Vettel wins Italian GP from pole

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

Sebastian Vettel has won the Italian GP after taking the lead on lap 3 of the race. The World Champion was never threatened later on and controlled the remainder of the race. Jenson Button finished in second place while Fernando Alonso pleased the crowd with third place.

At the start of the race, the weather is again magnificent in Italy, with the track and ambient temperatures hot thanks to the burning sun.

Rosberg, Senna, Sutil and Alguersuari are the only ones to start this Italian GP on the harder tyre. That tyre is certainly slower, but these drivers are looking to avoid tyre blistering in the early stages of the Grand Prix, trying to move up through the field as the others make their first stops.

As the lights went out, Vettel had somewhat of a difficult start and immediatly found himself under attack from Hamilton and from Alonso as well. Alonso took the right hand side and even slightly moved through the grass to eventually go through the first corner in first place. Vettel took second, ahead of Hamilton. Michael Schumacher moved up to 4th after starting from 8th.

Problems though at the back as while trying to avoid hitting someone, Liuzzi ended up on the gras, spun and hit several of the cars that were correctly going through the first chicane. Rosberg was out immediately, along with Liuzzi himself and Vitaly Petrov. Senna and Kobayashi had to come in for new front wings.

D'Ambrosio also abandoned the race after just 2 laps, but as he was not involved in the incident he must have had a technical problem.

2 laps later the debris is cleared and the safety car is taken off the track. Hamilton was caught sleeping and Schumacher easily got along the Britain. One lap later Vettel caught Alonso at Roggia after bravely taking the outside of the full speed right hander.

Moments later Webber gets attacked by Massa on the inside of turn 1. Webber though rejected to give in, and as there's no place for 2 on the first chicane, both touched. Mark broke his front wing on Massa. Massa was put in a spin but could continue without damage. Half a lap later Webber overcooked it and went into parabolica too quickly. Without a front wing, he went straight into the barriers, ending his race immediately.

On lap 11 Adrian Sutil is also out of the race, parking his car along the circuit.

By lap 12 Hamilton is still very close to Schumacher. On lap 13 Lewis eventually got along the German into turn 1, but he was passed again by turn 2. The rumblings between them though have allowed Button to come back behind his teammate.

By lap 14 Schumacher is nearly a half a second a lap slower than the Alonso. Vettel by that time is already 9.5s ahead of Alonso.

On lap 16 Schumacher went super defensive into turn 1 and saw Hamilton go on the inside of the high speed right hander. Michael had none of that though and cut the corner like he usually does, forcing Hamilton onto the grass which allowed Button to get ahead of his teammate.

2 turns later Button did what Hamilton could not for several laps by passing Schumacher round the outside of Ascari. At the end of that lap though Schumacher went in to change his badly worn set of softs. Button does the same a further lap later and Hamilton as well another lap into the race.

Alonso pitted on lap 19, completing a tyre change in just 3.0 seconds. Vettel one lap later pits as well and rejoins the track in first place again.

With the first stops done for the soft runners, positions at lap 23 as Vettel, Alonso, Button, Schumacher, Hamilton, Pérez, Massa, Di Resta and Alguersuari.

The fight between Schumacher and Hamilton meanwhile is still fiercely ongoing. Schumacher is defending his position hard, leading to discussions that sometimes he cuts Hamilton's way too opportunistically. On lap 24 Schumacher even got a direct message from Ross Brawn, asking his driver to be careful to leave some space at Ascari.

Jenson Button meanwhile is driving a full second a lap quicker than his teammate. Now at the halfway mark of the race, Button has caught up with Alonso and could soon be looking to pass the Ferrari.

On lap 27 Lewis finally managed to get alongside Schumacher to pass him in Ascari in the exact same fashion as Button did before.

Sebastian Vettel though is unfazed by the fights going on behind him. He just set fastest lap and by lap 30 is now 13.3s ahead of Alonso.

On lap 33 Button pits after having lost some seconds on Alonso. One lap later Alonso pits as well, with McLaren again reacting by pitting Hamilton as well. Ferrari must be worried about the McLarens pace as Alonso is apparently struggling to keep the advantage.

Meanwhile Sergio Pérez parks his car on the exit of turn 1 as he suffers technical problems on his car.

Vettel pits one lap after Lewis Hamilton. All top runners are now on the medium tyre. One lap after Alonso's change to the medium tyre Button easily gets past the Spaniard after simply out-accellerating him on the exit of turn 1. Ferrari's struggle with the harder tyre compounds by now is notorious, and it appears that yet again Alonso had trouble getting his set up to temperature.

By lap 40 positions look more or less set. Vettel has quite a big cushion ahead of Button while Alonso does not appear to have the pace to fight for anything higher than 3rd. Hamilton is 4th and is slowly closing in on the Spaniard ahead of him. Schumacher is 5th, Massa 6th, Alguersuari 7th.

4 laps from the end Senna passes Buemi into turn 1 and moves up to 9th, set for his first world championship points in Formula One.

By the final lap Hamilton is extremely close to Alonso and attempts an overtake at Ascari but eventually ran out of laps to get a chance to pass the Ferrari.

This ends the Italian GP, with Vettel winning from pole, ahead of Button and Alonso.