Translated material
In the footsteps of Schumacher
Fernando Alonso brings victory to Ferrari at home Grand Prix
The 14th stage of the Formula 1 World Auto Racing Championship ended with the triumph of Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. This is the first victory in Monza for the Italian team since 2006, when Michael Schumacher left its ranks.In the world of motorsport, Monza Autodrome has the same symbolic significance as Wembley or Maracana stadiums for football. Here are the real keepers of traditions, historical relics that must be preserved so that the connecting thread does not break. But lately Monza has been in danger of disappearing from the Formula 1 calendar. Bernie Ecclestone, on whom almost everything in the Royal Racing depends, is actively promoting the idea of organizing races on the streets of big cities. The success of the Monaco Grand Prix, which has become a classic, is, of course, unlikely to be repeated, but in Melbourne and Montreal, where the tracks are also located within the city, the stands are almost always filled to capacity. In contrast to stationary racing tracks, which are sometimes located at a considerable distance from the centers of civilization. Even in Monza, attendance has fallen significantly in recent years. That is why we have set a course towards bringing the city and motorsport closer together. The result was the appearance of cars on the streets of Valencia and Singapore, and there are plans to hold races in New York and London. Well, the nearest destination is Rome. Ecclestone presented the finished agreement to hold the Grand Prix in the Eternal City in 2012 or 2013 in Monza. The contract is valid for five years, and there is no talk yet about changing the residence of the national Grand Prix: Monza will peacefully coexist with Rome, just as it once did with another Italian track in Imola. But in fact, the two Italian stages are drawn into natural selection: whichever stage turns out to be more profitable will survive.
The fastest and most aerodynamically unsophisticated track in the championship was initially the least suitable for the characteristics of the Red Bull team's cars. It was believed that their main rivals from McLaren would be out of competition on the long straights of Monza. But the British started strange games with the settings: Lewis Hamilton decided to abandon the use of the air duct and was wrong. In qualifying on the straights, he reached a speed 15 km/h higher than his teammate, whose car had the air duct remaining, but lost in the corners. As a result, Button showed the second result. On the starting grid he was placed between two Ferrari drivers. Alonso and Massa were fastest in all three parts of qualifying, but Fernando won the decisive run. For Ferrari, this was the first pole in three dozen races. The leader of the individual standings, Mark Webber, was fourth, Hamilton was content with only fifth place, and another Red Bull representative, Vettel, started sixth.
Monza was also unlucky for Renault. Robert Kubica showed only the ninth time in qualifying, letting two Nicks go ahead - Rosberg from Mercedes and Hulkenberg from Williams. Vitaly Petrov was supposed to start 15th, but received a five-place penalty for blocking Timo Glock, who was not in a hurry. From 20th place it was possible to get into the points zone only through great luck and a cunning strategy. Renault took care of the latter, choosing for Petrov the option of starting the race on hard tires, hoping to stay on them as long as possible. Vitaly, as always, had a good start and immediately returned to where he should have been if Glock hadn’t turned up for him. But he managed to advance beyond 15th place only as a result of his rivals' retirements. Only four cars did not reach the finish line, but if Bruno Senna and Jarno Trulli could not influence Vitaly’s final result, then Hamilton and Kobayashi, who dropped out on the first lap, raised him two more positions up. 13th place, according to Petrov himself, was the limit of his capabilities in Monza. Even if he had not been penalized, he was inferior to everyone who finished ahead of him in pure speed.
The problems of Renault are eloquently illustrated by the fact that Kubica failed to overtake anyone. He moved from the starting 9th to the final 8th place, again thanks to Hamilton. In general, Lewis can be called the main loser of the Italian Grand Prix. Having made a mistake with the settings in qualifying, he had to somehow compensate for this mistake in the race. But his zeal only led to even greater failure. While the Ferrari pilots, who had stalled at the beginning of the race, were deciding among themselves which of them would be the first to turn, their rivals from McLaren tried to take advantage of the moment. Button managed to get around Alonso, but Hamilton was unable to squeeze between them. The right wheel of the silver car hit the side of the red one, and the front suspension arms bent unnaturally. It was hoped that the damage was minor. But already at the next turn it became clear that the car had lost control and Lewis turned from a race participant into a spectator.
Hamilton could calmly watch the drivers from the top five: none of them could encroach on his leading position in the championship. Only Webber, three points behind, was a potential threat. But the Australian was unable to take full advantage of his opponent’s rally. Having made his life difficult with a bad start, he then began to correct the situation and, perhaps, the only one of the entire top ten made real overtaking on the track, without waiting for pit stops. Schumacher, Hulkenberg and Kubica became victims of his onslaught. Mark was ahead of his Red Bull partner Vettel after Sebastian's car had problems with the engine losing speed. Then, however, things got more difficult. Webber was never able to catch up with Rosberg, and after a pit stop he again let Vettel lead, who decided to ride on one set of tires almost to the end, stopping for a mandatory tire change only a lap before the finish. The tactic, given that the German’s car had soft tires from the very beginning, was quite risky: heavily worn tires could explode at any moment. But this is precisely what allowed Vettel to finish the race in fourth. Webber still achieved the main thing: the points he scored for sixth place were enough for him to once again replace Hamilton in first place in the personal championship table.
If there were still some movements of pilots in positions in the top ten, then the top three finished the race in the order in which they stood on the starting grid. Button did not retain first place: Ferrari beat McLaren tactically, due to Alonso's later pit stop. Most likely, Massa would have been able to overtake the Englishman. To do this, the Brazilian needed to stay on the track for a couple more laps. Only in this case could he very well end up ahead of Alonso, which did not in any way meet the interests of the Scuderia: Alonso’s victory allowed him to continue the fight for the championship title, while Massa could already be excluded from the number of contenders. Therefore, they did not invent anything unnecessary on the Ferrari command bridge and, following Fernando, they asked Felipe to follow into the pits.
Having won at Monza in the first year of his stay in the legendary stable, for Tiffozi Alonso, if not on a par with Michael Schumacher, then took a big step along the path once paved by the German racer. To catch up with him, Nando has nothing left to do: win five championship crowns for Ferrari.
Formula 1 World Championship. "Italian Grand Prix" . 1. Alonso (Ferrari) - 1:25.433; 2. Button (McLaren) - gap 2.9; 3. Weight (Ferrari) - 4.2; 4. Vettel (Red Bull) + 28.1; 5. Rosberg (Mercedes) + 29.9; 6. Webber (Red Bull) + 31.2; 7. Hulkenberg (Williams) + 32.8; 8. Kubica (Renault) + 34.0. Drivers' standings : Webber - 187 points, Hamilton (McLaren) - 182, Alonso - 166, Button - 165, Vettel - 163. Constructors' Championship: Red Bull - 350, McLaren - 347, Ferrari - 290, Mercedes - 158, Renault - 127.