The 2012 Italian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Gran Premio Santander d'Italia 2012) was the thirteenth race of the 2012 Formula One Season. It took place at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on 9 September 2012. It was the 63rd consecutive running of the Italian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship and the 62nd on the Monza circuit.
After his accident the previous race, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean was given a one-race ban and was replaced by third driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio
Pole position was taken by McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton, ahead of teammate Jenson Button. Third-placed Felipe Massa had his best qualifying result since the same race two years previously. His Ferrari teammate, Fernando Alonso, topped the first two sessions of qualifying before a problem meant the Spaniard only qualified in tenth place. Red Bull experienced a difficult qualifying, with Sebastian Vettel obtaining fifth on the grid with Mark Webber exiting in Q2.
Hamilton won the race with relative ease, only troubled by a strong-performing Sergio Pérez once Button had retired with fuel pressure issues. Pérez, having started twelfth on the grid, used the opposite tyre strategy to the rest of the drivers, was able to easily carve his way through the field in the second half of the race, finishing within five seconds of Hamilton. Alonso finished third, helped up a place by his teammate, who finished in fourth. Red Bull's race was even worse than qualifying; Vettel received a drive-through penalty before retiring towards the end of the race with alternator failure and Webber retired after flat-spotting all of his tyres and crashing.
Alonso's championship lead was extended to 37 points as a result of the race, with Hamilton taking second in the championship, one point ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and two ahead of Vettel. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren closed the gap to Red Bull to 29 points.
Background[]
Tyres Available | |||
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Option | Prime | Inter | Wet |
Going into the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso lead the Drivers' Championship by 24 points over Sebastian Vettel, and Red Bull-Renault lead the Constructors' competition by 54 points ahead of McLaren-Mercedes.
The Monza circuit is unchanged from the layout used in 2011, and there are still two DRS zones.
The event was set to be a 50th career start for Vitaly Petrov, and 100th race for Pedro de la Rosa.
Lotus-Renault driver Romain Grosjean was suspended for this race, as a result of causing a first corner incident at the previous race. He was be replaced by Jérôme d'Ambrosio. Kevin Korjus became Lotus's backup driver for the weekend.
Pastor Maldonado was set to receive two five place grid penalties, one for being unable to serve his penalty in the previous race for jumping the start due to damage on his car that caused him to retire; the second for causing a collision with Timo Glock.
Emanuele Pirro served as the racing driver on board the stewards panel for the weekend. Pirro had competed in Formula One from 1989 through to 1991 racing for the Benetton and Scuderia Italia teams. Pirro however saw more success as a sports car racer winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times and being a double world champion of the American Le Mans series.
Entry list[]
The full entry list for the 2012 Italian Grand Prix is shown below:
Practice[]
FP1[]
In the first practice session Ma Qing Hua stood in for Narain Karthikeyan for HRT, becoming the first Chinese driver to participate at a Grand Prix weekend. Jules Bianchi replaced Paul di Resta at Force India whilst Valtteri Bottas stood in for Bruno Senna at Williams.
It was the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher that set the fastest time of the session closely followed by the McLaren of Belgium winner Jenson Button, teammate Nico Rosberg and the Ferrari of championship leader Fernando Alonso. Alonso notably stopped out on track with mechanical sessions late in the session.
Schumacher, Button, Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen had notable minor offs when they hit the speed bumps at the chicanes. Raikkonen had the biggest off of all when his car hit one of the speed bumbs which proceeded to launch his car into the air. His Lotus suffered some minor damage which forced him to the pits for a new front wing. Raikkonen's new teammate Jerome d'Ambrosio, the replacement for regular driver Romain Grosjean performed admirably pacing his car quicker than Raikkonen for much of the session until he began focussing on long-distance runs where he finished the session 14th.
The Red Bull cars did not display any particular speed with Mark Webber finishing the session 9th and Sebastian Vettel finishing 11th. However they were suspected to be doing long-distance runs for much of the session.
Chinese driver Ma, in his second opportunity to drive an F1 car after the 2012 Young Driver Test, finished last and three seconds off the pace of regular driver Pedro de la Rosa in the HRT. Other third drivers participating in the session saw Valtteri Bottas finish the session 13th, three places behind teammate Pastor Maldonado in the Williams whilst Jules Bianchi finished the session 16th, four places behind Force India teammate Nico Hülkenberg.
