Vettel Wins in Monza

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel survived a number of small issues to take his sixth win of the season in the Formula 1 Gran Premio d'Italia 2013 in Monza on Sunday afternoon. 

Vettel, having held on to his lead from pole position, was never in danger as he eased away at the front. It did seem though, at one stage, Fernando Alonso threatened to close the gap (ahead of the pit stops) but the German's opening laps on the hard compound tyre (at the start of the second stint) ensured that he retained a cozy and comfortable lead. Sebastian Vettel eased home by 5.4 seconds after slowing in the final laps. Nerves started playing on the pit wall as Vettel was ordered to look after his front tyres and gearbox, but the Red Bull barely missed a beat as it took the reigning world champion to his sixth victory in 2013.

In the second half of the race teammate Mark Webber fought back and put Alonso under pressure (until he was also told to start short-shifting in lower gears by the pit wall) and he had also struggled with front wing damage. But at the checkered flag, the Australian was still less than a second behind the Ferrari. With Felipe Massa in a distant fourth.

Though Massa came in fourth, Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg closed to within a second on the final lap after another very impressive performance. Nico Rosberg finished sixth while Daniel Ricciardo proved to Red Bull his potential for next year with a seventh-place finish ahead of Romain Grosjean. 

It was a tough race for Lewis Hamilton as his race strategy was upset by a slow puncture and a failed radio in his Mercedes’ on the 12th lap, and thus had to make two pit stops to almost everybody else’s one. 

As for Kimi Raikkonen, he ran into the back of Sergio Perez (who ended the race 12th) at the start of the race meaning he also had to make an unscheduled pit stop, and was unable to to score any points as Jenson Button held him off for 10th place. 

Behind Perez in 12th, fellow Mexican Esteban Gutierrez brought his Sauber home ahead of the Williams duo of Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas. A little further back Charles Pic managed to come home ahead of Caterham team mate Giedo van der Garde, as Jules Bianchi led home Marussia team mate Max Chilton.

It was a terrible race for Force India, with Paul di Resta a first-lap casualty after running into the back of Grosjean at the second chicane and Adrian Sutil retiring on the penultimate lap when running behind the Hamilton/Raikkonen battle. Jean-Eric Vergne had kept Button and Hamilton at bay in the early stages until a transmission problem on his Toro Rosso put him out on the 15th lap.

Sebastian Vettel	Winner
Fernando Alonso	Second
Mark Webber	Third
Felipe Massa	P4
Nico Hülkenberg	P5
Nico Rosberg	P6
Daniel Ricciardo	P7
Romain Grosjean	P8
Lewis Hamilton	P9
Jenson Button	P10
Kimi Räikkönen	P11
Sergio Perez	P12
Esteban Gutiérrez	P13
Pastor Maldonado	P14
Valtteri Bottas	P15
Adrian Sutil	P16
Charles Pic	P17
Giedo van der Garde	P18
Jules Bianchi	P19
Max Chilton	P20
Jean-Éric Vergne	Retired (Transmission)
Paul di Resta	Retired (Accident)

Note - Sutil qualified 14th but was penalised three grid spots for impeding Lewis Hamilton during Q2.