Sebastian Vettel wins the Italian Grand Prix

2013 Italian Grand Prix summary

Posted on

| Written by

Sebastian Vettel scored his third Italian Grand Prix and extended his lead in the drivers’ championship.

It was not plain sailing for Red Bull as both their drivers were warned about potential gearbox problems in the latter stages of the race. Vettel also had to worry about a flat-spot from a tyre he locked at the first corner.

Fernando Alonso took second place ahead of Mark Webber, who he passed earlier in the race. Webber put him under pressure in the closing stages but, like Vettel, was preoccupied with looking after his gearbox.

Felipe Massa finished fourth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who gave Sauber their best result of the season so far with fifth. Nico Rosberg finished where he started in sixth.

The final lap began with Lewis Hamilton closing on the battle for seventh between Daniel Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean. Hamilton tried to pass the Lotus at the Roggia chicane but ran wide and had to surrended the position, meaning the trio finished in that order.

Jenson Button took the final point of the day while Kimi Raikkonen could only finish 11th after damaging his front wing on the first lap in contact with Sergio Perez.

2013 Italian Grand Prix

Browse all 2013 Italian Grand Prix articles

Image © Red Bull/Getty

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

65 comments on “Sebastian Vettel wins the Italian Grand Prix”

  1. That was an interesting race. Down to the script as written .

    An podium to envy for Vettel…..

  2. Since the topic has arisen on Sky, I don’t really think Alonso’s move on Webber was that impressive considering he hit him. I admire the determination and the initial part was excellent, but he cut across his front wing on the exit. It wasn’t massively impressive.

    1. I’d love to see you try it

      1. @gdog
        That is hardly relevant is it…

      2. @gdog I’d like to see you do it.

        @philereid it was a nice move, but well over hyped on commentary IMO!

        @jerseyf1 I’m not at all proclaiming he should’ve gotten a penalty, it was nothing like severe enough for that. Although now you say that, it was interesting that it probably prevented Mark from challenging Alonso harder towards the end of the race for second place…

        1. @vettel1 Completely agree that it was over-hyped! I loved the move, but the commentators made it sound like it was the greatest thing ever.

    2. I think it was one of those moments where Webber probably should have backed out of it though. We see it all the time where the driver comes back across. The move was fantastic in my opinion. :)

      1. Exactly, Alonso had the racing line on the exit, Webber was always going to get squeezed, he just didn’t back out of it quite soon enough. It was a good move and brave racing by both of them, it’s no coincidence that Alonso/Webber battles so often produce some great racing.

    3. In general I think the over application of penalties has taken a lot out of the sport by saying that drivers should not overtake unless they are 100% certain that there will be no contact. Many of the penalties applied in the last few seasons I believe are simple the consequences of drivers racing in close quarters at high speed.

      On that basis I do not think that Alonso should have been penalised for this move. However, it does seem like an inconsistent application of the rules. I believe if the positions had been reversed Alonso would have been on the radio to the FIA looking to have a penalty applied and, in some cases, a penalty would have been given. Quite simply Webber gave Alonso space on the outside on the entry whilst Alonso gave Webber no space and the choice of braking or crashing.

      What I think is worse is the pathetic way Massa continues to jump out of Alonso’s way, on the basis of today’s performance I think Massa has earned another year in the Ferrari, and it’s quite clear why Alonso doesn’t want any other driver as his teammate.

    4. Because you have raised the point that piece of motor-racing is arguably one of the passes of the year so far, Alonso braked very late to overtake Mark from the outside Mark has pushed Fernando a litte bit of the track so that he can lift Alonso didn’t lift & took Mark from the outside and at that moment he has the racing line, Mark saw Fernando taking the racing line but didn’t give up and continued to push which led to a little damage on his front wing if he has lifted his front wing wouldn’t be damaged but that’s what makes the battles between Fernando & Mark (and of course Lewis) so exiting, great friends racing with each other from more than 14 years and a lot of respect between them but no one would give the other anything they fight fair and square until the last inch

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        8th September 2013, 16:07

        @tifoso1989 I never thought this day would come, but I agree with your point.

