Sebastian Vettel got his first win at Monza in 2008 driving for Toro Rosso, a team which had never won a race. He got his 18th career win here—his eighth of the season—for Red Bull, a team which seems to always win races.
With one-third of the season yet to go, Vettel all but wrapped up his second consecutive World Driver’s Championship with a win in the Formula One Italian Grand Prix; a podium finish at Singapore seals the deal.
The race was yet another display of what happens when the best driver has the best car. Vettel won the pole (his tenth,) but lost the lead at the start when Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso made a courageous, slightly crazy charge up the inside, passing McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Vettel too.
After a safety car and a restart, Vettel took the lead back with an equally brave and crazy move around the outside of the Curva Grande.
Once past, Vettel opened up a huge lead immediately, and maintained it for the rest of the race, setting a new fast lap every so often just to show he could.
The 24-year-old German driver was ten seconds ahead of his nearest rival at the end; likely the margin could have been much longer had he wanted to push it.
