Italian Grand Prix Review: Redemption for F1 as Vettels gives minnows hope

Formula One / Thomas Cowie / 16 September 2008 / Leave a Comment

After F1's credibility was damaged at Monza, Sebastian Vettel's victory was as unexpected as it was brilliant, says Tom Cowie.

The dust is now settling on two consecutive weekends of fantastic racing action. Both weekends shared common themes - historic circuits, wet weather, and supreme driving skill.

Fortunately, there was one major difference between the two, namely that the Italian race was not soured by controversy, as Belgium had been.

It is fair to say that Monza got the stewards off the hook to a certain degree. Whether justified or not, their decision to demote Hamilton to Third in Belgium damaged the credibility of the sport, and stole the headlines.

When the worlds' media should have been reporting one of the best races in recent memory, they were instead reduced to once again discussing the rulings, penalties, and politics which have blighted F1 in recent years. The sport redeemed itself at Monza - and how.

To succeed in modern F1 requires astronomical amounts of money - the annual budgets of the top teams runs in to the Hundreds of Millions. If you haven't got the cash required to win in F1, it's more than likely that you never will. It's that simple. Points maybe, but forget podiums.

Sebastian Vettel's pole position and subsequent victory was therefore as unexpected as it was brilliant. Not only does he become the youngest ever driver to win in F1, but Torro Rosso have proved that it is possible, given the right circumstances, for the minnows to out swim the big fish.

Inevitably, Vettel's day in the sun (or rain) will fade, as we turn our attention back to the usual suspects in the Championship fight, who will have come away from Monza with very different emotions.

As good as Vettel's performance was, you have to question the lack of speed of second place man Kovaleinen. He never got close to the Torro Rosso, and could conceivably have been beaten by his teammate who started 15th. Second on the grid, Kovalienen should have won the race - and Mclaren will know it.

Hamilton will have mixed feelings. Robbed of victory at Spa, he put a dismal qualifying performance behind him, and once again proved just how good he can be in the wet. Only an extra pit stop prevented him from embarrassing not only his team mate, but also Felipe Massa.

The Ferraris were anonymous - once again struggling to get tyre temperature in the cool conditions. Raikkonen only just broke in to the top 10, while Massa failed to improve on his sixth place starting position.

Starting nine places ahead of Hamilton, this was Massa's chance to put distance between himself and the Englishman, but he failed to even take the Championship lead. He may well regret letting this golden opportunity slip from his gasp.

As for Raikkonen, after a brief glimpse of what he is capable of in Belgium, he returned to his poor form in Italy. He is now almost certainly going to be reduced to trying to help Massa win the Championship, which he has made a disappointing defence of.

So after all the rain soaked drama, of Spa and Monza, we head to the brand new floodlit race in Singapore, for the next installment of a battle royale between two young hotshots, for F1's ultimate prize.