        1. @omarr-pepper
          +1 chapeau & fair play to you because you said that, i’m pretty confident that convincing you and @vettel1 is harder than getting my engineering degree !!!!!!!!!!!!!

          1. @tifoso1989 I’m partial to a good return argument ;)

            Fair point raised, although since it was put in the context of Webber’s move at Spa 2011 I do think it was overhyped!

    5. +1

      I thought it was a careless chop coming out of the corner. Looked like Webber braked to avoid the chop yet Alonso still clipped his wing.

  3. Now we need seven 4 straight miracles to prevent Seb to claim his WDC#4 before Texas…

  4. Fikri Harish (@)
    8th September 2013, 15:04

    I like it when Martin mentioned that this was basically a multi-class race between Vettel and the non-Vettel.
    The guy is simply on a whole another level so far this season.

    Completely over the moon for Hulkenberg though. It saddens me to think that there’s a possibility he might end up without a drive next year.

    1. Even in the their weakest circuit and like we saw in the previous sessions on both single lap and long runs the RB9 was half a second faster than the competition, Mark Webber with a broken front wing and a gearbox problem was breathing down Fernando’s neck for half the race, Newey should be in jail he is killing the show !!!!!!!!!!

      1. @tifoso1989 More like all the other teams should up their game, don´t they?

        I don´t think we should hope for the best to fail or fall; we should get the other to do better. If not we should stop calling it a competition and a sport, since all sport try to get the excellence, and thats what Vettel and Red Bull are achieving.

        1. @celeste
          I was just kidding with my words on Newey , i never wish that fate to anyone !!!!!!!! As a Ferrari fan i used also to admire the what so called “boring era” (which i don’t consider boring at all) when Ferrari has showed a new level of dominance in the sport, i know that for the current rules it is too late to catch the Bull’s but i do hope with the 2014 regs that Ferrari will beat them fair and square with Adrian Newey & Vettel in the team

        2. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
          8th September 2013, 17:13

          Vettel is not a very big deal IMO. Better drivers in Kimi, Alonso, and even Lewis I would say. The RB9 is the one to beat – of course it needs to be driven well, but I think the 3 drivers I mentioned would have done a better job with it..

          1. @shreyasf1fan
            I beg to differ. How was Alonso’s domination in 2005 and the first half of 2006 with Renault any better than Vettel’s domination with Red Bull in 2011 and the second half of 2013? Vettel has not committed any particularly grievous error this season, whereas those aforementioned 3 drivers all did. Alonso crashed into the back of Vettel at Sepang and then chose not to pit for a new front wing (And we all know what happened later), Hamilton botching up his qualifying in Monza (Although Sutil didn’t help) and Raikkonen crashing into the back of Perez at the start of the race on the same circuit. Vettel? Nothing in particular, other than maybe running wide at Montreal while possessing a 10+ second lead. In addition, out of the 4 drivers only Vettel and Hamilton have to put up with remotely competitive teammates (Although Grosjean is getting better) while Alonso has Massa jumping out of his way in the rare occasions he gets ahead.

      2. It has to be said though that the season would still be quite open if Alonso did not run into the back of Vettel in Malaysia. The points difference would most likely be 21 points now. Together with Monaco, he could be a bit closer if he used his Ferrari in the first six races better when it was a better car for the races than the RedBull.

      3. Newey should be in jail he is killing the show

        @tifoso1989: Oh really… why cant the tifosis weave their magic of the 2000-2004 years… dont forget newey was around that time too…

        Its not one single person who is responsible for the RBR dominance, which Alonso always uses the excuse to hide under…..

    2. Bah! Perez put that Sauber in 2nd place last year…btw at this point he already had 3 podiums, and the Hulk?…rest my case!

      1. Not the same car… you can´t messure last year car, againts this year car.

      2. Fikri Harish (@)
        8th September 2013, 19:06

        By your logic then Gutierrez must be the worst driver to ever get a drive in Formula 1.