FP2[]
McLaren continued to look quick in the second practice session with Lewis Hamilton leading the way with teammate Jenson Button just behind him. On home turf the Ferrari team ended the session 3rd and 4th. Fernando Alonso edged out his teammate Felipe Massa, however Alonso's session was limited to 17 laps as he was suffering from brake issues and then a suspected gearbox failure.
Nico Rosberg finished the session in 5th whilst Mercedes teammate Michael Schumacher finished the session in 10th. At theLotus team Kimi Räikkönen finished the session in 6th whilst teammate Jérôme d'Ambrosio finished in 12th.
The HRT of Narain Karthikeyan finished the session slightly early with a mechanical failure, therefore finishing the session in last place behind teammate Pedro de la Rosa.
FP3[]
For the second practice session in a row, Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver on track. However close behind him was the Tifosi's home favourite Fernando Alonso who had led the drivers for most of the session until Hamilton beat him by a tenth of a second.
Paul di Resta finished an impressive third in the session in his Force India whilst the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa was 4th followed by the McLaren of Jenson Button. At Mercedes, Nico Rosberg finished the session 6th, his teammate Michael Schumacher however did not fair as well. Schumacher suffered a KERS failure early in the session which left him handicapped to finish the session 14th. Likewise the Red Bull team appeared to struggle with Mark Webber finishing the session 11th and Sebastian Vettel finishing 12th. Vettel suffered a suspected electrics failure in the dying minutes of the session.
Practice Results[]
No. | Driver | Team | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pos | Time | Pos | Time | Pos | Time | ||||||
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 11 | 1:26.508 | 13 | 1:26.394 | 12 | 1:25.406 | |||
2 | Mark Webber | 9 | 1:26.390 | 11 | 1:26.104 | 11 | 1:25.389 | ||||
3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 2 | 1:25.723 | 2 | 1:25.328 | 5 | 1:24.994 | |||
4 | Lewis Hamilton | 6 | 1:25.944 | 1 | 1:25.290 | 1 | 1:24.578 | ||||
5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 4 | 1:25.800 | 3 | 1:25.348 | 2 | 1:24.579 | |||
6 | Felipe Massa | 5 | 1:25.861 | 4 | 1:25.430 | 4 | 1:24.909 | ||||
7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1 | 1:25.444 | 10 | 1:26.094 | 14 | 1:25.563 | |||
8 | Nico Rosberg | 3 | 1:25.762 | 5 | 1:25.446 | 6 | 1:25.036 | ||||
9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 7 | 1:26.046 | 6 | 1:25.504 | 8 | 1:25.255 | |||
10 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio | 15 | 1:27.180 | 12 | 1:26.157 | 17 | 1:25.973 | ||||
11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | DNP | 7 | 1:25.546 | 3 | 1:24.849 | ||||
Jules Bianchi | 16 | 1:7.192 | DNP | DNP | |||||||
12 | Nico Hülkenberg | 12 | 1:26.518 | 8 | 1:25.547 | 9 | 1:25.289 | ||||
14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 14 | 1:26.746 | 16 | 1:26.730 | 15 | 1:25.689 | |||
15 | Sergio Pérez | 8 | 1:26.323 | 9 | 1:26.068 | 7 | 1:25.160 | ||||
16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 17 | 1:27.373 | 15 | 1:26.724 | 16 | 1:25.709 | |||
17 | Jean-Éric Vergne | 18 | 1:27.789 | 19 | 1:26.864 | 18 | 1:26.003 | ||||
18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 10 | 1:26.504 | 14 | 1:26.404 | 10 | 1:25.383 | |||
19 | Bruno Senna | DNP | 17 | 1:26.783 | 13 | 1:25.461 | |||||
Valtteri Bottas | 13 | 1:26.641 | DNP | DNP | |||||||
20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 19 | 1:27.855 | 18 | 1:26.841 | 19 | 1:26.657 | |||
21 | Vitaly Petrov | 20 | 1:28.578 | 20 | 1:27.222 | 20 | 1:27.267 | ||||
22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 23 | 1:29.331 | 23 | 1:28.575 | 24 | 1:28.384 | |||
23 | Narain Karthikeyan | DNP | 24 | 1:28.779 | 23 | 1:28.035 | |||||
Ma Qinghua | 24 | 1:31.239 | DNP | DNP | |||||||
24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 22 | 1:29.207 | 21 | 1:27.944 | 22 | 1:27.728 | |||
25 | Charles Pic | 21 | 1:28.751 | 22 | 1:27.968 | 21 | 1:27.454 |
Qualifying[]
Q1[]
As the first qualifying session commenced, it quickly became apparent that the Ferrari's were very quick. The team employed an unusual yet original tactic in which both Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were working together to slipstream each other down the straights to gain some extra speed within their lap. By the end of the session Alonso was the fastest man on track with Massa finishing 6th.
