F1 Italian Grand Prix: Vettel can smell his fourth championship

By William Herrera September 10,2013

The Autodromo di Monza, also known as the Temple of Speed, was the venue for the 12th race in the 2013 race calendar. Sebastian Vettel in his RB9 took pole, with his team-mate Mark Webber beside him and a surprise appearance by Nico Hulkenberg in his Sauber in 3rd; the Ferrari of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were 4th and  5th respectively. Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Jenson Button and Jean-Eric Vergne rounding up the top ten.  As the five red lights went out, both Red Bulls got off the line quickly and the Ferraris were hot on their trail. All cars funneled into the tight right hander at turn 1; Perez in his McLaren was squeezed to the far left of the track and was rear ended by Raikkonen in his Lotus, forcing the Finn to pit after the 1st lap to replace the nose on his car. Paul di Resta was also a victim of first lap slicing and dicing. Romain Grosjean and Adrian Sutil both closed the door on the Scot and di Resta was left with a broken left suspension when he locked his brakes and slid into the back of the Lotus of Grosjean half way through the first lap.

On lap 3, Alonso got the best of Webber at the Lesmo corner to take 4th place. On lap 8, Hamilton lost radio contact with his engineers and had to rely on his pit board for instructions, which was very difficult considering the speed they achieve at the straights.

Vettel kept a steady pace lap after lap and was never really threatened. The only time he lost the lead was when he had to pit for tires in lap 24, but that too was brief. His main rival, Alonso opted to stay out to try to get some good lap times in before heading for his scheduled pit stop. But the Pirellis betrayed him and Alonso still came out behind Vettel on lap 28.

Lap 29 saw Hamilton dive past Rosberg at Turn 1 to take 7th place, even with a slow puncture, Lewis set the fastest lap time on the medium compounds. It seemed that the remainder of the race would be a procession, and all hope was lost for the tifosi, until, on lap 41, Mark was given insructions to short shift (short shifting is done to lessen the torque coursed through the gears) when using the 2nd and 3rd gear. The Red Bull telemetry was showing possible gearbox problems. This was followed by  similar instructions to the Red Bull number 1 car three laps later, thus giving the tifosi a glimmer of hope.

But a gearbox failure didn’t materialize and Sebastian Vettel cruised to the checkered flag. Alonso came in 2nd to the delight of the tifosi, and out going Red Bull driver Mark Webber took the last spot on the podium.

Vettel now leads by 53 points over Alonso, by 81 points over Hamilton, and by 88 points ahead of Raikkonen. With 175 points still up for grabs, Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen still have a shot at winning the crown by season’s end. But they  all have to bring their A-game to exert pressure on Vettel and hope he falters. Anything less will just pad the lead of Vettel, and give him his fourth consecutive World Drivers Championship.

Next stop: the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore. Touted as the Ultimate Street Race Under the Stars, the Singpaore GP has never failed to attract its fair share of Filipinos heading to the lion city to catch all the on-track action. This year, for the first time ever,  the SGP management added a special closing out concert, slated on the 23rd of September at the Padang Stage, featuring Canadian superstar Justin Bieber who takes te stage at 8:15PM, and Minnesota native Adam Young, also known as Owl City, performs at 6:15PM.

The SingTel Singapore Grand Prix is one of the toughest tracks on the calendar. With its tight layout, the drivers have to maintain focus. One mistake and to the techpro barriers they go. This is also the longest race, as they usually reach the two hour limit due to all the safety car periods.

Will Vettel cruise to another victory in Singapore? Or wil his rivals have something prepared to derail his quest for his fourth World Title?

 

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