Vettel goes unchallenged en route to Italian GP victory - MotorSportsTalk

Sebastian Vettel has won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza today in emphatic style, extending his championship lead and putting himself in the box seat to win a fourth consecutive drivers’ title ahead of the Asian leg of the 2013 calendar.

The German driver started from pole position after dominating qualifying on Saturday, and he was rarely challenged en route to his fourth win in the last six races as his championship rivals failed to pose a serious threat during the race. In his final race in Europe, Mark Webber secured his first podium at Monza, capping off a good weekend for Red Bull despite failing to pass second-placed Fernando Alonso during his second stint.

Home favorites Alonso and Felipe Massa both made good starts from fourth and fifth, with the Brazilian driver gaining two positions on the first lap to move up to second behind Sebastian Vettel. Alonso quickly disposed of Nico Hulkenberg (who had started third on the grid), and then pulled off a remarkable move around the outside of Mark Webber at the second chicane to move up to third behind his teammate. Further back, Paul di Resta’s race came to an early end after the Force India driver locked up and made contact with Romain Grosjean heading into turn four, whilst Kimi Raikkonen was forced to pit at the end of the first lap for a new front wing, taking on a fresh set of medium tires.

Predictably, Massa put up very little resistance when Alonso made his move for P2 on lap nine, and the Spanish driver quickly set about catching Vettel. Jenson Button took advantage of the DRS zone on the run-up to the Ascari chicane to pass former teammate Lewis Hamilton as the Mercedes driver struggled with his tires as well as a broken radio. He was eventually forced to pit on lap thirteen due to a slow puncture, moving onto a two-stop strategy. Less fortunate was Jean-Eric Vergne, who had to pull over and retire from the race due to a suspected engine failure when running in the points for Toro Rosso. His teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, continued to run strongly up in P7, proving to Red Bull why they have chosen him to replace Mark Webber for 2014.

At the first round of pit stops, Button managed to pass teammate Sergio Perez by getting the undercut by one lap, setting his sights on Hamilton once again. Vettel and Webber were able to stop on the same lap thanks to some great work by the Red Bull pit crew, allowing the Australian driver to leapfrog Felipe Massa for P3. New leader Alonso opted to stay out far longer than Vettel, eventually pitting on lap twenty-seven and re-emerging in second place only just ahead of Webber.

Early stoppers Hamilton and Raikkonen both moved up the order well with the Briton easily passing his teammate for P6 before setting his sights on the Sauber of Hulkenberg, eventually making a pass on the inside of Curva Grande. Raikkonen’s second stop allowed him to take on fresh tires and post some very fast lap times, albeit out of the points. At the front, Vettel continued to keep a steady gap to Alonso as the home favorite soaked up the pressure from Webber in P3. Grosjean hoped to salvage some points for Lotus, moving up to P10 with a good move on Sergio Perez into the first chicane.

Webber’s charge in pursuit of Alonso was stunted when he was told to short-shift on the exit of turn two due to a gearbox problem, allowing the Ferrari to pull away. At the back, Caterham continued to enjoy a healthy lead over Marussia, but Giedo van der Garde’s progress was hindered when his team was not ready for his second stop. Both on the soft tire, Raikkonen and Hamilton began to scythe through the field in pursuit of points following their earlier setbacks. However, the Finn was told to stop using DRS as it was flattening the battery, allowing Hamilton to close for P11 before eventually making the move around the outside of Curva Grande with five laps to go. After passing both McLarens, he then tried an ambitious move on Grosjean for P8, but it wasn’t enough come the checkered flag.

Vettel’s dominant performance at Monza today has caused his championship lead to pass the fifty point mark, equivalent to two race wins, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to see any of his rivals stopping him from taking a fourth world championship in a row. Ferrari will be pleased to have performed so well on home turf with Massa recording his best result since the Spanish GP in May. Nico Hulkenberg came home in fifth to bring more joy to the troubled Sauber team, finishing ahead of Rosberg, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Hamilton and Button.

Follow @LukeSmithF1

INDIANAPOLIS – Alex Palou had not turned a wheel wrong the entire Month of May at the Indy 500 until Rinus VeeKay turned a wheel into the Chip Ganassi Racing pole-sitter leaving pit road on Lap 94.

“There is nothing I could have done there,” Palou told NBC Sports. “It’s OK, when it is my fault or the team’s fault because everybody makes mistakes. But when there is nothing, you could have done differently there, it feels bad and feels bad for the team.”

Marcus Ericsson was a master at utilizing the “Tail of the Dragon” move that breaks the draft of the car behind him in the closing laps to win last year’s Indianapolis 500. On Sunday, however, the last of three red flags in the final 16 laps of the race had the popular driver from Sweden breathing fire after Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden beat him at his own game on the final lap to win the Indianapolis 500.

Despite the two disappointments, team owner Chip Ganassi was seen on pit road fist-bumping a member on his four-car team in this year’s Indianapolis 500 after his drivers finished second, fourth, sixth and seventh in the tightly contested race.

Those are pretty good results, but at the Indianapolis 500, there is just one winner and 32 losers.

