 Fernando Alonso reduced Lewis Hamilton's world championship lead to three points by taking a dominant victory in the Italian Grand Prix. Kimi: "We just were not quick enough today."
But Hamilton prevented his teammate from making further inroads by putting a bold pass on Kimi Raikkonen for second place after the Ferrari had got between the McLarens during the pit stops.
Raikkonen's third place leaves him 18 points adrift of Hamilton with four rounds to go, and with Felipe Massa retiring early with his first mechanical failure of the year, Ferrari's title hopes look increasingly distant...
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While Alonso calmly led away at the start, Hamilton lost ground off
the grid and was passed by Massa. The Briton went around the outside of
the Ferrari into the first chicane, making slight wheel to wheel
contact and cutting the apex of the left-hander in the process. The
officials decided not to penalise Hamilton, who resisted Massa's
vigorous attempts to regain second further around the opening lap.
The safety car then emerged for five laps after David Coulthard's
front wing - weakened in contact with Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault -
collapsed in the middle of the Curva Grande and sent the Red Bull into
the barriers at high speed. Coulthard was unhurt in the accident.
After the restart Hamilton was able to get away from Massa, who
retired soon afterwards after reporting a mechanical problem with the
rear of his Ferrari.
Hamilton stayed close to Alonso through the first stint, but pitted
two laps sooner, allowing Alonso to establish a more comfortable lead
in the middle of the race.
While McLaren had opted for a two-stop strategy, Raikkonen was only
pitting once, and he was able to lead after the McLarens' stops.
He then maintained a sufficiently fast pace in his heavy Ferrari to
keep McLaren under pressure, and when Hamilton made his final stop on
lap 40, he rejoined behind Raikkonen in third place.
With Alonso far enough ahead to retain his lead even after his stop,
it looked like Hamilton's championship lead might dwindle to a single
point.
But just as Alonso was making his final pit visit, Hamilton was
diving down the inside of Raikkonen into the first chicane and retaking
second place. He then accelerated away to complete a commanding McLaren
one-two.
BMW took fourth and fifth with Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica,
despite the Pole losing a lot of time when his car fell from its jacks
at his first pitstop. He finally reclaimed fifth place by driving
around the outside of Nico Rosberg at the first chicane in the closing
stages.
Rosberg beat the two-stopping Heikki Kovalainen and fellow
one-stopper Jenson Button to sixth. The German and the Briton had
engaged in a spirited battle in the opening stint, running absolutely
side by side through the first chicane before Rosberg secured the
position with an outside line dive at the Roggia.
Mark Webber and Rubens Barrichello completed the top ten, ahead of the slow-starting Jarno Trulli.
Italian Grand Prix result, Monza, 53 laps
1. ALONSO Mclaren 1h18m37.806s
2. HAMILTON McLaren +6.0s
3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +27.3s
4. HEIDFELD BMW +56.5s
5. KUBICA BMW +1m00.5s
6. ROSBERG Williams +1m05.8s
7. KOVALAINEN Renault +1m06.7s
8. BUTTON Honda +1m12.1s
9. WEBBER Red Bull +1m15.9s
10. BARRICHELLO Honda +1m16.9s
11. TRULLI Toyota +1m17.7s
12. FISICHELLA Renault +1 lap
13. WURZ Williams +1 lap
14. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +1 lap
15. R SCHUMACHER Toyota +1 lap
16. SATO Super Aguri +1 lap
17. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +1 lap
18. VETTEL Toro Rosso +1 lap
19. SUTIL Spyker +1 lap
20. YAMAMOTO Spyker +1 lap
R. MASSA Ferrari +43 laps
R. COULTHARD Red Bull +52 laps
source: autosport.com
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