Vettel closes in on title after Monza victory

Sebastian Vettel performs a magnificent overtake on Fernando Alonso as he wins the Italian Grand Prix.

Runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel drove a controlled and mature race to take his eighth win of the season at Monza, meaning he can now win the world championship at the next round, in Singapore, with still six races remaining. McLaren’s Jenson Button was second, while Fernando Alonso pleased Ferrari’s home fans with third.

It wasn’t easy going for Vettel at the start though, as Hamilton got a good start and almost passed him, but Alonso made another sublime start from fourth into the lead, which was met with much appreciation from the Ferrari fans. Tonio Liuzzi put a wheel on the grass in the run to turn 1, but went spinning wildly across the grass, and upon rejoining track, he hit Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov. All 3 had to retire, while the safety car was inevitably deployed.

Alonso leads into Turn 1, while Liuzzi goes backwards

Upon the safety car restart, Hamilton was caught napping, and Schumacher, who had made another great start, was up to 3^rd. However, the major excitement came when Sebastian Vettel pulled out a beautiful move a few laps later to pass Fernando Alonso on the outside of the Curva Grande. Meanwhile, on lap 4, Mark Webber made a move on Felipe Massa into turn 1. Webber outbraked himself and came into contact with the Ferrari. He lost his front wing, which became stuck under his car. He would retire on that lap.

Michael Schumacher was now up to 3^rd and doing a great job. However, the only reason that Lewis Hamilton was behind him was the Mercedes’ incredible straight line speed. It was a fabulous battle between the pair, and Schumacher defended very well. Later on, Schumacher made a controversial move where he appeared to force Hamilton onto the grass, causing his team mate Button to get by. Hamilton and Schumacher had been battling from Lap 3 to lap 18, however it took Button just one lap to get past for third. Schumacher was the first of the three to pit, and retained fourth, sandwiched in between the two McLarens.

Vettel has the title in sight, while Alonso moves into 2nd

Later on in the race, Hamilton finally got past Schumacher, while Button passed Alonso for 2^nd. Hamilton was now charging and was right with the Ferrari on the last lap, but Alonso just held off for the podium. Vettel, Button and Alonso were on the podium, while Hamilton and Schumacher were 4^th and 5^th. Felipe Massa was 6^th, Jaime Alguersuari 7^th, Paul di Resta 8^th, Bruno Senna scored his first ever f1 points with 9^th, and Sebastien Buemi was 10^th.

Vettel now leads the championship by 112 points over Alonso, with just 125 remaining. Alonso is 5 ahead of Button and Webber, who are 9 ahead of Hamilton.

Pictures from F1Fanatic