Italian GP 2010: Alonso beats Button at the pit stop

Fernando Alonso started from pole and won the 2010 Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, handing Ferrari a home win in front of the tifosi. Jenson Button finished second in the McLaren, with Alonso's teammate Felipe Massa third. The race was decided not on track but at the only pit stop: Ferrari kept Alonso out one lap longer than Button, and that was enough. At the flag, Button was just 2.9 seconds behind.

You'll find the full result and all the data on our race page for the 2010 Italian GP.

Alonso was on pole, but Button made the better start and passed him at the first chicane. Alonso went through there side by side with Massa and touched the rear of the McLaren. According to Wikipedia, the damage to Button's car was minor. At the second chicane, the Roggia, Alonso secured second place ahead of Massa.

Just behind, the race was over for Lewis Hamilton. He had arrived at Monza as championship leader and tried to get past Massa on the inside. He made contact with the Ferrari, his front-right suspension broke, and Hamilton slid into the gravel at Lesmo. Massa carried on without damage.

Kamui Kobayashi didn't complete a single lap either, as his Sauber retired with a gearbox failure. The biggest beneficiary of the start was Nico Rosberg: according to RaceFans, he took his Mercedes from seventh to fourth on the opening lap.

McLaren had set up Button's car with unusually high downforce for Monza. That gave him an advantage in the corners but cost him on the long straights, where, according to RaceFans, Alonso was around 14 km/h quicker. As a result, Button could never really pull away: according to grandprix.com, he was only 1.6 seconds ahead on lap 13. By lap 24, Alonso had closed to within half a second.

Even so, the Ferrari couldn't find a way past on track. You could practically see the duel building towards the pit stops. Massa followed in third but, according to grandprix.com, lost around a second on lap 19 after sliding under braking for the Ascari chicane and having to cut it.

The race was decided at the mandatory stops. McLaren brought Button in first, while Ferrari left Alonso out for another lap. According to our data, Alonso led from lap 36. While he was in the pits, Massa led for two laps from lap 37, before Alonso took over again from lap 39. The sources differ on the stop laps: Wikipedia and RaceFans give lap 36 for Button, grandprix.com lap 37.

After a quick stop, Alonso rejoined just ahead of Button. He held the racing line into the first chicane, and that was the decisive moment of the race. From then on, it was settled. Alonso set several fastest laps, extended his lead to 3.7 seconds according to grandprix.com and set the fastest lap of the race on lap 52 with a 1:24.139 (Wikipedia). There was one small scare: on lap 50 he ran over the inside of the first chicane but was able to carry on. Massa rejoined behind Button after his stop and stayed third.

Sebastian Vettel had a race full of twists. Around lap 20 he reported problems with the Renault engine in his Red Bull and lost time. His teammate Mark Webber went past him. Then the problem suddenly disappeared. Red Bull delayed Vettel's mandatory stop until the end of lap 52, just before the final lap. According to grandprix.com, he kept his position in doing so. He finished fourth, ahead of Rosberg and Webber, gaining two places on his sixth grid position.

Webber had a tough afternoon. He passed Michael Schumacher on lap 6 but then spent a long time stuck behind Nico Hülkenberg. The Williams driver cut chicanes several times while defending and went unpunished. Webber complained about it over the radio. According to grandprix.com, he only got past on lap 50. In the end, the Australian finished sixth, two places lower than his grid position.

Hülkenberg scored points in seventh, ahead of Robert Kubica in the Renault. According to RaceFans, Kubica's early stop didn't pay off and he dropped behind Hülkenberg and Webber. Schumacher was ninth, and Rubens Barrichello took the final point in the second Williams.

The retirements at Monza:

• Lewis Hamilton (McLaren): collision with Massa on the first lap, no laps classified
• Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber): gearbox failure, no laps completed
• Bruno Senna (HRT): retired after 11 laps, according to Wikipedia with a hydraulic failure
• Jarno Trulli (Lotus): engine failure after 46 laps; according to grandprix.com, he parked the smoking Lotus

Three drivers gained the most places, seven each: Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) went from 19th on the grid to 12th, Vitaly Petrov from 20th to 13th and Timo Glock (Virgin) from 24th to 17th. According to Wikipedia, Petrov had been handed a five-place grid penalty for impeding Glock. According to RaceFans, he then ran a long stint on hard tyres and pitted very late.

The biggest loser was Hamilton, who dropped 18 places. Things also went badly for Adrian Sutil: according to grandprix.com, he pitted as early as lap 3, according to RaceFans for an early switch to hard tyres. He fell from 11th on the grid to 16th. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) received a drive-through penalty for gaining an advantage by cutting the second chicane and finished 15th. His teammate Sébastien Buemi just missed out on the points in eleventh.

Pedro de la Rosa finished 14th, Heikki Kovalainen 18th and Lucas di Grassi 20th, with 50 laps. A mechanic was hit during Sakon Yamamoto's pit stop. According to grandprix.com, he was conscious when taken to the medical centre. Yamamoto finished 19th.

With Hamilton failing to score, Webber regained the championship lead on 187 points. Hamilton followed on 182. Alonso moved up to third on 166 points, ahead of Button (165) and Vettel (163). Massa was sixth on 124 points. That left five drivers within 24 points, with five races still to go. In the constructors' standings, Red Bull led on 350 points, just three ahead of McLaren (347), with Ferrari on 290. You can find the full 2010 standings on our site.

It was Ferrari's first home win at Monza since 2006. According to grandprix.com, it was Alonso's third win of the season and the 24th of his career, in his first year at Ferrari. Shortly before the race, the FIA World Motor Sport Council had summoned Ferrari over team orders but imposed no further penalties (Wikipedia). After Monza, Alonso was firmly back in the title race.

In hindsight: it would be Ferrari's last win at Monza for almost a decade; according to Wikipedia, the next one did not come until 2019.