Race
Vettel drove a characteristic victory, getting past quickly and extending a gap to keep him out of grasp of the competition on a balanced two-stop strategy. He made use of the dry pace advantage his car had compared to Hamilton's Mercedes to break away and control the race, turning it into a somewhat surprisingly unchallenged victory. Alonso drove the wheels off his Ferrari with a blistering start and a fantastic reversal of the 2011 passing manoeuvre Webber put on him at Eau Rouge on his way to second place, while Hamilton controlled his teammate and the second Red Bull to round out the podium. The Front Runners After the overtake onto the straight, Vettel's victory never really looked in doubt as the rain held off, leaving him to sweep to victory. Webber had a lot less luck, with clutch and launch problems at the start hampering his getaway, dropping him into the pack. He struggled to make a real mark on his way to fifth place, but still helped Red Bull pick up another 35 points towards the 2013 title. Fernando Alonso delivered superbly on a fairly decent afternoon for the Ferrari team, breaking through from ninth on the grid to take a comfortable second place. With a great start and good pace, he overtook Hamilton after the first stops and broke away, though he was never able to attack Vettel and felt their car, despite feeling great in all situations, didn't have the pace to do it. Massa's afternoon was less enjoyable, as he nearly tangled with Grosjean at the start, then had trouble in the first stint with KERS. After that he struggled to make up positions, coming good at the end but too late, sneaking past Grosjean to take a frustrated seventh. Mercedes didn't quite get the result they might have hoped for after qualifying, struggling early on for pace. With the weather staying clear they were unable to match Vettel or Alonso for pace in the dry, even as Hamilton wrung the neck of his car to get on the podium. Rosberg had a less eventful race, struggling with tyres a little and covering Felipe Massa on his way to fourth, holding off Webber in the final laps to help Mercedes take a decent 27 points. The low downforce track didn't suit their car somewhat surprisingly, and they are looking beyond Monza to Singapore, though Ross Brawn was pleased with the teams progress. McLaren headed the best of the rest as Jenson Button took sixth place, pleased with the car and its feel even as they struggled to chase down those ahead. Initially they tried to do a one-stop strategy, but when it didn't work out they quickly shifted to a two-stop before they compromised themselves. Jenson enjoyed himself, and felt they had direction for developing the car as they stripped Force India of fifth place in the championship. Romain Grosjean was the only Lotus to make it home in eighth place, nearly tangling with Massa at the first corner and then struggled to make a mark, dropping two places as he almost collided with Perez at the first chicane, leading to a debatable penalty for the McLaren driver. They tried a one stop strategy, which never really worked out as they struggled for raw pace, and it left Grosjean vulnerable to Massa, who overtook with four laps to go. Kimi Raikkonen had a worse day, suffering front brake problems from the start, which culminated in a failure into the bus stop chicane at the end of lap 26. It was the first retirement for him since his F1 return, ending a 38-race finishing streak and a record breaking run of 27 points finishes in a row. Force India's weekend, at one of their favourite circuits, failed to deliver much besides disappointment. After a poor start, Sutil worked to make up places in a fairly enjoyable race, tussling with his teammate, Sauber's and the Williams cars. That culminated in an accident on lap 28, with the rear left of the Force India taking Maldonado's front wing off at the bus stop chicane, Sutil lucky to escape unscathed before racing onwards to take ninth and two points with a two-stop strategy. Di Resta was not so lucky, as after a very slow start that saw him drop to tenth, in the second act of the Maldonado incident he was hit by the Williams as Maldonado swerved to suddenly enter the pit lane, completely dismantling the rear left corner of the second Force India and ending what had threatened to be such a promising weekend for the Scot.