Force India gained its second points rating at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza yesterday. Force India’s Adrian Sutil came in the forth place without Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS).
Adrian Sutil finally picked up his first points for the team to strengthen its position in the Constructors’ Championship. Sutil’s teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi retired with a driveshaft problem after 22 laps while running sixth.
Rubens Barrichello won the Italian Grand Prix for the third time in his career and his team-mate Jenson Button followed him in a Brawn GP one-two. It was Barrichello’s eleventh career victory, his third in Monza and his second of the season after he won the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain. Moreover, this was the fourth one-two finish of the season for Brawn and kept both Brawn drivers well ahead in the Driver’s Championship.
Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen drove past Adrian Sutil to finish at the third place while Lewis Hamilton spun out of third place on the final lap. The British driver started from pole position, but on a double pit stop strategy. His car was lighter on fuel and had to stop twice.
Button leads the series with 80 points, Barrichello is second with 66 and Vettel is third with 54, while Webber is fourth with 51.5 points.
At the halfway point of the race, after Lap 26, Barrichello led by 2.1 on Button, with Hamilton in third at 13.9 from Barrichello. Two laps later, Button made his pit stop in 9.1 seconds and returned to a clear track. Barrichello then made his pit stop after the next lap, and he stopped in 8.6, returning to the track ahead of Button. Hamilton, who had made his first pit stop on Lap 15, retook the lead when Barrichello made his pit stop.
After Lap 32 Hamilton was only 15.8 seconds ahead of Barrichello and would need at least 30 seconds to make his pit stop and come out ahead. In the end, his pit stop on Lap 34 lasted 25.6 seconds and he came out behind the two Brawns.
Monza is the fastest track on the Formula One schedule, with cars hitting 373 km/h down the long straights.
