Sebastian Vettel brushes title rivals aside to win (2008 Italian GP review)
Sebastian Vettel celebrates his magnificent win in the Italian Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel announced his arrival as a force in F1 with a masterful win in slippery conditions in the Italian Grand Prix. He led from the start on the wet track and held the lead for most of the race, switching from extreme wet tyres in the later stages.
Meanwhile the championship rivals struggled: Felipe Massa finished where he started, sixth, with Lewis Hamilton right behind him having started 15th, and Kimi Raikkonen ninth from 14th.
Vettel vanishes
Sebastian Vettel leads Heikki Kovalainen and Mark Webber at the start
Vettel led the field away from pole position as the race began behind the safety car. While Kazuki Nakajima and Jenson Button started from the pits, Vettel’s team mate Sebastien Bourdais was out of luck, being stranded on the grid with a problem. He eventually got away one lap down.
The first few laps were tentative as the drivers struggled to get a feel for the conditions. Most of them were very heavily fuelled, but as the surface water washed away and the fuel loads came down the race came to life.
Having started near the back, Raikkonen and Hamilton were queued behind David Coulthard and Giancarlo Fisichella in a four-way battle for 11th. Coulthard dropped behind the trio and Raikkonen began attacked Fisichella, finally passing the Force India on lap eight. Hamilton followed him the next time around.
But by this stage they were already over half a minute behind the flying Vettel, who in the opening stages had dropped Heikki Kovalainen by up to two seconds per lap. By lap nine Kovalainen was only losing a few tenths to Vettel, but even so the gap grew from 6.4s to 11 over the next eight laps. Vettel was accurate and quick, and only seemed to miss a chicane once, at the Variante Della Roggia on lap six.
Hamilton goes on a charge
By this stage Hamilton was coming to life and after picking off Fisichella was quickly with Raikkonen. On lap 10 he got a better run out of the Della Roggia and neatly out-braked Raikkonen into the first Lesmo.
He passed a car per lap from laps 14-16, taking Nick Heidfeld, Timo Glock and Robert Kubica to get into the top eight. He also slashed his deficit to Massa, while leaving Raikkonen trailling.
Vettel pitted from the lead on lap 18, coming out behind Massa. Massa had passed Nico Rosberg for fourth at his second attempt, having done so by cutting a chicane the first time and yielding the place back.
The prospect of an edgy battle between Hamilton and Fernando Alonso for seventh amounted to nothing. Hamilton was over two seconds per lap quicker than the Renault and Alonso saw the futility of offering any more than token resistance, even to his arch-nemesis.
Glock was making rapid progress as well despite having lost a position to Robert Kubica by spinning on lap six. He took ninth off Kubica on lap nine and went past Alonso the next time by as well.
Hamilton’s progress was briefly halted by Jarno Trulli on lap 21 as the McLaren driver cut the chicane. bearing in mind the ‘clarification’ of the contentious rule after Spa, Hamilton gave the position back, and took care not to pass Trulli at the following corner. The next lap, however, he was past.
Drivers gamble on wet weather tyres
The following lap Kovalainen, Massa and Mark Webber pitted from first, second and third respectively, putting Vettel back in the lead. That promoted Hamilton to second as he tore seconds out of Vettel’s lead with each lap. Massa came out of the pits behind Heidfeld, and was stuck with the BMW for a couple of laps, losing precious time.
Trulli and Raikkonen came into the pits on lap 26 and, although the rain had stopped some time ago and the track was drying, they followed everyone else’s lead by taking a new set of extreme wet tyres. Hamilton did the same when he came in on the next lap.
On the very next lap David Coulthard came in and switched to the ordinary wet tyres. When he went back out onto the track he skated past the first corner with his front wheel locks, but that didn’t discourage Renault who put Alonso on the wet tyres on lap 30. Alonso, he feel for tyre temperature always strong in these conditions, was soon lapping at similar times to everyone on the extreme wets.
The forecast claimed heavier rain was on the way but only a few drops arrived – not enough to keep life in the extreme wets. One by one the leaders surrendered to the inevitable and came in for standard wets – some of them having pitted just a handful of laps earlier and having fuelled to the end.
Massa made the switch on lap 33, one lap before Kovalainen and Webber. That allowed him to take advantage of Webber and pass the Red Bull driver, who then spun at the exit of Ascari.
