Vettel Wins at Monza, Massa holds off Hamilton

Sebastian Vettel took his first victory at Monza this morning, becoming history's youngest F1 winner. The 21-year-old Toro Rosso driver was faultless this weekend, starting from pole position and extending a dominant lead over McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen over the course of 53 laps. Kovalainen crossed the line 12.512 s behind he German to take second place while BMW's Robert Kubica rounded out the podium.

Farther down the standings, Felipe Massa finished 2/10ths of a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton to claim sixth place, closing the gap in the title fight to a single point.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was unable to work his way up the grid, finishing outside the points for the third grand prix in a row. The Finn achieved fastest lap on lap 53, his eighth of the season.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Italian Grand Prix
Autodromo di Monza, Italy;
53 laps; 306.720km;
Weather: Wet.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
1.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1h26:47.000
2.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    12.512
3.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +    20.471
4.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +    23.903
5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +    27.748
6.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  +    28.816
7.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    29.012
8.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    32.048
9.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +    39.468
10.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  +    54.445
11.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +    58.888
12.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +  1:02.015
13.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +  1:05.954
14.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +  1:08.635
15.  Button        Honda                 (B)  +  1:13.370
16.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Barrichello   Honda                 (B)  +     1 lap
18.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +     1 lap
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:28.047

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)    12


World Championship standings, round 14:          

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
1.  Hamilton      78        1.  Ferrari               134
2.  Massa         77        2.  McLaren-Mercedes      129
3.  Kubica        64        3.  BMW Sauber            117
4.  Raikkonen     57        4.  Renault                41
5.  Heidfeld      53        5.  Toyota                 41
6.  Kovalainen    51        6.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari     27
7.  Alonso        28        7.  Red Bull-Renault       26
8.  Trulli        26        8.  Williams-Toyota        17
9.  Vettel        23        9.  Honda                  14
10.  Webber        20 
11.  Glock         15 
12.  Piquet        13 
13.  Barrichello   11 
14.  Rosberg        9 
15.  Nakajima       8 
16.  Coulthard      6 
17.  Bourdais       4 
18.  Button         3