Monza, ancestral seat of horsepower and the traditional finale to the European season, gave F1 its usual raucous welcome.
With five flyaways to follow, this wasn’t the decider it once might have been, but for the five drivers and three teams still in the hunt for a championship trophy, the significance of the Italian Grand Prix is the same as it always was.
Monza only has six corners, but they’re all tough and keep the drivers busy… and then there’s the fact of hitting 340kph.
“This isn’t an easy track. You need to have a really good feeling for the brakes, especially at the first two chicanes. You also need to really push in the high-speed corners and there isn’t much run-off area. Then there’s the speed at the end of the straights. It’s a real drivers’ track – not as much as Spa, but more than most.”
Jaime Alguersuari – Toro Rosso
“It’s difficult to know what to expect around here! You have low downforce, the car slides around much more than normal and you’re driving at real high speed. Over the kerbs you have to be on the limit, but you can’t go over – and that’s always challenging.”
Sébastien Buemi – Toro Rosso
This week’s scandal was a return of the team orders kerfuffle. Having received no further punishment for their actions in Germany, where Felipe Massa was instructed to let Fernando Alonso past, Ferrari were perceived to have got away with one…
“If our drivers are first and second, they will be racing each other.”
Martin Whitmarsh –Team Principal, McLaren
“We are aware of the FIA’s decision, so we just have to respect it and I think that is now in the past for us, and we need to concentrate on Monza already.”
Fernando Alonso – Ferrari
"In my opinion, this is a sport where the team counts as much as in football. It's true that we have two drivers on track rather than 11 players, but at the end of the day, it's made by strategy and it's made by a big amount of data that we collect. And the strategy plays a very important role.”
Jarno Trulli – Lotus
"The penalty for what happened at Hockenheim was $100,000… so theoretically if any team was in that situation and wished to move their cars around… then a precedent has been set."
Christian Horner – Team Principal, Red Bull Racing 
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"I think that [Horner’s] would be a very risky interpretation. I don't quite understand the logic of that ruling, but we should all assume that if you are in clear breach of the regulations then you can expect to have a lot more than $100,000 thrown at you."
Martin Whitmarsh
“It would be up to me to tell a driver to move over. I wouldn’t bother trying it with Rubens [Barrichello], because he’d just ignore me.”
Sam Michael – Technical Director, Williams
Another issue of discussion was F-duct. Most people thought it was an asset, McLaren weren’t so sure… Lewis went with it, Jenson did not.
“We ended up running with very different cars, which is quite surprising, but that’s just the way we like the car. For me, this was the best option.”
Jenson Button – McLaren
The team has an opinion, but it’s these guys [Jenson and Lewis] that have to put their bum in it, so they have a big say in what we do.”
Martin Whitmarsh
Meanwhile, Red Bull were very worried about not being terribly fast…
“I think we can still do well at Monza, but we might have a bit more in the way of opposition – in addition to Ferrari, McLaren and Renault, Force India could also be in the mix for the top places.”
Mark Webber – Red Bull Racing
"We know it is not an easy one, because we are simply not the quickest. We do not have the pace here, we don't have the speed on the straights… the weapons we fight with are fairly limited.”
Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull Racing
Qualifying was a mixed bag. Fernando Alonso took pole from Jenson Button with Felipe Massa third and Lewis Hamilton fifth. With Webber fourth and Vettel sixth, it was the first time Red Bull hadn’t had a car on the front row for an entire year.
"Looking at the championship, it would be worse if Lewis was on pole.”
Sebastian Vettel 
Ferrari.com
“Three times this year we have been on pole in the last 30 seconds of qualifying, only to have someone arrive and take it by half a tenth. That’s what worried me in the last 30 seconds of qualifying today – but today was different and it’s a great result for the team.”
Fernando Alonso
“I personally didn’t expect the Ferraris to be as quick as they are. They’ve obviously come with a very good package and done a good job.”
