2008 Italian Grand Prix Race Report

By Effwun - FOAS #65

Sebastian Vettel took his maiden win at a rain soaked Monza, and in doing so became the youngest ever driver to win a Formula 1 world championship race. It was a commanding performance from the young German, who led home Heikki Kovalainen and Robert Kubica, but it was a mixed day for Scuderia Toro Rosso - team mate Bourdais came home in 18th place after his car stalled on the grid.

Going in to the weekend, all eyes were on Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa - the two main title protagonists. Furthermore, there had been much discussion and quite a bit of vitriol about the penalty that Hamilton received at Spa just five days earlier. There was also talk about Kimi Raikkonen - would he back up Massa for the rest of the year, and did he have a future at Ferrari?

After all of the off-track hysteria during the week, the cars finally hit the track for P1. At least, some of them did. Rain soaked the circuit, which got heavier as the session progressed. A good portion of the field ventured out early, but most of the heavy hitters did nothing more than an installation lap. In those circumstances, it was Adrian Sutil who set the fastest time - 1:32.842 - ahead of Barrichello, Fisichella, Glock, and Rosberg.

There was more action in P2 though. The track was significantly drier, although a few sprinkles of rain persisted. Nevertheless, the weather eventually co-operated and by the end of the session the track was dry. The times tumbled during the session, and several people went to the top of the time sheet, but in the end Kimi Raikkonen was the fastest man on track, beating Robert Kubica by 7 hundredths of a second. Nick Heidfeld was third fastest, ahead of Hamilton, Rosberg, Massa and Kovalainen. Just over half a second covered the top 7.

Saturday morning's P3 session saw yet more rain roll in, and this time it was more persistent. Consequently there was absolutely no opportunity for dry running. In the conditions, it was Timo Glock who was head of the class with a 1:35.464, ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Rosberg, Trulli and Nakajima. Massa was the fastest of the title protagonists in 8th place; Raikkonen, Kovalainen, and Hamilton languished in 18th, 19th, and 20th places respectively.

So came qualifying, and it was more of the same as far at the weather was concerned: rain. All the teams who had run well in the wet were suddenly looking good for a decent qualifying performance, although the forecast was that the race would be dry. As the cars hit the track it was organised chaos: cars straight-lining the chicanes, cars spinning (including Heidfeld, who span at Parabolica whilst trying to set a hot lap), and lots of squirrely moments under acceleration. The drivers all did multiple laps on the extreme weather tyres, presumably to get heat into them and also to try and do as much running as possible to clear the water from the track.

Once everyone had found their feet, the times began to drop. The rain had also stopped, and conditions were improving. In the end, it was more or less a case of the usual suspects eliminated in Q1 - Barrichello, Piquet, Nakajima, Button, and Sutil, although Piquet and Nakajima were probably disappointed to be so far down the grid. Force India managed to get one car through to Q2 though - Fisichella was 13th in the session.

By the beginning of Q2, conditions had improved markedly. However there was still some standing water on the track, and more rain was predicted to fall soon. Most drivers went out early, and on the extreme weather tyres, to bank a lap. Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren team gambled, and went out on the wet/intermediate tyres. It was a big mistake. Conditions were nowhere near good enough for the regular wet tyre, and Hamilton slithered his way around and back to the pits to change to the extreme weather tyres. However, by this time the rain had begun to fall again and conditions were getting worse. Hamilton had timed it to imperfection.

He spent the rest of the session struggling around the track, two seconds off the pace. Meanwhile, Felipe Massa set a time good enough to secure a place in Q3, so the conditions clearly weren't the only problem that Hamilton was having. He capped off his miserable qualifying session with a spin at the exit of the Ascari chicane, and would end the session 15th and last. Misery loves company though, and Hamilton would line up alongside Kimi Raikkonen on the grid - the Finn could do no better than 14th, and he too struggled in the session, including getting slideways at the exit of the Ascari chicane. Nevertheless, he was the best part of two seconds faster than Hamilton. Those eliminated from Q2 were Kubica (who also span at Ascari), Fisichella, Coulthard, Raikkonen, and Hamilton.

