The Small Picture
Without a doubt, the small picture goes to Nico Hulkenberg as the talented young German showed what he can do with an inferior car in Monza. Like many of the greats, he seems to thrive on adversity when he's in tough situations, such as when he took pole position with Williams at Brazil in 2010 or his fantastic race in Brazil 2012 for Force India. Once he got the bit between his teeth he went for it, and even though he knew Ferrari and Red Bull were likely out of reach he didn't give up and delivered a flawless performance to hold back Rosberg in a Mercedes for a fantastic fifth place with a car that so far this year has only managed tenth. Hulkenberg is an enjoyable driver to watch and tough racer, and with a performance like this plenty of teams will be taking note, as if they weren't already. Ferrari are rumoured to be interested, and there is the potential of Lotus should Raikkonen move on. It has been a disappointing Sauber for 2013 after such excellence in 2012, but he has still managed to show himself, and with others like Paul di Resta having a couple of poor races he is shining at the right moment. There is clearly mighty potential in him, and you wonder if someone like McLaren might have been better to take him on board rather than Perez. From Behind the Glasses
I found the Italian Grand Prix to be thoroughly enjoyable to watch...further down the field. The result at the front was another disappointment, offering no surprises. It was a shame to see Felipe Massa drop from the podium due to a slow pit stop, but Alonso and Webber gave us some great racing. Whenever those two get together there seems to be some gutsy, respectful overtaking going down, usually around the outside of tough corners. That was great to see, and brilliant in front of the devoted Tifosi. Behind them, the midfield battle made the day. Hulkenberg drove his heart out to take fifth place in his Sauber ahead of a rapid, recovering Rosberg. Behind that pair, Torro Rosso, McLaren, Lotus and the second Mercedes scrapped it out all race for points, with Torro Rosso holding on with their high top speed, 340kmh in fact, whilst McLaren and Lotus dogged them through the tighter middle section of the lap. With Hamilton and Raikkonen compromised by first lap incidents it dropped them back behind the pack on a two-stop race, leaving them to charge through at the end, with Hamilton showing some great effort to drive through into the points over the last few laps. Overall it was good stuff, but a shame that the rain at the start of the race failed to continue and impact things, which would really have shaken things up. The title however looks over however, without a miracle in the coming races. Sadly the season now leaves Europe to head for boring, uninspired Tilke tracks in the east like Singapore, India and Abu Dhabi.