Of the one-stoppers BMW called the conditions best, as Kubica came in for his single stop on lap 34 and switched to the intermediate tyres, leaving the pits in third place. It also played into Vettel’s hands beautifully, as he was fuelled to make a second stop anyway, and he didn’t even lose the lead when he pitted on lap 36.
Raikkonen finds pace too late in the race
Hamilton came back in on the same lap, have waited three laps longer than Massa. He came out behind Webber and pounced immediately, taking seventh place. Massa was now getting stuck into Heidfeld and by lap 38 Hamilton had caught them, the trio covered by just over a second.
But Hamilton was struggling to make his shallower-grooved wet tyres last, and dropped back briefly from Massa. That allowed Webber to get a run on him again, and the pair banged wheels at the first chicane, Webber cutting the corner but letting Hamilton pass again.
Raikkonen now finally found some pace, rather as he had when the track dried at Silverstone. He set a string of fastest laps and began moving through the field, taking Nakajima for 13th on lap 46. As several more drivers in front of him pitted he moved into tenth before demoting Nelson Piquet Jnr for ninth. Piquet, as at Hockenheim, was the last man to pit for fuel and it helped him move up the order, but there were no points on offer for him this time.
Had the race been a few laps longer the flying Raikkonen would have reached the Heidfeld/Massa/Hamilton/Webber train, but it wasn’t to be. If he gambled on a dry weather set-up, it didn’t pay off, and for the third race in a row the world champion failed to score.
Vettel’s record-breaking win
But Vettel produced a drive of such calm, mature composure he looked like a man with dozens of F1 wins already to his name – in fact, he is the youngest person to win an F1 race, by almost a whole year.
Kovalainen was an unhappy second, no doubt well aware that an awful lot more was expected of him given where he started. Kubica kept himself well in the championship hunt with a calm and tactically astute drive to third.
Fernando Alonso’s wet tyre gamble paid off and he delivered fourth. Behind him were Massa, Hamilton and Webber each with a few seconds of each other. Massa has now cut Hamilton’s title lead to a single point.
Behind Raikkonen and Piquet were the Toyota-powered quartet of Glock, Nakajima, Trulli and Rosberg. The latter was badly caught out by the timing of his pit stops and a problem getting away on his first visit to the pits.
Jenson Button was the last unlapped driver, ahead of Coulthard who had a late collision with Nakajima, spreading debris across the track which was hit by Massa. Barrichello was 17th after a late switch to dry-weather tyres failed to pay off.
Bourdais, 18th, must have been crushed, knowing that his seat was on the line before this race. Adrian Sutil was 19th and Fisichella was the only driver not to finish – he had nudged the back of Coulthard’s car, loosening his front wing, and ploughed straight into the barriers at Parabolica when the wing broke free.
Sebastian Vettel was the man of the weekend. He was very quick throughout qualifying and was every bit as impressive in the wet as he had been at Fuji last year – up until that fateful collision with Webber. This exceptional win will have banished all memories of that. And now he will join Webber at Red Bull in 2009 as a race winner.
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Grrrr, arrgggg, my god!
I had to leave the blog because we were invited for lunch, when the race become so exciting with all drivers going for intermediates.
Ok I said, I’ll try to get connexion through my IPhone. And when I got connected, to this blog, everybody were celebrating about Vettel win, Keith posting Constructors points, but NOBODY posting the final drivers result!!!!!
Anyhow, thanks a lot to Sebastian Vettel for bringing all F1 aficionados an amazing race!!!!!
Rain, rain, rain. What’s next? Singapore in the night!!!! Rain and Night?
More exciting with two drivers with one point difference in the WDC, I cannot wait!!!
Great drive for Vettel. It is really exciting to see someone new up there.
It was strange that the post-race interviewer didn’t ask everyone about Hamilton. It seems that he always brings Hamilton up to the other drivers. I thought it was funny after qualifying that he would ask Heiki about Hamilton’s strategy! Poor Heiki gets overshadowed even when he beats his teammate.
Poor Heikki but Vettel shows that he is class and that Toro Rosso could be on the up man cant wait for singapore rain and night now that could be a mouthwatering prospect poor Raikkonen he simply hates the wet if he found that pace earlier on things couldve been different i dont think Kubica has a strong enough car for a title bid but Toro Rosso will get 4th place i can assure you:)
Kimi likes the rain, just apparently had a dry set up.
Really felt bad for Sebastian Bourdais because had his car not stalled who knows maybe a Toro Rosso 1-2 as he as extremely fast!!
What a ****!!! Had a weekend off and missed a thriller like this??? Keith, pls post some exciting videos…I cant wait!!