        1. Taki Inoue is gonna be mad to no longer have the tittle

  5. Nobody has the machinery/luck to compete with Vettel this season. And Red Bull is only getting better. Lets focus on the fight for 2nd in the WDC. =/

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      8th September 2013, 15:20

      3 and a half championships down to luck… as @gdog told just before… I’d love to see you try it

      1. I’m sure that he means Alonso/Hamilton can only beat Vettel with better machinery and better luck.

      2. 3 and a half championships down to luck

        It was down to Newey

        1. Yes, Newey is the one that has won the 3 championsips

          1. Newey has done an *amazing* job driving that car via remote control from the pit wall!

          2. @aka_robyn Yes, pity is that the can control only one car, if not, Webber would have been the sub campion all of this years. You know, drivers don’t do nothing, it is all Newey and the car :P

      3. @omarr-pepper Nay sayers, will said is luck and Newey. The more they are stuborn in this position they keep looking like silly little people who don´t understand F1

        1. @celeste
          Thanks for the compliment because if the majority of F1 community are silly and doesn’t understand F1 then i’mproud to be part of it

          1. Majority of F1 imply drivers? And no, majority of F1 doesn’t think that Newey is the one that has won the championship,

      4. @omarr-pepper I didn’t say the entire 3 and a half seasons have been down to luck, but it’s obvious it has helped. He has driven undoubtedly the best car for a large part of those 3 and a half seasons, this season his competitors have had a lot of bad luck (just look at this race) and Pirelli’s compound change swung the balance hugely into Red Bull’s favour. Don’t get me wrong, he is a brilliant driver, but would he have easily won 3 championships if some of these things didn’t go his way?

        1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          8th September 2013, 20:19

          @jarnooo , but you forget Vettel’s mistakes and bad luck (it’s so convenient to forget it, isn’t it?) Turkey 2010 Vettel got his own DNF, and then in Korea his car looked like a barbecue. But anyway he recovered to get his WDC. So let’s stop that “always good luck” stuff

          1. You must have ignored my post, because I didn’t say it was always good luck.

        2. How were 2010 and 2012 championships easily won? It was decided on the last race. Vettel did the best he could to win but Alonso faltered when he could clearly do better.

    2. Newey’s been a great contributor, but to put it solely down to him is offensive and dismissive of every other team member – in the factory, in the garages, in the pit crews and of course on the track. Frankly, no one person can win you championships. But get the right people together (as Newey, Horner, Vettel and every other RBR team member is) and you have a winning package.

      Red Bull have provided Vettel with the tools and he’s used them brilliantly, being by far the most consistent performer this season. There is no doubt that he’s earned his championship lead.

      1. To say Vettel’s titles are just because of Newey is ridiculous .. No doubt he has had the best or equal best cars for the last 3 & half years but so did Mark Webber (Mark Webber is not a slow driver by any means)… Apart from 2010 Mark Webber had been totally outclassed by vettel, so Vettel must be doing something right… It’s the best driver and Car combination that wins championships and for the last 3 seasons it has been Vettel and RB(and on their way to a 4th title as well) … Though I actually dislike him I rate him as one of the top 3 drivers in F1 at the moment the others being Alonso and Hamilton …

    3. Man, how bad must Mark Webber be? And by proxy, then, Nico Rosberg, David Coulthard, Nick Heidfeld and if we go even further, pretty much anyone on the grid? If Vettel can win 4 WDC just down to luck and having a good car, I wonder how Red Bull gave him better cars in F3, Formula BMW and I wonder if Schumacher sabotaged Vettel’s competitors in karts..

      You know, I’m not saying it’s aliens.. But it’s aliens.

  6. I already believe in 2014.

  7. Great job Hulk! I wish I could say the same for Perez. I used to think he had potential, but now I think he may be an idiot. The incident at turn one could have been much worse. He must like running black and gold cars off the track. In my opinion, he is not good enough to be so aggressive. If Perez didn’t have a sugardaddy, he wouldn’t be in F1. (Can you tell I’m a Kimi fan?)

  8. 2014, 5 times World Champion?

    1. 2014 Hulk a Champ for Ferrari.

