Italian GP: Sebastian Vettel takes commanding Monza win

With the lead Red Bull out of reach from the start, the greatest Ferrari could hope for was 'best of the rest' honours, which Alonso secured after a long tussle with Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber.

Both Red Bulls were ordered to short-shift to protect potential gearbox issues in the closing stages, but while that stymied Webber's pursuit of Alonso, Vettel had enough in hand to back off and still comfortably triumph.

In further good news for Vettel, erstwhile title threats Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen were left squabbling (spectacularly) over minor points after early incidents.

ITALIAN GP REACTION

Vettel laughs off podium jeers

Lotus: Raikkonen matched Vettel's pace

Hamilton backtracks over title pessimism

Hulkenberg: result won't sway Ferrari

Di Resta reprimanded for crash

Vettel was threatened by both Webber and the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa into a crowded first corner, but kept himself ahead and swiftly pulled away.

A beautifully judged move around the outside into the Roggia chicane on lap three took Alonso past Webber's Red Bull for third, as they went wheel to wheel right through the complex, making only slight contact on the exit.

Massa then made life very easy for Alonso when he came to overtake for second, and the Spaniard was able to stabilise Vettel's lead at six seconds.

But when Alonso tried a slightly divergent strategy by running four laps longer before his sole pitstop, Vettel's lead increased to over 10s.

Alonso came back out only just ahead of Webber, who had jumped Massa in the stops, and had several close calls in the closing laps as the Red Bull attacked, before claiming second.

Nico Hulkenberg lived up to his qualifying performance by settling his Sauber into fifth place.

He had Nico Rosberg's Mercedes in often very close company all afternoon, but kept his compatriot at bay and finished just a few seconds behind Alonso, Webber and Massa at the end of an outstanding weekend.

The recovering Lotus and Mercedes then ended up in the same place on track late on having an epic battle both with each other and the midfield traffic.

Daniel Ricciardo stayed just far enough ahead of late chargers Romain Grosjean and Hamilton to take seventh, while Jenson Button just denied Raikkonen a point. Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez chased them home.

Grosjean reached the end despite Paul di Resta's Force India slamming into his Lotus at the Roggia on lap one, an impact that ended the Scot's race.

Jean-Eric Vergne was another early retirement, having battled in the top 10 before smoke erupted from the right rear of his Toro Rosso in a suspected transmission failure.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Italian Grand Prix
Monza, Italy;
53 laps; 306.720km;
Weather: Cloudy.

Classified:
   
Pos Driver                Team                    Time/Gap
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1h18m33.352s
 2. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 +5.467s
 3. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        +6.350s
 4. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 +9.361s
 5. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari          +10.355s
 6. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                +10.999s
 7. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      +32.329s
 8. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault           +33.130s
 9. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                +33.527s
10. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        +38.327s
11. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault           +38.695s
12. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes        +39.765s
13. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari          +40.880s
14. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault        +49.085s
15. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault        +56.827s
16. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    +1 lap
17. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault        +1 lap
18. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault        +1 lap
19. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth       +1 lap
20. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth       +1 lap

Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:25.849

Not classified/retirements:

Driver              Team                       On lap
Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso-Ferrari           35
Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes         1


World Championship standings, round 12:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel        222        1.  Red Bull-Renault          352
 2.  Alonso        169        2.  Ferrari                   248
 3.  Hamilton      141        3.  Mercedes                  245
 4.  Raikkonen     134        4.  Lotus-Renault             191
 5.  Webber        130        5.  McLaren-Mercedes           66
 6.  Rosberg       104        6.  Force India-Mercedes       61
 7.  Massa          79        7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         31
 8.  Grosjean       57        8.  Sauber-Ferrari             17
 9.  Button         48        9.  Williams-Renault            1
10.  Di Resta       36       
11.  Sutil          25       
12.  Perez          18       
13.  Ricciardo      18       
14.  Hulkenberg     17       
15.  Vergne         13       
16.  Maldonado       1       
       
All timing unofficial