As a harbinger, this will overshadow Schumacher at Spa in the Jordan. This guy will be champion. No driver in a top team save Kubica, Hamilton and Raikkonen should feel secure in his drive for 09 or 10—it won’t take much to convince Vettel that his new car is below his abilities.
Beyond the historic win of Vettel, the news is that title race here was a disaster for Ferrari, with a chance, realistically, to follow Kovy home in 2d or 3rd and force Hamilton to win out the season to have even a chance at the title, Massa instead let Hamilton catch him and retain his lead. Raikonnen dissolved after Hamilton blew by him—KR’s new duty as #2 should have been to drive Lewis off the road if necessary to keep him off Massa’s tail. He failed at that and also scored no points. Result, even with Kovalainen’s pitiful submission to the sugar water car, McLaren takes 10 points home to Ferrari’s 3.
Fantastic race for Vettel, and Hamilton. Some people said let’s see what is Hamilton is really made of having to start from 15th place, but the fact is Hamilton overtook all these people:
Fisichella
Raikkonen
Heidfeld
Glock
Kubica
Alonso
Trulli
Webber
Have a good Day.
Brilliant GP, supremely cool and confident driving from Vettel (congratulations), and real courage and skill from Hamilton, daring much more than KR and FM, possibly a championship-defining performance. Pity we didn’t see wet weather throughout, Hamilton’s strategy pay off and a final race for pole between Vettel on 2 stops and Hamilton on 1. But Vettel’s victory was well-deserved.
I’m very pleased for Vettel and STR. I used to love it when someone put a Minardi ahead of expectations and it’s great that many Minardi employees are still there to enjoy this.
Great that Hamilton cut through the field and limited the WDC damage but what about Massa?
I’d love to see Massa throw off his reputation as a driver who can only win from the front (after the first turn if not necessarily on the grid). I missed the race and will have to catch up with the reports and highlights later but Grid6 Race6!?! I’m sure there was a good reason but he appears to blame grip and traffic.
If he’s to beat Lewis by 6 clear points he’s passed up an opportunity here.
Those bashing Massa should know his pathetic wet weather driving skills. It is always damage control for Massa in the wet. He managed to get the ferrari home and not spin.. that is good enough..
He may win races from pole later
Given Massa’s wet weather skills..
P6 seems like a win
. Wet races are always damage control for Massa. He got the car home in one-piece without spinning. That is good enough
Congratulations to Vettel!…way to hold’em off!I knew he was the real thing,just wish he was still with BMW.
I agree that Vettel had a wonderful victory, perhaps the most impressive in ages, not because he won with an underdog team, but because there was only one retirement – Fisichella’s Force India, that would never have finished ahead of him anyway.
On the other hand, Kovalainen must be embarrassed for being unable to outrun a Toro Rosso, while Hamilton, with the same car, came crushing the opposition, and only didn’t manage to finish higher in the standings because his one stop strategy was ruined by the way the track dried.
Massa, as you said, could have been better, but it was more down to details in crucial moments (surrendering his position to Rosberg, failing to pass Heidfeld) than to an outright inability to drive in the wet. Felipe is improving as a driver in every and each aspect, including wet weather racing…
And now those who think Raikkonen (57 pts) is still realisticly in the title fight must concede that also Heidfeld (53 pts) and Kovalainen (51 pts) still have their shots, because, as it was proved last year, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over…”
I have just come to realize that today’s podium in one way was very similar to the Monza 2006 podium. On every podium step there was exactly the same driver’s and constructor’s nationality. (1. GER&ITA, 2. FIN&GER, 3. POL&GER)
Good point Rav (although McLaren are British, not German!)
@ Keith: You’re right, I got misleaded by their co-owner – Mercedes.
Great win for Vettel and amazing result for Alonso having a car that only lacks in Monza grip, stability and speed
). They are for me the two men of the weekend.
Disgraceful for Kimmi. How is it? Is it only bad luck?. He should be much more relaxed now he has renewed with Ferrari.
Great at times for Hamilton, but luck was not this time with him as he had to pit one more than expected. Weather people should be fired as they werent right in any team, so the gamble taken first by Coulthard and later by Alonso was the right choice against the weather predictions.
Ok, so where did all this performance come from today that’s elluded the team all the time before?
off tangent i know but I felt compelled to share my plight, after seeing a great race today (i rate it 8, two thumbs up) I’ve been excited at the prostect of watching top gear then Indie MotoGP only to find that BBC 2 just told me to PRESS THE RED BUTTON to watch the MotoGP…. WHAT?, you muppets, the red button is the power button!