    2. Wow! You have first read your folks!

  9. Does anyone have a video link to the replay of this overtake move by Alonso? I missed it :(

  10. Game, set and match. That, my fellows F1ers, is that. Sebastian Vettel: the four time champion an equal of “the great” Alain Prost! Are we going to have to start putting “the great” in front of Vettel’s name every time we say it? Or is the the p h e n o m e n a l RB9 going to placed in the pantheon of all time great cars of our sport? It has gone from tyre eater to title eater all thanks to, as Brundle so rightly calls him, the Leonardo Da Vinci of F1, Adrian Newey. Forget Alonso. Forget Hamilton. Forget Vettel. Newey is the paddock’s most talented man, and this year he made a car every bit as fast as the RB7, but without the use of the blown floor, which is just sheer brilliance in my eyes. As a Brit, I am proud that F1’s most talented man is also a product of our rolling green hills.

    Those that look at Hamilton’s recent string of poles and think, “That Merc’s got the legs on Newey’s finest”, then you sir are commenting merely on Hamilton awesome qualifying ability. Red Bull have had by far and away the best car since Germany, in all conditions and configurations, and when you’re up against that kind of speed, even Ferrari’s in house magician can’t find anything at the bottom of his hat. The title campaigns of Alonso and Hamilton, two drivers that I genuinely believe to be better than Vettel, have both been flattened by the incredible RB9.

    When articles and commentators say, “What do they have to do to stop Vettel” then they are asking the wrong question. What do they have to stop Newey? OK, the 2014 regs act as something of a game-changer and arguably level the playing field somewhat, but if Newey can master the ban of the blown floor to such an extent that he ends up with an equally fast car just over a year later, then I have no doubt that there is the prospect of a continuation of the Red Bull’s technical dominance.

    In terms of today’s race, it was the wrong card for F1. No matter how big a Vettel fan you are, I am sure you’d at least like to see the championship stay alive until at least the Abu Dhabi GP, although at the moment I think that could even be a long shot. F1 badly needs success spread more evenly if it is to remain widely exciting across a broad audience. OK, there is an “inner circle” of F1 fans that will watch every race no matter how predictable, but if there is verging on a certainty that Red Bull will triumph, which there is as Red Bull’s rivals will now abandon 2013 development and focus on 2014, Mr Johnny-Casual-F1-Watcher will turn off, and that is bad for F1 no matter how you cut it.

    Contrast the resigned solemnity of the paddock’s current mood to the buzz of anticipation that we had last year and pray, no matter how much of a fan you are of free and equal sportsmanship, that the RB10 isn’t as fast as its predecessors, because it is now critical for F1 that the championship is won by someone else if we are to maintain the attention of the commercially crucial mainstream F1 audience.

    1. I would say both… Vettel is on the top of his game, so is RB9, even in monza it completely dominates the competition… it comes down to this, if vettel was in a Ferrari, he probaly wouldn’t have won a single championship, in a mclaren, problay yes…

      Vettel is one fo the best, but his quality is being overshadowed by the car, The car is so good that doesn’t let him shine enought, like for example Alonso did last year, were vettel won by the championship by a hair, having a superior car.

      At this moment, I even thing that Vettel would like to have a slight slower car, so that he could prove how good he his, because he is very good… But the car is too fast to let people know…

      1. @oliveiraz33 You think Vettel would have won the championship in the MP4-27? Hamilton lost over 100 points through reliability, operational errors and strategic errors, 100 points which would have handed him the 2012 title. Even with Hamilton’s awesome 2012 form, McLaren still manages to snap defeat from the jaws of victory, so I doubt very highly that Vettel could have won it.

        I am not saying that Vettel isn’t one of the best, that is undeniable, I just object to people looking at a sheet of statistics, forgetting context, and then saying that Vettel is the best out there. It’s like looking at Schumacher’s stats and then turning a cold shoulder to a talent like Ayrton Senna.

        Vettel has had a slower car. The earlier specs of the RB8 were probably the worst Red Bulls since 2008, so what did Vettel do? Did he rise above it? Prove his talent? No. After ten races, he found himself behind Webber in the rankings, and substantially behind Alonso in a car even slower than the RB8. Vettel fans believe that that chance to prove himself came at the Abu Dhabi GP last year with his drive from pits to podium, a drive facilitated almost solely by the safety car and included clumsy moves, contact and having to give a position back. Vettel does need an equivilent car to an early RB8, but next time he needs to do a much better job if he is to revive any kind of popularity.

