Sebastian Vettel starting from pole position became the youngest Grand Prix winner at Monza and puts his Torro Rosso team ahead of Red Bull by just one point in the constructor’s championship. Vettel’s teammate Sebastien Bourdais secured a well placed grid position at fourth but stalled on the grid and was forced to start from the pit-lane.
“A fantastic race, a fantastic weekend with pole as well and a fantastic strategy this afternoon. As for the podium ceremony it was unbelievable and this is the best day of my life.I will never forget these feelings. It is so unbelievable. It is better than I had ever expected. A big thank you to everyone in the team for their great work. After a poor start to the season, we got better and better. Maybe in today’s conditions, we could close the gap with a bit more effort or by staying on the throttle a bit longer. I’m speechless,” said the ecstatic German driver.
Vettel seemed to be in good shape from the get go for the 53-lap race as he was able to secure a two second lead over McLaren Mercedes driver Heikki Kovalainen after the second lap. Kovalainen would eventually finish second, securing eight points for his team.
BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica, who finished third, and Renault ace Fernando Alonso, finishing fourth, battled their way from 11th and 8th on the grid, respectively. With Hamilton finishing at a dismal sixth, Kubica has his championship gap to 14 points.
“I’m very happy to finish on the podium today! Yesterday qualifying was difficult when I was the first one not to make it into the top ten. The only advantage of this was I could choose my race strategy, and we decided to go for just one stop with a very long first stint. At the start the visibility was really bad. When the Safety Car went in after two laps, I overtook Nick before the first chicane without even seeing him. It was really dangerous. Then I was able to drive at my own pace, but towards the end of my first stint I was having problems with the tyres, obviously because the car had been very heavy. We were then lucky with our pit stop, because it was just the right time to change to intermediate tires. From then on I was easily able to control my position on the track. Third place was a well-deserved reward for the whole team.
Congratulations to Sebastian and the Toro Rosso Team for winning here today!” said Kubica.
“I am very happy. The result today is very good because Monza was supposed to be the race that we were looking forward to the least. We made up the five points that we needed in our championship fight, which is really rewarding and a big source of motivation for the rest of the season,” explains Alonso.
For the third straight race Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen has failed to score any points as he finished ninth, just one spot away from the final point position. Ferrari however still retains their lead in the constructor’s championship, but with scoring 10 points McLaren Mercedes has cut that gap to just five points.