SOME OF US DON’T HAVE SKY! why has the BBC put such an important race on obscure channel 500 eleventy billion??
I think Martin Brundle wins quote of the day:
“…today, McLaren’s cloud should have had a Kova-linen’, boom boom…”
Hmm, more than 5 hours have gone past now, and still the FIA stewards haven’t managed to find a convincing excuse to exclude the first 5 finishers from the result for Monza, thus promoting Massa to 1st. Will have to be an absolute corker this time.
On a positive note, fantastic for Vettel, I was dreading a repeat of the reliability issues that cost Hill the win for Arrows all those years ago in Hungary. Well deserved win.
In theory, the red button is on Freeview, Sush. In practise, I don’t have good enough reception to pick it up on that system
.
What a great race! What a great drive from Vettel. He fully deserved this win.
The meek shall inherit the earth…
Here we go again: Wonderful Hamilton, worthless Massa. Hey people, didn’t you see that Hamilton admitted he “over-cooked” his tires—as usual? Did you ever stop to think that—as Speed TV’s commentators stated—this year’s Ferrari chassis isn’t very good in the rain?
Other thought: on today’s podium we had 101th, 100th and 99th GP winnes.
What a fantastic race!!! I enjoyed every minute of it, well except every minute that wasn’t disgustingly diluted by ad-breaks, BRING ON THE BBC!!!!
An historic and thoroughly deserving victory for Vettel. A true champion in the making, to see him qualify on pole and translate that into victory was magnificent.
Hamilton: A cracking drive. He scythed his way through the field with great skill and even saw some of Schumacher’s ruthlessness in his racing too.
Alonso: Argh!!!!!…..why can’t he be driving a WDC/WCC winning car. He’s too damn talented to be driving that lemon of a Renault.
Massa: He drove okay. He did what he had to do. He drove consistently, kept his nose clean and gained some valuable points. Hardly inspirational but what the hey….
Raikkonen: Too little too late I’m afraid. Such a shame to see such an extremely talented driver drive below his capabilities for whatever the reason…
AS FOR KOVALAINEN!: As Daniel said, he’s a driving a McLaren FFS!!! One could assume (and rightfully so) that if Hamilton had started from 2nd on the grid, Vettel might not be celebrating his maiden victory. Maybe……maybe not. I have seen some pace from Kovi but far too many times has he demonstrated such mediocrity. If he continues to drive in this fashion, I don’t think he’ll be driving for McLaren after 2009.
Apologies, you’ll note a similar comment from ‘Feeties’, that was my missus messing about with my laptop. Had to re-write and paraphrase what I said the first time round….LOL!!!!
Super Vettel!!!!
He will be next Schumi….
Massa drove a lot better than Kimi in the wet. We are used to the usual last minute heroics by Kimi.
Kimi is the laziest driver on the grid, and it says much about his ability, that the team still requires the services of their former world champion, to develop the car. A total waste of money. If I was Ferrari, I would buy off Vettels contract from Redbull.
Congratulations to Vettel! Great to see my two favourite drivers (Kubica and Vettel) scored their maiden wins this year.
Vettel has looked very special ever since he was Friday driver for BMW in the end of 2006.
Props also to Hamilton, his race was fantastic (despite the incidents with Glock and Webber, where I think he was too brash).
Kovalainen and Raikkonen were the big let downs. Kovalainen should have at least fought for the win, he was never anywhere near Vettel, and Raikkonen as has been sadly usual this year, only decides to wake up for the last ten laps of the race, enough to bring home another fastest lap. If only the fastest lap still gave one champinship point…
Oh, and no points to James Allen, for going on and on about “Minardi DNA”… Not only on the broadcast, but also on his itv website column.
I agree, James Allen is totaly pointless.
That Minardi DNA nonsense annoyed me no end. OK, we get it, the team used to be Minardi. It only needed to be said once, and there didn’t need to be any mention of DNA. What’s wrong with James Allen? It’s like he has a “phrase of the weekend” that he has to repeat over and over.
Sorry for the rant.
It’s OK Nathan, you’re not alone.
He wasn’t so bad when he was working the pits but he should never have been allowed into the commentary box.
Another great race to watch. Terrific to see another winner this year.
Wonder why Hamilton felt the need to drive 2 cars off the track during the race in those conditions?
