Monza, 9 September

Lewis Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prix, leading from lights to flag. Behind him there were two spectacular drives, the first from Sergio Perez in the Sauber, who started thirteenth and finished second, with a very aggressive performance in the second half of the race as he closed on the McLaren. The other, to the delight of the Ferrari fans packing the grandstands, came from Fernando Alonso, who made it to the third step of the podium. He drove a perfect race, with plenty of passing moves, starting with a brilliant opening lap that took him past four cars. After that, he kept his cool as he tried to pass Vettel, who pushed him wide and was given a drive-through penalty for his troubles before stopping with a car problem. Felipe Massa also drove a great race to fourth place, bringing home a good points haul. Alonso thus extends his lead in the Drivers’ classification to 37 points over Hamilton who now takes over second place. In the Constructors,’ Scuderia Ferrari is up to third on 226 behind McLaren and Red Bull, the latter failing to score today as Webber also retired.

The next round of the Formula 1 World Championship takes place in Singapore on 23rd September.