    2. The Ferrari was the better car in the first six rounds. Did we see Alonso the terminator leading the championship?

      No. Vettel used all his chances he has got whilst Alonso hasn’t – Malaysia and Monaco spring to mind where he hasn’t been that concentrated.

    3. Red Bull have had by far and away the best car since Germany

      Odd then, that Vettel has been leading the championship since the second race with his inferior race craft.

      The title campaigns of Alonso and Hamilton, two drivers that I genuinely believe to be better than Vettel, have both been flattened by the incredible RB9.

      They should have made less mistakes. Or do you really want to try and say Alonso’s race in Malaysia, Bahrein and Monaco were a result of car performance. And who was it that failed to get through to Q3 yesterday by his own fault. Not Vettel. Hamilton had a good chance of winning it today but managed to sabotage that chance all by himself by making several mistakes in qualifying.

      You can scream “Newey did it” all you like but the fact still remains Vettel, as opposed to those drivers you think are better, hasn’t made a single mistake yet and is by far the most consistent driver on the grid this year and has out-qualified and out-raced his team mate in every race so far.

    4. I don’t think we’ll have to put “the great” in front of Vettel’s name yet, even though he is a great of the sport. In years to come when people look back then certainly he’ll be sometimes referred to as the great Sebastian Vettel.
      You are right though, as Joe Public will not be encouraged to watch the sport when the only F1 headlines he sees contain “Vettel wins the … Grand Prix”. Let’s hope 2014 changes the pecking order somewhat, like Hamilton and Mercedes winning the titles.

      1. @deej92 @william-brierty it’s usually a title applied in retrospect I’d say. The great drivers are often credited during their careers, but it’s only really after they’ve finished that they are added to record books et al!

        1. That’s the word I was looking for – retrospect!

      2. @deej92 @vettel1 I agree with both of you. Skill, such as the move Alonso put on Webber, is celebrated in the moment, but greatness is realized once a driver leaves the cockpit and placed amongst the sport’s historical context. Will Vettel be among the very greatest of F1? Time and titles will tell.

    5. You really used a lot of words to say “I hate Vettel”. You try to be a gentlemen about it but sometimes is better if you just scream it, you may feel better.

    6. And on another note, as a Brit you should really be proud of amount of talent, mostly British, that is accumulated in a small area in England that is basically driving the F1 development. But naming only one of those people is really very unfair to the rest of the British people in Red Bull team without whom Newey wouldn’t be anywhere close to where is he now. He’s just as an executive, lets say Steve Jobs, who has a great ideas but he needs equally talented team that will execute these ideas, including the driver who’s just a part of the team. As Hamilton said in a recent interview the driver may contribute 20% to 30% of the car’s performance and acknowledged that Vettel is getting the max of the car. Now for you to say that Vettel is all about the car and Hamilton is getting poles because of his driving is a bit rich.

  11. You guys talk rightly of the brilliance of A Newey; and others talk of the mental part of driving and the will to win. Does the brilliant technical guys at Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus also get discouraged? maybe Newey’s talent is his drive to be the best. Maybe Red Bull’s team talent is the ability to keep everyone moving forward in the same direction better than other teams? I remember just a few years the red bull was a dog at the start of the season, but it become something at the end.

  12. Another Grand Prix since the change in the Pirelli tyres that was boring, and usually Monza provides good races like Spa. Maybe we have to think again about Pirelli tyres and the DRS.

  13. Why does Vettel get booed;
    1 Malaysia , not the manouver but the poor PR handling . Webber’s PR caused the damage here.
    2 The “I showed you ” finger
    3 Alonso and Lewis attacking Vettel’s skills by inferring that they were better drivers and they would show that, if only they had the same car. Suggesting therefore that the spoiled brat got the best deal, and he didn’t and doesn’t deserve the wins.
    4 The podium interviews are inane and boring to the spectators. They want to participate, not listen to a technical analysis. So they get up to mischief, and, I predict that, sooner or later one supporter will say something a competing competitor does not like and there will be a fight. The interviews draw too many people to a tiny area for too long. DO AWAY WITH THE PODIUM INTERVIEWS.

Comments are closed.