The McLaren's, having been quick all weekend, saw Lewis Hamilton finishing second ahead of teammate Jenson Button in second and third. Force India had also carried their speed over from Belgium with Paul di Resta finishing the session a strong 5th. Teammate Nico Hülkenberg, however, did not fare so well after suffering from fuel pressure issues which forced him to stop on track on his opening lap. Without setting a time this meant that he would have to start from the back of the grid.
The Lotus cars appeared to struggle with Kimi Räikkönen finishing the session 10th with teammate Jérôme d'Ambrosio barely making it into Q2, notably dueling with the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen.
Of those cars that were eliminated, Kovalainen led teammate Vitaly Petrov, followed by the Marussia's of Timo Glock and Charles Pic. Narain Karthikeyan who notably out qualified his HRT teammate Pedro de la Rosa for the first time. In 24th place was the lone Force India of Nico Hülkenberg.
Q2[]
Fernando Alonso continued to set the pace in the second qualifying session with teammate Felipe Massa finishing in fifth position. The Ferraris continuing to use their slipstreaming tactic to good effect. The McLarens continued to demonstrate speed with Jenson Button in second and Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Paul di Resta was able to split the McLarens by finishing a strong third in the session.
Further down the field, Red Bull was struggling. Sebastian Vettel only just made it into the final qualifying session in ninth. Teammate Mark Webber was not as lucky, and just failed to make it into the final qualifying session with another championship contender, the Lotus of Kimi Räikkönen knocking Webber down to eleventh and out of qualifying.
Raikkonen's teammate Jerome d'Ambrosio had struggled to make it out of Q1, and he continued to languish in the second qualifying session finishing in a disappointing 17th, sandwiched between the two Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Éric Vergne.
It was also a disappointing day for Sergio Pérez, who could not match his Sauber teammate Kamui Kobayashi, and was unable to make it into the final qualifying session ending the session in 13th place. The Williams team struggled as well with neither driver making into Q3 with Pastor Maldonado finishing the session 12th and Bruno Senna 14th.
Q3[]
As the final top ten shoot out in Q3 commenced, Ferrari had looked the favourites heading into the session with Fernando Alonso setting the pace in the first two qualifying sessions. The Ferraris of both Alonso and Felipe Massa exited the pits in unision once again to continue their slipstreaming tactic once again. Whilst Massa was able to get a good tow off Alonso on his flying lap to set a competitive lap time which would put him 3rd on the grid, his teammate Alonso struggled to put in a competitive lap time on the two runs he did. Alonso was the slowest car of the ten contenders in the session. The problem was later attributed to a faulty anti-roll bar which would leave him in a very disappointing tenth place on the grid.
The McLarens, however, were able to make use of Alonso's misfortune with Lewis Hamilton taking pole with Jenson Button right alongside on the front row. Paul di Resta had been demonstrating good pace throughout qualifying to finish fourth on the timing sheets.
The Mercedes cars finished fifth and seventh with Michael Schumacher leading Nico Rosberg. Splitting the two Mercedes cars was Sebastian Vettel who had done well to qualify sixth considering the poor performance of the Red Bull. It was a disappointing day for Kimi Räikkönen who was only able to put his Lotus in eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso.
Post-Qualifying[]
Pastor Maldonado, who would have started 12th on the grid, suffered a ten-place grid penalty pushing him down to 22nd. He had sustained two five-place grid penalties at the previous race in Belgium. The first was for not serving a drive-through penalty for jumping the start; a penalty he would have served had he not had a collision with Timo Glock that forced his retirement, the collision itself also warranting a five-place grid penalty.
Paul di Resta would have started in his highest ever grid position in 4th place, however, he received a five-place grid penalty after he was confirmed to have had an unscheduled change of his gearbox after the Friday Practice sessions.