“There is only one winner, but it was a hell of a show,” three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Chip Ganassi Racing consultant Dario Franchitti told NBC Sports. “Alex was very fast, and he got absolutely caught out in somebody else’s wreck. There was nothing he could have done, but he and the 10 car, great recovery.

“Great recovery by all four cars because at half distance, we were not looking very good.”

After 92 laps, the first caution flew for Sting Ray Robb of Dale Coyne Racing hitting the Turn 1 wall.

During pit stops on Lap 94, Palou had left his stall when the second-place car driven by VeeKay ran into him, putting Palou’s Honda into the wall. The car sustained a damaged front wing, but the Chip Ganassi crew was able to get him back in the race on the lead lap but in 28^th position.

Palou ultimately would fight his way to a fourth-place finish in a race the popular Spaniard could have won. His displeasure with VeeKay, whom he sarcastically called “a legend” on his team radio after the incident, was evident.

“The benefit of being on pole is you can drive straight and avoid crashes, and he was able to crash us on the side on pit lane, which is pretty tough to do, but he managed it,” Palou told NBC Sports. “Hopefully next year we are not beside him. Hopefully, next year we have a little better luck.”

Palou started on the pole and led 36 laps, just three fewer than race leader Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing.

“We started really well, was managing the fuel as we wanted, our car was pretty good,” Palou said. “Our car wasn’t great, we dropped to P4 or P5, but we still had some good stuff.

“On the pit stop, the 21 (VeeKay) managed to clip us. Nothing we could have done there. It was not my team’s fault or my fault.

“We had to drop to the end. I’m happy we made it back to P4. We needed 50 more laps to make it happen, but it could have been a lot worse after that contact.

“I learned a lot, running up front at the beginning and in mid-pack and then the back. I learned a lot.

“It feels amazing when you win it and not so good when things go wrong. We were a bit lucky with so many restarts at the end to make it back to P4 so I’m happy with that.”

Palou said the front wing had to be changed and the toe-in was a bit off, but he still had a fast car.

In fact, his Honda was the best car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway all month. His pole-winning four lap average speed of 234.217 miles per hour around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a record for this fabled race.

Palou looked good throughout the race, before he had to scratch and claw and race his way back to the top-five after he restarted 28^th.

In the Indianapolis 500, however, the best car doesn’t always win.

“It’s two years in a row that we were leading the race at the beginning and had to drop to last,” Palou said. “Maybe next year, we will start in the middle of the field and go on to win the race.

“I know he didn’t do it on purpose. It’s better to let that pass someday.”

Palou said the wild racing at the end was because the downforce package used in Sunday’s race means the drivers have to be aggressive. The front two cars can battle for the victory, but cars back in fourth or fifth place can’t help determine the outcome of the race.

That is when the “Tail of the Dragon” comes into the play.

Franchitti helped celebrate Ericsson’s win in 2022 with his “Tail of the Dragon” zigzag move – something he never had to do in any of his three Indianapolis 500 victories because they all finished under caution.

In 2023, however, IndyCar Race Control wants to make every attempt to finish the race under green, without going past the scheduled distance like NASCAR’s overtime rule.

Instead of extra laps, they stop the race with a red flag, to create a potential green-flag finish condition.

“You do what you have to do to win within the rules, and it’s within the rules, so you do it,” Franchitti said. “The race is 200 laps and there is a balance.

“Marcus did a great job on that restart and so did Josef. It was just the timing of who was where and that was it.

“If you knew it was going to go red, you would have hung back on the lap before.

“Brilliant job by the whole Ganassi organization because it wasn’t looking very good at half-distance.

“Full marks to Josef Newgarden and Team Penske.”

Franchitti is highly impressed by how well Ericsson works with CGR engineer Brad Goldberg and how close this combination came to winning the Indianapolis 500 two-years-in-a-row.

It would have been the first back-to-back Indy 500 winner since Helio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002.

“Oh, he’s a badass,” Franchitti said Ericsson. “He proved it last year. He is so calm all day. What more do you need? As a driver, he’s fast and so calm.”

Ericsson is typically in good spirits and jovial.

He was stern and direct on pit road after the race.

“I did everything right, I did an awesome restart, caught Josef off-guard and pulled away,” Ericsson said on pit lane. “It’s hard to pull away a full lap and he got me back.

“I’m mostly disappointed with the way he ended. I don’t think it was fair and safe to do that restart straight out of the pits on cold tires for everyone.

“To me, it was not a good way to end that race.

“Congrats to Josef. He didn’t do anything wrong. He is a worthy champion, but it shouldn’t have ended like that.”

Palou also didn’t understand the last restart, which was a one-start showdown.

“I know that we want to finish under green,” Palou said. “Maybe the last restart I did, I didn’t understand. It didn’t benefit the CGR team.

“I’m not very supportive of the last one, but anyway.”

Dixon called the red flags “a bit sketchy.”

“The Red Flags have become a theme to the end of the race, but sometimes they can catch you out,” Dixon said. “I know Marcus is frustrated with it.

“All we ask for is consistency. I think they will do better next time.

“It’s a tough race. People will do anything they can to win it and with how these reds fall, you have to be in the right place at the right time. The problem is when they throw a Red or don’t throw a Red dictates how the race will end.

“It’s a bloody hard race to win. Congrats to Josef Newgarden and to Team Penske.”

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500