@nathan
haha I just thought of having a bet every race where people put money on stupid “phrases of the weekend” Allen might come up with. The one that is mentioned most often wins. For example, for Singapore, the choices could be:
- “racing under starry skies”
- “circuit has the character of monaco”
- “i want to **** hamilton”
- “hamilton lewis lewis hamilton lewis”
@Shashi
Thanks mate, that gave me a good laugh :~)
Just about to watch the highlights to enjoy the action again & wondering if I should turn the mute on so I don’t have to listen to him.
The only problem being that I love listening to Brundle’s opinions, even when I disagree with them.
James Allen did indeed spend the last 1/4 of the race coming up with every implausible, ridiculous scenario he could think of that would let Hamilton win the race. It was embarrassing and pathetic. However it IS a UK TV station and you have to expect some barracking for the local boy.
“Super Vettel!!!!
He will be next Schumi….”
Mebe in terms of his driving skill, but Vettel is a nice guy, not an arrogant ******* like Schumi. Hamilton has got that part of the legacy already sewn up.
@beneboy
Allen is bad, but I still prefer ITV over Speed cuz of Brundle and also cuz the SPEED crew’s copulatory screams at every minor event drive me nuts.
@Bobulon
Vettel is nice now cuz he’s young and hasn’t really felt the pressure of success. I hope he stays that way but I ain’t holding my breath.
I think Vettel may well have the ability to be as good a driver as Schumi but I don’t think he’ll be the next Schumi for a few reasons:
There are several very good drivers at the moment, Lewis, Kimi, Felipe, Kubica, Webber. Schumi never really had more than 2 other drivers competing for the championships for his last 5 seasons.
Vettel seems to be a really nice guy – I’m not being snide her, I love Schumi and am still a big fan of his but I have to admit that he’s not the nicest of guy’s.
It’s unlikely we’ll ever get another team so much built around a single driver for so long again. Schumi’s biggest advantage was the team he had around him, Ferrari knew they were not just signing him but also the team that came with him and this gave him a position in the team that I don’t think even Lewis will get at McLaren.
There are others too.
Still think Vettel is brilliant though and hope to be able to enjoy watching his rise to stardom over the next few years.
@Shashi
I’m with you on Brundle, he’s one of the best commentators I’ve heard on any form of sport.
If he doesn’t go to the BBC I’ll be very upset !
Shashi & Beneboy – I had to laugh when James Allen said the ’story of the day’ was Lewis’ recovery from 15th !
Um, I don’t think so !
And Beneboy, you left Alonso out of your list of drivers. On that topic, I thought Fernando was supposed to be making an announcement this weekend re contract for next year. Did I miss it, or has he not said anything yet?
@Pink Peril, in James Allen’s defence (not a phrase I use very often!), he actually said that there was only one story of the day, and the story of Hamilton was a good one, but didn’t come close to the story of Vettel.
What a great race, the only reason I didn’t give it a 9 or 10 was the lack of a battle for the lead over the final laps. But it was great to see the Vettelster take his first win. Thoroughly deserved – he was the quickest all weekend.
It’s also great to see the amazing amount of driver talent on the grid. In the past it has sometimes been hard to see who could fill the best seats on the grid, now there aren’t enough top seats to go around.
F1 is in great shape at the moment and I’m looking forward to each race more than any season since I started watching mid80s.
After this race, I’ve come to a pretty clear conclusion:
The future of Formula One will be a three-way battle among Lewis Hamilton, Robert Kubica, and Sebastian Vettel.
All three of these guys were fantastically SUPERB today. Vettel simply drove an expert race, and Toro Rosso took advantage of the wet and did a great job with the car. This win by Vettel is up there with Senna’s performance at Monaco in 1984 in the Toleman.
Hamilton put on a brilliant drive from 15th to second, and he was gunning down Vettel before his first pit stop. Had McLaren put inters on the car rather than the extreme wets, it would have been a very tough race between Hamilton and Vettel for the win. We saw just how good Hamilton is today.
We also saw just how good Robert Kubica is today. He also started from a disadvantageous spot, and he did a great job. He didn’t put a wheel wrong the whole day, and he executed the one-stop strategy with a change to inters to maximum effect.
These three drivers are simply outstanding, and they’re all younger than 23. They all have tremendous car control. I think Vettel is still a little rough in his technique and his transitions, but he’s still young and will surely learn.