Nico Hülkenberg was allowed to race by the stewards after not setting a time in Q1.
Qualifying Results[]
Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Grid | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pos | Time | Pos | Time | Pos | Time | ||||||||
1 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 2 | 1:24.211 | 4 | 1:24.394 | 1 | 1:24.010 | 1 | |||
2 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 3 | 1:24.672 | 2 | 1:24.255 | 2 | 1:24.133 | 2 | |||
3 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 6 | 1:24.882 | 5 | 1:24.505 | 3 | 1:24.247 | 3 | |||
4 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 5 | 1:24.875 | 3 | 1:24.345 | 4 | 1:24.304 | 9* | |||
5 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 12 | 1:25.302 | 7 | 1:24.675 | 5 | 1:24.540 | 4 | |||
6 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 7 | 1:25.011 | 9 | 1:24.687 | 6 | 1:24.802 | 5 | |||
7 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 4 | 1:24.689 | 6 | 1:24.515 | 7 | 1:24.833 | 6 | |||
8 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 10 | 1:25.151 | 10 | 1:24.742 | 8 | 1:24.855 | 7 | |||
9 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 13 | 1:25.317 | 8 | 1:24.683 | 9 | 1:25.109 | 8 | |||
10 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1 | 1:24.175 | 1 | 1:24.242 | 10 | 1:25.678 | 10 | |||
11 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 14 | 1:25.556 | 11 | 1:24.809 | 11 | |||||
12 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 8 | 1:25.103 | 12 | 1:24.820 | 22† | |||||
13 | 15 | Sergio Pérez | Sauber-Ferrari | 11 | 1:25.300 | 13 | 1:24.901 | 12 | |||||
14 | 19 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 9 | 1:25.135 | 14 | 1:25.042 | 13 | |||||
15 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 16 | 1:25.728 | 15 | 1:25.312 | 14 | |||||
16 | 10 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Lotus-Renault | 17 | 1:25.834 | 16 | 1:25.408 | 15 | |||||
17 | 17 | Jean-Éric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 15 | 1:25.649 | 17 | 1:25.441 | 16 | |||||
18 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 18 | 1:26.382 | 17 | |||||||
19 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 19 | 1:26.887 | 18 | |||||||
20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 20 | 1:27.039 | 19 | |||||||
21 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 21 | 1:27.073 | 20 | |||||||
22 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 22 | 1:27.441 | 21 | |||||||
23 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 23 | 1:27.669 | 23 | |||||||
24 | 12 | Nico Hülkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 24 | no time | 24‡ |
Notes
- * Paul di Resta (4th) was handed a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, and started ninth.
- † Pastor Maldonado (12th) was penalised ten places for two five-place grid penalties, one for jumping the start, the other for causing a collision, and started 22nd.
- ‡ Nico Hülkenberg (24th) failed to set a time in qualifying but was allowed to start the race.
Grid[]
Pos. | Pos. | |
---|---|---|
Driver | Driver | |
______________ | ||
Row 1 | 1 | ______________ |
Lewis Hamilton | 2 | |
______________ | Jenson Button | |
Row 2 | 3 | ______________ |
Felipe Massa | 4 | |
______________ | Michael Schumacher | |
Row 3 | 5 | ______________ |
Sebastian Vettel | 6 | |
______________ | Nico Rosberg | |
Row 4 | 7 | ______________ |
Kimi Räikkönen | 8 | |
______________ | Kamui Kobayashi | |
Row 5 | 9 | ______________ |
Paul di Resta* | 10 | |
______________ | Fernando Alonso | |
Row 6 | 11 | ______________ |
Mark Webber | 12 | |
______________ | Sergio Pérez | |
Row 7 | 13 | ______________ |
Bruno Senna | 14 | |
______________ | Daniel Ricciardo | |
Row 8 | 15 | ______________ |
Jérôme d'Ambrosio | 16 | |
______________ | Jean-Éric Vergne | |
Row 9 | 17 | ______________ |
Heikki Kovalainen | 18 | |
______________ | Vitaly Petrov | |
Row 10 | 19 | ______________ |
Timo Glock | 20 | |
______________ | Charles Pic | |
Row 11 | 21 | ______________ |
Narain Karthikeyan | 22 | |
______________ | Pastor Maldonado† | |
Row 12 | 23 | ______________ |
Pedro de la Rosa | 24 | |
______________ | Nico Hülkenberg‡ |
Notes:
- * Paul di Resta was handed a five place grid penalty for a change of gearbox.
