished outside the top 10 in qualifying. Raikkonen’s lock up and damage to the Lotus’s front wing at the start didn’t help the Finn for the rest of the race, though he kept pushing the car clocking fastest laps in quick successions. Hamilton, on the other hand, had a puncture (which resulted in an extra pit-stop), a failed radio and a not so fast Mercedes to contend with.

The race result means Vettel now has a cushion of 53 points over Alonso, 81 over Hamilton and 88 over Raikkonen. If any of the three drivers want to win the Championship, they need to do something next to impossible or wait for Vettel and Red Bull to have some terrible bad luck.

Hulk stands tall for Sauber

Nico Rosberg in the Sauber had a great finish at the Italian GP

With the rumours of his candidature for a seat at Ferrari (after the expected exit of Felipe Massa) doing the rounds in the paddock at Monza, Nico Hulkenberg did his reputation no harm by qualifying sixth on Saturday and then taking an unexpected yet fully deserved fifth place for the Sauber-Ferrari.

Hulkenberg took everyone by surprise on Saturday as well as Race day as he kept the momentum going in the race, much to the delight of team principal Monisha Kaltenborn (the lady with Indian connection) and the Sauber team. He managed to keep himself clean on the first corner and managed to keep Nico Rosberg behind in the Mercedes; in the process giving himself and his team a much awaited top five finish and the best performance of the year yet.

Ricciardo gearing up for 2014

Daniel Ricciardo finished seventh for Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo is trying hard to prove his worth before he heads off to Red Bull in 2014. The talented Aussie was the fastest on the track with his Scuderia Toro Rosso, touching 340.4 km/hr in the speed trap all throughout the weekend.

Thanks to the straight line speed of the STR8, he was able get a top ten qualifying run along with his teammate and managed to hang on and finish the race in 7^th place, equalling his best performance in China. He is currently 13^th in the driver’s tally with 18 points, just behind Sergio Perez (Mclaren-Mercedes).

Force India’s jinx continues

Adrian Sutil in the Sahara Force India

Force India haven’t been able to shake off their jinx that saw them leave Spa with no points. The significant dip in the performance would have made the flamboyant Vijay Mallya pull his hair out. Things started to look ominous in free practice (FP3) when Paul di Resta went off the track with an over-steer that led to a broken brake disc. Next, Adrian Sutil was penalised with a three place grid penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton (who was on a timed lap) in qualifying

Paul di Reista was out of the race in the very first lap after he crashed his VJM06 into the right rear wheel of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus damaging his own left front wheel and the front of his car. Finally, a terrible weekend ended with Sutil retiring from the race in 13th place with a lap to go with brake problems. The team thought it was wise enough for Sutil to stall the car in the pits, prompted by the FP3 incident. Force India has just scored 2 points (at Spa) since their last double points finish at Silverstone and have had a disappointing run in the second half of the season, a season that showed a lot of promise until July.