Team by team analysis

(top 8; listed in championship order)

RED BULL (Sebastian Vettel 1, Mark Webber 3)
Vettel’s sixth win in 12 races, second in a row, 32nd of his career and third in Monza. He started from pole and, despite ‘flat-spotting’ a tyre at the start and gearbox worries later on, won comfortably. Webber lost out to Massa at the start and was then passed by Alonso. It was still his first trip to the Monza podium in his last F1 race at the circuit.

FERRARI (Fernando Alonso 2, Felipe Massa 4)
Alonso said he got the maximum from the car but is now 53 points behind Vettel. Ferrari moved ahead of Mercedes in the constructors’ championship. Massa, whose race seat now looks doubtful for 2014, had one of his best races of the season and did his duty in letting Alonso past.

MERCEDES (Nico Rosberg 6, Lewis Hamilton 9)
Rosberg started sixth and ran a one-stop strategy while Hamilton switched to two after a slow puncture. The Briton had no radio from the start, so all communication was by pit board. He still set the fastest lap of the race.

LOTUS (Romain Grosjean 8, Kimi Raikkonen 11)
Raikkonen drew a blank for the second race in a row, after 27 successive scoring finishes up to Belgium. The Finn had to pit for a new front wing after a first corner collision. Grosjean was also hit from behind by Paul Di Resta’s Force India. Raikkonen remained fourth overall.

MCLAREN (Jenson Button 10, Sergio Perez 12)
Button ensured McLaren at least scored a point on their 50th anniversary. He made a poor start when his clutch slipped and was stuck behind Toro Rosso’s Ricciardo later on.

He also suffered severe vibrations from locking the brakes and flat-spotting a tyre. Perez was hit by Raikkonen into the first corner and lost a position to Button in the pits.

FORCE INDIA (Adrian Sutil 16, Paul Di Resta retired)
Di Resta retired at the start after the collision with Grosjean at the second chicane. Sutil retired on the last lap with brake problems but was classified.

TORO ROSSO (Daniel Ricciardo 7, Jean-Eric Vergne retired)
The team’s best points haul since Canada and at their home race. Vergne retired with a transmission problem.

SAUBER (Nico Hulkenberg 5, Esteban Gutierrez 13)
Sauber’s best result of the season, scoring more points than in the 11 previous races combined. Hulkenberg had started third and continued to impress. Gutierrez started 16th and had a hard afternoon.