- † Pastor Maldonado was handed a ten place grid penalty for jumping the start (five places) at the Belgian GP and for causing a collision (another five places) at the same race.
- ‡ Nico Hülkenberg failed to set a time in qualifying but was allowed to start the race.
Race[]
Report[]
At the start of the race, both the Ferraris made strong starts with Felipe Massa storming past the McLaren of Jenson Button for second place at the first corner whilst nearly overtaking the other McLaren of Lewis Hamilton for the lead. Fernando Alonso was able to make it up three places in the first lap passing the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi and the Force India of Paul di Resta to take seventh position.
The following lap Alonso was able to continue his charge by taking sixth place of the Lotus of Kimi Räikkönen. Teammate Massa had briefly been challenging Hamilton for the lead of the race but was gradually beginning to drop back and into the clutches of Button who had lost out to the Brazilian driver at the start of the race.
Michael Schumacher who was able to maintain position at the start of the race but his fourth place was now being severely hounded by the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel and the charging Ferrari of Alonso. Vettel was able to quicky dispose of his older compatriot on lap 4 down the pit straight with the assistance of DRS. Schumacher was able to keep Alonso behind him until lap 7 when he too was able to get past the German veteran.
Schumacher's teammate Rosberg was also struggling to hold off cars behind him while in eighth place. Rosberg was defending hard against Williams driver Bruno Senna, who had made a strong start to go from 14th on the grid to ninth place. However, while attempting to pass Rosberg around the outside on lap 5, Senna was forced off the circuit by the Mercedes driver taking to the escape road and subsequently dropping behind the Force India of Di Resta. Three laps later Senna found himself off the circuit once again whilst attempting to pass Di Resta in the same place as Rosberg. The two cars touched sending Senna into a spin, only to re-emerge in 13th place, behind the Red Bull of Mark Webber.
One lap later there was to be a third incident whilst heading down to turn 1. The Toro Rosso of Jean-Éric Vergne suffered a rear suspension failure sending him into an uncontrolled high speed spin down into turn 1, hitting the kerbs, causing his car to go airborne, before coming to a rest off the circuit. Vergne retired, luckily not taking out any other cars, but did suffer from a small bit of back pain.
Webber, who had been struggling all weekend, took until lap 11 to move his Red Bull into a points-paying position, passing the struggling Force India of Di Resta who had also recently dropped behind the charging Sauber of Sergio Pérez who had made his way up to seventh position after an early pit stop by the Mercedes of Rosberg.
Pérez, who had started in 12th position, was storming up the field, managing to fly past Räikkönen's Lotus around the outside of Variate Ascari to take sixth place, and moving into hot pursuit of Schumacher. Up at the front Hamilton had began to break away from the rest of the field as Massa appeared to be struggling to match the pace of the McLarens as Button was now all over the back of the Ferrari driver. On lap 19 Button was able to get by the ailing Ferrari making it a McLaren 1–2 at the front. Massa duly headed for the pits for new tyres, followed in a lap later by Alonso and the Red Bull of Vettel, the pair having been dueling for fourth place for many laps. Vettel, who had held fourth, entered and exited ahead of the Spaniard.
With many of the leading drivers entering the pits, Pérez, on the prime compound, was able to move into third position with the Williams of Senna and the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo both performing well. Pérez appeared to be competitive, setting similar pace to that of the leaders despite not pitting. This was in contrast to Senna and Ricciardo, both pitting, the latter after being passed by Massa, Vettel and Alonso in one lap.
The McLarens of Hamilton and Button pitted on lap 23 and 24, leaving Sergio Pérez to take the lead of the race on the harder tyre. Further back Vettel and Alonso continued to duel for position. Alonso made his move on Vettel on lap 26 attempting to go around the outside of Vettel at the Curva Grande, but Vettel, who had not appeared to see the Ferrari, forced him off the circuit. Alonso was barely able to keep control of his car, and re-emerged from the incident without damage.
Pérez dived into the pits on lap 29 for soft tyres after being passed by Hamilton. The same lap Alonso finally managed to get past the Red Bull of Vettel, and set off in pursuit of his Ferrari teammate Massa for third place.