Whilst the big guns were having their problems, a story was developing at the front of the field - young Sebastian Vettel, in a Toro Rosso, was fastest in Q2. And the conditions were set to stay the same for Q3. With race fuel on board, the cars were substantially slower. It was Heikki Kovalainen who set the early pace, setting the provisional pole time, but this was soon bettered by Sebastian Vettel. Towards the end of the ten minutes, the weather conditions worsened, and that more or less secured the pole position for Sebastian Vettel (although Felipe Massa somehow found more pace and would wind up 6th). But it was Sebastian Vettel's and Toro Rosso's day - they had secured their maiden pole position, and in doing so, Vettel became the youngest ever pole sitter in the history of F1, beating Fernando Alonso's 5 year old record. The Toro Rosso team were jubilant, and in fact almost had both their cars in the top three - Bourdais was pipped to 3rd place by Mark Webber in the dying moments of the session.

Nevertheless, it was a fantastic achievement for the young German, although detractors suggested that the weather had a lot to do with it and that the Toro Rosso team ran with a wet-setup that would hurt them in the dry on Sunday. Team manager Gerhard Berger scotched that suggestion, but it would turn out to be academic anyway - as the drivers and team personnel pulled back the curtains on Sunday morning, they were greeted by a very wet day.

It was so wet, in fact, that the decision was made to start the race behind the safety car - there was significant amounts of standing water in places, particularly the first chicane and the Ascari chicane. So, the cars rolled off, but there was disaster for Sebastien Bourdais - his car stalled on the grid, and the mechanics struggled to get it restarted. They pushed his car to the pit lane and finally got it fired up, but with no standing start, he was already a lap down.

It became clear that the decision to start behind the safety car was the right one - the spray was horrendous. After two laps, however, the safety car peeled off and the race got underway. On the run down to the first chicane, everyone was extremely cautious, and there were thankfully no incidents. In the very wet conditions, there was little jostling for position, but by around lap 5, there was some action - Coulthard got past Fisichella, then Raikkonen homed in on him. Glock and Alonso had a back-and-forth tussle which ended when Glock skipped across the second chicane and had to yield the position to Alonso. Glock then compounded this by spinning.

Up front, Vettel was sailing away from Kovalainen, and had pulled out a gap of 2 seconds in the opening laps, which he continued to extend. By lap 10 he had a comfortable margin, and conditions had started to improve. This seemed like the cue for Lewis Hamilton to get his act together, and he started reeling in the cars ahead of him. He passed Fisichella, then Raikkonen, who was making little progress, then Heidfeld, then Glock. In fact Hamilton had to yield the position back to Glock after cutting the first chicane, although he repassed him on the next lap. After doing so, Hamilton drifted to the edge of the circuit, and nudged Glock onto the grass. It was relatively harmless, but it showed how aggressive Hamilton was being.

Meanwhile, Massa had battled past Rosberg and up into 4th place. No-one could touch Vettel though - by lap 19 he was over ten seconds in the lead and still pulling away from Kovalainen. At the end of lap 19, Vettel pitted for fuel and fresh rubber - he stayed on the extreme weather tyres. He rejoined the race in 4th place. Elsewhere, Hamilton zipped by Alonso on the main straight to take 7th place, and a couple of laps later, Alonso dropped another spot to Glock. In short succession, Hamilton passed Trulli then Rosberg, and found himself in second place after Kovalainen, Webber and Massa all pitted; Vettel was back in the lead.

On lap 28, Hamilton pitted and elected to stay on the extreme weather tyres. However, the circuit was beginning to dry, as evidenced by the fact that most of the drivers were searching out the damp parts of the track to cool their tyres. There were, however, reports that more rain was on the way, and Hamilton was fuelled to the end of the race.

On the very next lap, David Coulthard pitted and took on the standard wet tyres. It was a bold move, and also somewhat experimental. Straight out of the pits, Coulthard missed the first chicane, and struggled for two laps to get the feel of his new tyres. Eventually the car came to him, and it was all the encouragement that the other drivers needed - Alonso pitted on lap 31 and took on the standard wets; Massa pitted on lap 34 and likewise took on the standard wet tyres; Kovalainen, Kubica, Webber on lap 35 all went for the standard wet; Raikkonen and Trulli on lap 36; and Vettel, the race leader, on lap 37. Indeed, Vettel had timed the move to perfection, and pitted without losing the lead. But yet again, Hamilton and McLaren had dropped the ball. Having climbed to second place, Hamilton pitted again on lap 37 to take on the standard wet tyres. The predicted rain never came - it blew Hamilton's chances.

