8.9.13

Red Bull dominated Ferrari’s home grand prix with Vettel driving to his second successive win after the summer break taking his tally to six victories for the season so far – as many wins as everyone else combined. Alonso took his second successive second place which indicates that Ferrari have ended the regression of performance that was seen from Canada until Hungary. However, with Vettel 54 points ahead of Alonso in the driver’s championship to keep coming second to him is clearly not enough. Indeed, to overhaul Vettel’s lead Alonso would need to outscore him by an average of eight points for the remaining seven races. A difficult task against the metronomic German who, when he hasn’t finished on the podium this season, has been fourth both times.

Perhaps it was this realisation that the man standing on the top step of the Monza podium was very likely to be crowned the driver’s champion for the fourth successive season that prompted the assorted Tifosi to ungraciously ‘boo’ Vettel. We would do well to remember that we expected other Formula One supporters to respect Ferrari’s success in their dominant 2000-2004 seasons and should act accordingly today, no matter how frustrating.

The race itself was relatively straightforward with the front runners opting for a one stop strategy. Massa vaulted into second place at the start where he ran for the duration of his first stint and Alonso moved into third place on lap three after a typically committed overtake on Webber. Alonso picked up a tow on Webber around the Curva Grande before moving alongside under braking and then overtaking Webber around the outside of the first chicane. It was a stunning overtake, the necessary precision with which it was executed in stark contrast to the sheer grit needed to even contemplate such a move. Of course, it is this combination of controlled aggression that makes Alonso such an effective race driver. With the Ferraris now running line astern it was no surprise to see Alonso easily move ahead of Massa for second place at the start of lap eight. However, despite carrying a flat spot on his front tyre from locking his wheels under braking into the first corner on lap one Vettel was able to simply drive away from Alonso and comfortably maintained around a five second gap back to the Ferrari driver.

Both Vettel and Webber pitted together for their sole pitstops on lap 23. Over the radio Alonso urged that “we push” but in reality on fresh tyres without flatspots it was Vettel pushing on. Massa made his sole stop the following lap, only to rejoin behind Webber where he would remain until the flag. Alonso stretched his first stint out for four more laps compared to Vettel, eventually pitting on lap 27. In those four laps Vettel essentially doubled his lead through lapping around a second a lap faster than Alonso. As such, Alonso emerged some ten seconds behind Vettel. The top four would remain the same until the end of the race.

On the race strategy, it is hard to see what Ferrari thought they might gain by leaving Alonso on old tyres for four laps because already being five seconds behind Vettel he was effectively running in clear air and cannot have been expected to be able to significantly raise his pace with a distance car ahead removed. Running a longer first stint does reduce the risk of extreme tyre degradation in the closing stages of the race but with the revised tyre construction and the characteristics of the Ferrari these cannot have been serious concerns. With hindsight it would have been better to react to Vettel and pit with him on lap 23. This would have at least maintained the five second gap for longer and would have allowed Alonso to push Vettel towards the end when the Red Bull driver was forced to short-hift to protect his gearbox. Indeed, Vettel would only finish five seconds ahead of Alonso and it seems that Ferrari missed an opportunity to push him harder under the circumstances. Such efforts may not have changed the result of the grand prix, nor ultimately even the championship, but it is important to strive to maximise every race weekend regardless.

With second and fourth place in Monza Ferrari reclaimed second place in the constructor’s championship over Mercedes but Alonso lost further ground to Vettel in the driver’s championship. Red Bull are now almost certain to win both championships for the fourth time in a row and Ferrari may be runners up in both championships again for Mercedes seem to have lost some momentum over the summer break.

On the Wednesday following the Italian grand prix Ferrari announced that Raikkonen would replace Massa from 2014. Massa had announced he would be leaving Ferrari the day before and whilst it is sad to see Massa leave both parties recognise that it is the right time for him to move on. Massa has consistently scored around half the number of points of Alonso since 2010 and although they have both won 11 grand prix for Ferrari, Massa’s last victory was in Brazil 2008 when he nearly won the driver’s world championship.

The return of Raikkonen is controversial. Debate has focussed on the potential dynamic between Alonso and Raikkonen with some suggesting that Alonso could react badly to having a world champion peer as his teammate. This seems unlikely – Alonso has always maintained that his problems in his explosive 2007 season with McLaren were with Dennis rather than Hamilton and he now has the opportunity to prove that was the case by working effectively with Raikkonen. In any case, most commentators feel that Alonso is likely to have the competitive edge over Raikkonen and should this prove to be the case it will only further enhance Alonso’s status.

It can also be argued that Alonso and Raikkonen are a rare example of a compatible ‘superteam’ driver pairing for Raikkonen is distinctly apolitical, withdrawn and straightforward. These qualities seem likely to limit any potential conflict with Alonso. Thus, whilst the prospect of a big personality clash is enticing to the F1 media it seems less likely in this pairing and the bigger disadvantage, albeit less newsworthy, to Raikkonen could be his questionable technical feedback and work ethic. The 2014 regulations represent a major change in F1 and teams will have to work hard and intelligently to quickly understand the regulations and optimise the cars accordingly. This places a premium on drivers who will test extensively and give in depth feedback. In contrast, Raikkonen prefers to simply turn up and drive. However, the obvious alternatives are limited with Hulkenberg seemingly the other main contender. Whether a younger driver with something to prove would have been a better choice is ultimately unknown and we will only be able to judge after the 2014 F1 season. If nothing else, that is certainly something to look forward to, for it seems likely that the remainder of this season will not contain too much to celebrate for Ferrari fans other than the occasional snaffled podium against the relentless march of Red Bull.

Click here for FIA lap chart.

Stefano Domenicali: “Today we fought with all the means at our disposal to try and stick with the race leader, but given Vettel’s performance, in the end we could not have done better than this. Fernando drove an impeccable race, during which he managed the pressure from Webber, who was very competitive and this second place is the result of his great tenacity. I am very a great pity for Felipe because he ran a great race, just missing out on a podium that he absolutely deserved. Looking ahead, Singapore will be important because it will reveal our level of competitiveness on a high downforce circuit: the outcome of that Grand Prix will also be decisive in helping us draw conclusions linked to the gradual changeover of our resources to the 2014 project”.

Fernando Alonso: “Stepping onto the Monza podium is always a special feeling, as it’s the only one where you can feel all the love that the fans have for the team and it’s the best prize at the end of what was an almost perfect weekend. ‘Almost’ because our championship rivals won and we send them our congratulations. We tried our best and even if we have to be realistic about our championship chances, as it’s not an easy task to close down a 53 point gap in the few remaining races, in Formula 1 anything can happen and we will believe in our chances all the way to the finish line in Brazil, always trying to give a hundred percent”.

Felipe Massa: “I am very happy with my race, which went fantastically well right from the beginning, thanks to a nice start which moved me up two places. The pace was good on both compounds and we ran consistently throughout the whole race. It was a shame I lost the place to Webber at the pit stop, because today, the podium was within our g.php and it would have been brilliant to celebrate with our fans at our home race. We brought home a good points haul, but we know we still have a lot of work to do if we want to improve. As far as that’s concerned, I will be doing my utmost right to the very end of the Championship”.