Vettel was then handed a drive through penalty on lap 32 for forcing Alonso off the track. Vettel exited the pits after his penalty in seventh place, behind teammate Webber. Two laps later a chance for a McLaren 1–2 finish is ruined as Jenson Button pulls off the circuit with a fuel feed failure, which left the Ferraris of Massa and Alonso in second and third places.
The Sauber of Pérez had been lapping as the quickest driver on the circuit after making his way past the Lotus of Räikkönen for fifth place, putting him in pursuit of the two Ferraris once both Mercedes drivers had pitted for a second time. The same lap Vettel was able to get the better of teammate Webber for sixth place.
By lap 39, Pérez had continued his pace, lapping much quicker than both Ferraris and even the race leader Hamilton and was catching the cars ahead at a rapid pace. Massa proceeded to let through his teammate Fernando Alonso for second, allowing him to attempt to catch race leader Hamilton, and to help the Spaniard extend his Championship lead.
On lap 42, Pérez was able to easily dispose of Massa before moving on to attack the Ferrari number one of Alonso. Further down the field Vettel is found to have mechanical troubles.
On lap 46, Pérez is able to overtake Alonso, who didn't fight the Mexican too hard, and sets off in pursuit of Hamilton. The race leader however sits a further 12 seconds up the road. One lap later Vettel, whose alternator issues were causing him problems, was told to stop the car, ruining any chances for points and placing a dent in his championship ambitions. Red Bull's miserable day continued when sixth place Webber suffered a massive spin at Variate Ascari, barely keeping it out of the barriers, however this would be no consolation to him as he had dropped out of the points and into 11th place. The spin saw him suffer severe damage to his tyres which left them very badly flatspotted. Webber opted to retire the car one lap later due to the damage.
Hamilton, despite being caught by Pérez, is able to put in enough extra speed to win by four seconds, the Brit taking his third win of the season, and Pérez is third podium of the year. Alonso finished third ahead of teammate Massa who scored his best result of the season. Räikkönen finished 5th ahead of the two Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, followed by the second Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi, and then the Williams of Senna who was able to overtake the struggling Toro Rosso of Ricciardo on the last lap. Ricciardo also was passed by the other Williams of Pastor Maldonado the same lap, and finished twelfth. Jérôme D'Ambrosio finished a quiet race on the lead lap in thirteenth. The Caterhams of Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov finished a lap down in fourteenth and fifteenth, followed by the two Marussias, Charles Pic ahead of Timo Glock. The two remaining finishers were Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan, both drivers also one lap down. Webber was classified 20th, Nico Hülkenberg was classified 21st after retiring with brake issues and Vettel was classified 22nd.
Phil Prew McLaren team joined on the podium to receive the winning manufacturer's award.
Post-race[]
Both Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso had suffered dents in their championship ambitions after being forced to retire at Belgium in the first lap accident. In Italy, Alonso was able to increase his championship lead whilst Hamilton was able to move from fifth in the Drivers standings all the way up to second. Kimi Räikkönen had not displayed much pace at Italy yet was able to gain a position in the title standings after his 5th-place finish, moving to third.
The big losers in Italy was the Red Bull team. With retirements from the race by both drivers, Sebastian Vettel had gone from second in the Drivers Championship all the way down to fourth, whilst teammate Mark Webber had droped from third to fifth in the standings.
Belgian GP winner, Jenson Button, who had also retired, suffered the biggest championship dent of all however after since he was now 77 points behind championship leader Alonso meaning his chances of overtaking the Ferrari driver in the standings had dropped severely.
In the Constructors Standings, Hamilton's win and the double retirement of Red Bull meant that McLaren was able to take a 25-point deficit out of Red Bull's lead in the championship, now only 29 points behind the championship leaders. After a strong points finish for Ferrari at Italy, they were able to overtake Lotus for third in the Constructors standings.
