The Italian Grand Prix 2013 was the 12th round of the 2013 F1 season, and took place at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy, on September 8th.

Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Fernando Alonso, and Mark Webber completing the podium.

Final results

1
-
VET
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull
1:18:33.352
Finished
2
3
ALO
Fernando Alonso
Ferrari
+5.467
Finished
3
1
WEB
Mark Webber
Red Bull
+6.350
Finished
4
-
MAS
Felipe Massa
Ferrari
+9.361
Finished
5
2
HUL
Nico Hülkenberg
Sauber
+10.355
Finished
6
-
ROS
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
+10.999
Finished
7
-
RIC
Daniel Ricciardo
Toro Rosso
+32.329
Finished
8
5
GRO
Romain Grosjean
Lotus F1
+33.130
Finished
9
3
HAM
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
+33.527
Finished
10
1
BUT
Jenson Button
McLaren
+38.327
Finished
11
-
RAI
Kimi Räikkönen
Lotus F1
+38.695
Finished
12
4
PER
Sergio Pérez
McLaren
+39.765
Finished
13
3
GUT
Esteban Gutiérrez
Sauber
+40.880
Finished
14
-
MAL
Pastor Maldonado
Williams
+49.085
Finished
15
3
BOT
Valtteri Bottas
Williams
+56.827
Finished
16
1
SUT
Adrian Sutil
Force India
+1 Lap
17
3
PIC
Charles Pic
Caterham
+1 Lap
18
1
VDG
Giedo van der Garde
Caterham
+1 Lap
19
2
BIA
Jules Bianchi
Marussia
+1 Lap
20
2
CHI
Max Chilton
Marussia
+1 Lap
21
11
VER
Jean-Éric Vergne
Toro Rosso
Transmission
22
7
DIR
Paul di Resta
Force India
Accident
Show all

Race evolution

Pit Stops

0
1
RAI
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
HAM
14
15
16
17
PIC
18
VDG
19
20
GRO
21
BUT
22
RIC
PER
BIA
23
VET
WEB
CHI
24
MAS
HUL
SUT
MAL
25
BOT
26
ROS
27
ALO
GUT
28
29
30
RAI
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
HAM
PIC
39
VDG
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53

There were a total of 24 pit stops during the race.

The most popular pit stop windows were:

  • Laps 20-27: 16 stops

The fastest pit stop was Nico Rosberg's, stopping the clock at 24.079 seconds during his pit stop on lap 26, while the slowest one was was Giedo van der Garde's, who stopped the clock at 33.200 seconds, 9.121 seconds slower than Rosberg, during his pit stop on lap 39.

These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.

Strategy

We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.

The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 1 stop strategy.

1 stop

  • 5
    Romain Grosjean
  • 1
    Jenson Button
  • -
    Daniel Ricciardo
  • 4
    Sergio Pérez
  • 2
    Jules Bianchi
  • -
    Sebastian Vettel
  • 1
    Mark Webber
  • 2
    Max Chilton
  • -
    Felipe Massa
  • 2
    Nico Hülkenberg
  • 1
    Adrian Sutil
  • -
    Pastor Maldonado
  • 3
    Valtteri Bottas
  • -
    Nico Rosberg
  • 3
    Fernando Alonso
  • 3
    Esteban Gutiérrez

2 stops

  • -
    Kimi Räikkönen
  • 3
    Lewis Hamilton
  • 3
    Charles Pic
  • 1
    Giedo van der Garde

Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 0.69 positions, while those on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.75 positions on average.

This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops strategy was the best option, even if Sebastian Vettel managed to win the race making 1 stop.

It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.

Incidents

There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.

These included, Jean-Éric Vergne, who had a transmission problem on lap 14, and Paul di Resta, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 0.

Transmission

  • Jean-Éric Vergne
    Lap 14

Accident

  • Paul di Resta
    Lap 0

Qualifying

#1
VET
#2
WEB
#3
HUL
#4
MAS
#5
ALO
#6
ROS
#7
RIC
#8
PER
#9
BUT
#10
VER
#11
RAI
#12
HAM
#13
GRO
#14
SUT
#15
MAL
#16
DIR
#17
GUT
#18
BOT
#19
VDG
#20
PIC
#21
BIA
#22
CHI

Sebastian Vettel dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.213 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:23.755. Mark Webber was right behind him, helping Red Bull score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.

Q1

  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:24.319
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:24.527
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:24.589
  • Jean-Éric Vergne
    1:24.630
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:24.635
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:24.655
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:24.661
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:24.737
  • Jenson Button
    1:24.739
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:24.776
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:24.819
  • Pastor Maldonado
    1:24.905
  • Mark Webber
    1:24.923
  • Felipe Massa
    1:24.950
  • Paul di Resta
    1:25.009
  • Adrian Sutil
    1:25.030
  • Esteban Gutiérrez
    1:25.226
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:25.291
  • Giedo van der Garde
    1:26.406
  • Charles Pic
    1:26.563
  • Jules Bianchi
    1:27.085
  • Max Chilton
    1:27.480

Q2

  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:23.977
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:24.227
  • Mark Webber
    1:24.263
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:24.290
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:24.305
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:24.393
  • Felipe Massa
    1:24.479
  • Jenson Button
    1:24.563
  • Jean-Éric Vergne
    1:24.575
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:24.592
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:24.610
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:24.803
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:24.848
  • Adrian Sutil
    1:24.932
  • Pastor Maldonado
    1:25.011
  • Paul di Resta
    1:25.077

Q3

  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:23.755
  • Mark Webber
    1:23.968
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:24.065
  • Felipe Massa
    1:24.132
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:24.142
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:24.192
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:24.209
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:24.502
  • Jenson Button
    1:24.515
  • Jean-Éric Vergne
    1:28.050

Track evolution

Q1
-0.185
seconds faster
Q2
0.187
seconds slower
Q3

As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 12 out of the 16 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.

The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.