Hamilton wasn't done fighting though. He still had everything to play for, but essentially wanted to score more points than Massa to maintain his championship lead. Having rejoined the race in 7th place, behind Massa, he zoomed up to the back of the Brazilian at an incredible rate. However, when he got there, he found that he was unable to pass - he had overcooked his tyres, and had to hold station. This allowed Mark Webber to close up to the back of Hamilton, and on lap 49 Webber attempted a pass into the first chicane. Hamilton covered the inside line, whilst Webber went for the outside line. Hamilton moved to the left under braking and bumped into Webber, forcing the Ozzie to take the escape road across the first chicane. It was yet more aggressive driving from Hamilton.

The real story of the day was up front though. Sebastian Vettel steamed effortlessly ahead, comfortably outpacing his poursuivants, although Kimi Raikkonen came alive in the last few laps and set the fastest lap of the race. But Vettel barely put a wheel wrong all day. He drove beautifully in the opening laps, had the benefit of a clear field of view ahead of him, had the perfect strategy, kept his head, and put all those elements together to drive a fine race. He cruised across the line to take a sensational win - his first victory (surely the first of many) and the first for Toro Rosso. And let's not forget that Toro Rosso is the phoenix that rose from the flames of Minardi. It was an emotional home win for Italy's other team.

Sebastian Vettel's beaming smile on the podium said it all - it was a great victory, and thoroughly deserved. Moreover, he had become the youngest ever person to win an F1 race, beating Fernando Alonso's record. There was heartbreak for his team mate though - he came home 18th, one lap down. Bourdais must have been left thinking of what might have been - it could so easily have been his first podium finish but for problems on the grid.

It was also a weekend to forget for the main title contenders. Felipe Massa will walk away happy knowing that he scored more points than Hamilton, and reduced the deficit to just one point, but a 6th place finish at Monza is probably not what he had in mind; Hamilton must be ruing two poor tyre/timing choices that arguable cost him a podium finish; whilst Raikkonen must be scratching his head and wondering how he finished a lowly ninth.

If people had wanted to get back to the business of racing and to forget the recent controversies, then the Italian Grand Prix was the perfect remedy. For once, the spotlight was not on Hamilton or on penalties. It was on a new young star - a new race winner. It may be the last pause for breath before the last four Grands Prix of the year and the race to the championship. What a breath of fresh air it was.

- effwun

Final Classification

Pos.
Driver Time Pos.
Driver Time
1. Vettel 1:26:47.494 11. Glock +58.8
2. Kovalainen
+12.5 12. Nakajima +62.0
3. Kubica +20.4 13. Trulli +65.9
4. Alonso +23.9 14. Rosberg +68.6
5. Heidfeld +27.7 15. Button +73.3
6. Massa +28.8 16. Coulthard +1 Lap
7. Hamilton +29.9 17. Barrichello
+1 Lap
8. Webber +32.0 18. Bourdais +1 Lap
9. Raikkonen +39.4 19. Sutil +2 Laps
10. Piquet +54.4 20. Fisichella Lap 12

Fastest lap - Kimi Raikkonen: 1:28.047 (lap 53)

The Alternative Podium Ceremony

1st - The John Watson Award for most places gained in the race: Robert Kubica (11th - 3rd), Lewis Hamilton (15th - 7th), Kazuki Nakajima (20th - 12th, 8 places).

2nd - The Olivier Grouillard Award for best roadblock: Lewis Hamilton (for basically getting in both Glock's and Webber's way and shoving them both off track)

3rd - The Philippe Alliot Award for most pointless crash: Giancarlo Fisichella (well, his was the ONLY crash all day, amazingly)

Constructors - The David Coulthard Award for outstanding achievement in the field of complaining: Lewis Hamilton (for his week long whinefest over his Belgian GP penalty).