Results[]
Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 53 | 1 h 19 m 41.221 s | 1 | 25 |
2 | 15 | Sergio Pérez | Sauber-Ferrari | 53 | + 4.356 s | 12 | 18 |
3 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 53 | + 20.594 s | 10 | 15 |
4 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 53 | + 29.667 s | 3 | 12 |
5 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 53 | + 30.881 s | 7 | 10 |
6 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 53 | + 31.259 s | 4 | 8 |
7 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 53 | + 33.550 s | 6 | 6 |
8 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 53 | + 41.057 s | 9 | 4 |
9 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 53 | + 43.898 s | 8 | 2 |
10 | 19 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 53 | + 48.144 s | 13 | 1 |
11 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 53 | + 50.136 s | 22 | |
12 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 53 | + 50.316 s | 17 | |
13 | 10 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio | Lotus-Renault | 53 | + 1 m 15.861 s | 15 | |
14 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 52 | + 1 lap | 17 | |
15 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 52 | + 1 lap | 18 | |
16 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 52 | + 1 lap | 20 | |
17 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 52 | + 1 lap | 19 | |
18 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 52 | + 1 lap | 23 | |
19 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 52 | + 1 lap | 21 | |
20* | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 51 | Tyres | 11 | |
21* | 12 | Nico Hülkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 50 | Brakes | 24 | |
22* | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 47 | Alternator | 5 | |
Ret | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 32 | Fuel pressure | 2 | |
Ret | 17 | Jean-Éric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 8 | Spun off/Rear Suspension | 16 |
Note:
- * Mark Webber, Nico Hülkenberg and Sebastian Vettel all retired, but the three drivers were classified since they had completed over 90% of the race distance.
Fastest Laps[]
Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Lap | Time | Gap | Avg Speed | Race |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 53 | 1:27.239 | 239.054 | 7 | |
2 | 15 | Sergio Pérez | Sauber-Ferrari | 53 | 1:27.562 | + 0.323 | 238.172 | 2 |
3 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 51 | 1:27.718 | + 0.479 | 237.742 | 6 |
4 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 51 | 1:28.053 | + 0.814 | 236.844 | 11 |
5 | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 52 | 1:28.427 | + 1.188 | 235.842 | 1 |
6 | 12 | Nico Hülkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 46 | 1:28.578 | + 1.339 | 235.440 | 21 |
7 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 46 | 1:28.621 | + 1.382 | 235.326 | 12 |
8 | 10 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Lotus-Renault | 52 | 1:28.677 | + 1.438 | 235.177 | 13 |
9 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 46 | 1:28.713 | + 1.474 | 235.082 | 22 |
10 | 19 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 52 | 1:28.742 | + 1.503 | 235.005 | 10 |
11 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 44 | 1:28.835 | + 1.596 | 234.759 | 3 |
12 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 33 | 1:28.914 | + 1.675 | 234.550 | 4 |
13 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 31 | 1:28.926 | + 1.687 | 234.519 | Ret |
14 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 39 | 1:29.032 | + 1.793 | 234.239 | 9 |
15 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 46 | 1:29.066 | + 1.827 | 234.150 | 15 |
16 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 51 | 1:29.068 | + 1.829 | 234.145 | 8 |
17 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 52 | 1:29.109 | + 1.870 | 234.037 | 5 |
18 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 43 | 1:29.202 | + 1.963 | 233.793 | 20 |
19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 46 | 1:29.399 | + 2.160 | 233.728 | 14 |
20 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 44 | 1:29.753 | + 2.514 | 232.358 | 16 |
21 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 50 | 1:29.888 | + 2.649 | 232.009 | 17 |
22 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 51 | 1:30.398 | + 3.159 | 230.700 | 18 |
23 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 44 | 1:31.086 | + 3.847 | 228.957 | 19 |
24 | 17 | Jean-Éric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 6 | 1:31.962 | + 4.723 | 226.776 | Ret |
Lap Leaders[]
By lap[]
Stint | Driver | Laps | Total | Distance |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | 1 – 23 | 23 | 132.930 km |
2 | Sergio Pérez | 24 – 28 | 5 | 28.965 km |
3 | Lewis Hamilton | 29 – 53 | 25 | 144.825 km |
Totals[]
Pos. | Driver | Laps | Distance |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | 48 | 277.755 km |
2 | Sergio Pérez | 5 | 28.965 km |
Milestones[]
- Sauber's 250th race.
- Pedro de la Rosa's 100th race.
- Vitaly Petrov's 50th race.
- Kamui Kobayashi's 100th point.
- Lewis Hamilton's 20th victory.
- The one race ban for Romain Grosjean marked the first time an F1 driver had been suspended from racing since the 1994 Formula One Season when then Benetton driver Michael Schumacher was suspended for two races.
Standings after the race[]
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Notes[]
External links[]
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