It will be interesting to see where Kubica and Vettel end up 2-3 years from now. Lewis is set for McLaren in the long-term. Ferrari seems to be aiming for Kubica, and vise-versa. However, Vettel is going to be the driver who everyone will seemingly pursue. Schumacher has spoken extremely high of him on numerous occasions, leading me to believe that he’s most certainly on Ferrari’s radar. There were reports that McLaren made a run at him before the season to replace Alonso, but that Toro Rosso declined their buyout offer for his contract. And as we all know, Vettel has a history with BMW, having tested for them and substituted in races for Kubica last season. I could see both McLaren and BMW being very keen to acquire him, given that both teams are either German or have a German engine partner who surely would like to have a German driver aboard. I think it’s very interesting that McLaren seems to have a seat open right now for 2010, and that BMW is delaying their annual announcement of their driver lineup for next season and the terms of their drivers’ contracts.
Vettel made my day when he said ” we had balls today”
Geesh i allmost did die. I hope hamilton did hear that lol.
Vettel was really good and he seems to be nice guy, When somebody called him next Schumi he said that its ridigilious call him like that. So sounds that vettel wont be next Big mouth like some other driver…
And ofcourse Hamilton could not keep his mouth. Howcome he can say that he would win if rain would continue???? Its like putting down all hard work and skills what vettel did.
Then he had to say some nice things about massa ” Massa lost his opportunity to take WDC lead” Who have asked Hamilton say something nasty about every possible drivers in grid.
“If i will not win WDC i have not lost it. Kimi is champion and he is one who will be loser if he do not win it”
GEESH!!!!
Can somebody give some duck tape to Lewis and close his mouth pleaseeee.
BTW. Lewis will cause some accident one day if he continue pusjing other drivers away from track like he did in Monza.
CONGRATULATIONS VETTEL. GREAT JOB, OUR NEW RAIN MASTER
Bobulon, I agree with you. The “Lewis can still win this” theories were increasing so illogical they were almost funny, “o.k. Lewis is in 8th place, 26 secs behind and has one more pit-stop but I think he can still win this”….
For all those who say the stewards are anti-Lewis, how Lewis escaped without a penalty after his incident with Webber, I don’t know. There is an argument for aggressive legal driving but in my mind, the Webber incident was not legal.
To DC: why should the interviewers ask the podium people about Hamilton? Let them talk about their race, they earned it.
Speaking of which, I have so much admiration for Vettel and Kubica. They are young & talented and show terrific good sportmanship. Hamilton does have some talent but his arrogance is overwhelming. There is confidence and then there is arrogrance. It has been really interesting this week, that no other F1 driver has spoken out in support of Hamilton getting the steward’s decision overturned. Not one. Lately, Ham’s driving technique resembles demolition derby, not F1. I am all for competitiveness, absolutely, but not at the cost of sportmanship.
The “Lewis can still win this” theories were probably because at one stage he was 1.1 seconds behind Vettel when both had 1 pit stop remaining. But lets not let the facts get in the way of a good Hamilton bashing.
Keith, great website. I first came here about 3 months ago and I’ve been a daily reader ever since. I do have to say though, that I’m amazed at the vitriolic anti-Hamilton comments that appear on just about every topic. Has any other driver ever provoked this sort of reaction before?!
First BMW now Torro Rosso win – stand by for yet another faceless corporate reshuffle at the uninspiring corporate monster that is Toyota.
Congratulations to Vettel on his first win and hope there will be lots more to come. I notice a lot of people jump to conclusions after one race , sure a very exciting and demanding race , but to conclude for example that Raikkonen is no good , is premature. Obviously he was set up for drier conditions , which showed later in the race . He took a gamble and it never paid off. The fact Ferrari have signed him for another year tells a story on it’s own. Hamilton was great , makes passing look “easy” , but again he had a wet set up together with a McLaren which is better than Ferrari in cooler conditions , which allowed him to do that , and as we saw , in drier conditions , he lost some of that awesome pace. But still a sensational drive , and as usual he get’s everything out of the car that he can and even a bit more. Massa drove a consistent race , also under considerable pressure from Hamilton . That itself shows how the set up makes a big difference – compare his drive at Monza to the one at Silverstone (similar conditions) , again Massa after Silverstone had been written off as hopeless in the rain , yet he has performed well at Monza. All in all , the show is improving , with Vettel having won , my count makes it 11 drivers on the current grid who have won GP , 4 of which are not recent winners , making it SEVEN who currently have the potential to win in the right car. Adding to that , are drivers like Glock and Heidfeld , who could take a win in the right situation.