Jenson Button
“In the championship, Mark is my closest rival at the moment, so obviously he has to be my priority tomorrow.”
Lewis Hamilton
It was an intriguing prospect. Button had the slowest straight line speed of any car, but the highest level of downforce in the corners.
“I think when you start from the front row, you have to aim for a victory. But if you can’t do that, take the next best thing. We have a good car, though, and I’m confident we’ve done the right thing.”
Jenson Button
Button made a great start and out-dragged Alonso to the first chicane. There were a couple of nudges, but the McLaren came out in front…
“It was very, very difficult… Jenson had a much better start, I tried to brake late, but Jenson was right on the braking point as well. I touched the front nose of the car in Jenson’s rear left and I jumped a little bit. When I landed, I touched Felipe [Massa] on the right, so we had two touches in two metres of the first corner… stressful.”
Fernando Alonso
“I didn’t feel the touch with Fernando. Looking at the footage, there were quite a lot of bits flying off. I don’t know if it’s from Fernando’s car or mine.”
Jenson Button
Massa followed, but Webber had a rotten start and dropped back to eighth. Hamilton was fighting the Ferraris, but picked up some damage and went off at the Lesmos…
“I had a good start and gained a position and in a realistic world I should have stayed there for a while. I tried to grab third at the second corner and it was probably a bit too much. I got too close to Massa and damaged the front of my car. It’s not over, but mistakes like I made today are what loses world championships.”
Lewis Hamilton 
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Webber fought back and passed Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher, and then passed Vettel when the other Red Bull mysteriously slowed down.
“Around lap 20 something happened to the car. I don’t know what it was – fortunately the problem solved itself.”
Sebastian Vettel
At half-distance and with Alonso right behind, Button stopped first. Alonso used his clear lap to good advantage, and after coming in a lap later managed to get in front by a whisker. Massa just failed to do the same and stayed third. That’s how they went to the line.
“When we saw [Jenson] come in we knew that we only had only one lap. The lap was 100 per cent and the pitstop felt very good for me. I think most of the race and most of the overtaking is thanks to the mechanics, to the team, because it was a perfect job.”
Fernando Alonso
“For me, the race was pretty tough, as I spent the whole time looking at my mirrors trying to judge how far Fernando was behind. Their straightline was obviously a lot quicker, as I had a lot more downforce on the car. It was very difficult to judge, as the mirrors are shaking. Mentally, [it was] pretty draining, and then we pitted one lap earlier which possibly was a mistake… but second place is still good. A happy day, but obviously you want to finish first, so it is good for the championship – but at the moment, it is sad not to be on the top step.”
Jenson Button
It’s very, very special to win this one and very special feelings right now. It’s difficult to express, but it is a really emotional win.
Fernando Alonso
Meanwhile, Vettel had recovered from his power problem and went virtually the whole race on one set of tyres, making his mandatory stop on the final lap to get him back up to fourth.
“Our strategy was a risk. If it works you look like the king, and if it doesn’t, you can be the idiot!”
Sebastian Vettel
On what could be regarded as a bad day for Red Bull Racing, they nevertheless retained the lead of the Constructors’ Championship and Mark Webber managed to regain the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, while Hamilton slipped back to second. But the big winner was Alonso, who moves up to third. Going to Singapore, there are five men who could come away from that race leading the Drivers’ Championship. It couldn’t be closer.
“We could have got more points today, so it’s a bit disappointing, but at least we got some… I’ve had a better day than Lewis… It could have been worse.”
Mark Webber
“Knowing that this track and Singapore are opposites in terms of layout and the characteristics of the corners, we would expect Red Bull to be very competitive next week.”
Fernando Alonso
“I’ve got the trophy at home and I want it to stay there. I think it can all turn around very quickly. There are five guys fighting for this world championship and I don’t think it is slipping away from anyone at the moment. That’s great for Formula One. I think this is a very exciting year.”
Jenson Button
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