Monza, Italy (Sports Network) - Two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso easily
captured Sunday's Italian Grand Prix and the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in
Italy. The No.1 McLaren driver crossed the finish line 6.062 seconds ahead of
teammate Lewis Hamilton.
The victory was Alonso's fourth of the season and 19th of his Formula One
career.
"A perfect weekend for me," said Alonso. "Sometimes everything seems to go in
the right direction...To win here in Monza for the first time is a very
special win."
Alonso led teammate Hamilton and the remainder of the field to the green flag
for 53 laps of high-speed racing. Alonso got off to a great start while behind
him a battle between Hamilton and Felipe Massa ensued. Hamilton made his
McLaren very "wide" and kept Massa behind him as they clipped tires in turn
one of lap one.
On lap two, David Coulthard suffered a big crash which brought out the safety
car and slowed the action. The safety car disappeared on lap five and they
went back to racing.
The two McLarens took off and Massa couldn't keep up with their pace. He was
2.0 seconds back after completing seven laps. Massa pitted unusually early on
lap 10, was Ferrari on a different pit strategy?
The pit stop of Massa left Raikkonen inheriting third place, but he was 4.7
seconds behind Alonso and 3.7 seconds behind points leader Hamilton.
We got our answer on Massa one lap later when he returned to pit lane and
pulled his Ferrari directly into the garage.
Alonso set a fastest lap of the day, on lap 12 to slightly edge away from
Hamilton, but Hamilton returned the favor on the following lap. They were both
more than eight seconds ahead of Raikkonen, who didn't seem to have the speed.
Hamilton was the first of the two McLarens to stop, on lap 19 and he returned
to the track in sixth place. One lap later it was Alonso's turn and Raikkonen
inherited the lead.
Raikkonen continued to show the way, holding almost 19 seconds on Alonso when
he pitted on lap 24. It appeared that he took enough fuel to reach the
checkered flag, while the McLaren pair still had to stop one more time.
The "one-stop strategy" was working and although Raikkonen was 15.2 seconds
behind the leaders, although they still had to make one more stop while the
Finn was done for the day.
Meanwhile, Alonso was pulling away from his teammate, opening up a margin of
2.4 seconds by lap 28. The bad news for Raikkonen and Ferrari was that he
was losing more than one second a lap and at that pace the Ferrari wouldn't be
able to take advantage of his "one-stop strategy."
By lap 30 Raikkonen was 20.3 seconds behind Alonso and by lap 35 the gap was
26.6 seconds. With an average stop taking 22 seconds, his chances of winning
the race were slim.
The race for the win was now between Alonso and his teammate Hamilton who was
5.1 seconds behind.
Alonso made his final stop on lap 43 and came off pit road still holding the
lead by 7.5 seconds. From there it was just a cruise to the checkered flag.
The race was tougher for Hamilton who came out just behind Raikkonen and had
to fight the Ferrari for second place or lose points off his small five point
lead entering the event. Hamilton made his move with 11 laps to go and beat
Raikkonen into the first turn to grab second place.
And that's the way they finished with Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica, Nico
Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen and Jenson Button completing the points-scoring
positions.
Of the 13 races this season, nine have been won from the pole.
The series will return to the track next Sunday for the Belgium Grand Prix at
Spa Francorchamps. Hamilton will bring a three-point lead over Alonso with
Raikkonen 18 points back.