The Midfield
McLaren's race day didn't turn out as successfully as they might have hoped. Button's car was worked on right before the race to fix a fuel problem, and then he suffered a poor start that dropped him back a few places. He enjoyed the early part of the race but then struggled later as they fuel load dropped, with top gear too short and hitting the limiter, hampering his performance and making them easier to overtake. He brought it home for a single important point however in tenth on McLaren's 50th anniversary. Perez was stuck behind Ricciardo early on, then late in the race also struggled for top speed, getting passed by Hamilton and Raikkonen near the end, leaving him a disappointing 12th. Raikkonen was compromised from the first lap, rear ending Perez' McLaren to break the front wing, forcing an immediate stop and change of strategy. Throughout the race he was fast, but only able to get 11th place in the end, his second finish outside the points in a row. Gutierrez was unable to match his flying teammates performance, bringing home the second Sauber in 13th place. He started on the hard tyres and managed to stay out of trouble, then raced through the field with the likes of Sutil, but was ultimately unable to challenge the points. Force India endured another painful outing in Italy, as on the first lap Paul di Resta misjudged the pack at the second chicane and drove straight into the back of Romain Grosjean, taking the front off his car and putting him out of the race, followed by a reprimand from the stewards. Sutil then had a tough race in the midfield and retired on the last lap with brake problems, classifying him 16th overall. It was a weekend to forget for them, especially since they usually do so well at Monza.