Formula 1 Italian GP – Preview – F1 Memories 2013

It seems that things are slipping out of the hands of rival teams, as Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel are pulling away with a comfortable lead in the Drivers’ and Constructor’s Championships. All teams are present in Monza right now for the 12^th round of the 2013 Formula 1 season and it will be interesting to see who walks away with a victory in the final European race.

Looking at the previous races of the season, one can safely say that Mercedes will be the one to watch out for in the qualifying on Saturday, September 7, 2013. Lewis Hamilton has been on pole for the past four events in his Silver Arrows whereas his team-mate Nico Rosberg has also not done a bad job at all.

However, it is the race form that matters at the end of the day and that is where Red Bull have been the better team of all. Due to this, Vettel has secured 197 points until now and is leading the championship by a total of 46 points. He was victorious in the previous round at Spa and a similar result at Monza would put him in a solid position.

However, Ferrari looked better last time, so it will be interesting to see how they go in the upcoming race. Both their drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa looked strong in both qualifying and race, which means they have taken a step forward. Since there was some rain during the Belgian GP qualifiers, the Italian squad was unable to showcase its true potential.

Alonso is currently second in the championship and he has been trying to catch Vettel for the past several years. The latter of the two drivers has been dominant on all of the occasions, thus he has got the momentum on his side. He is chasing his fourth consecutive title, which will make him the youngest ever to do so.

The only man, who can stop him from achieving this feat, is Alonso. The Spaniard will need a quick change in fortunes and some consistency to break the shackles. He will be looking to shift the momentum towards his side and there will be no better place to achieve that than Monza, home race for Ferrari.

Although Ferrari and Red Bull will be the teams to watch out for, one cannot rule out the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn has encountered some bad luck this season, which has dropped him down to fourth in the championship standings, but he has not given up at the moment and is hopeful of winning his first ever Italian GP.

Out of the midfielders, McLaren seem to be the better team now. They were way behind at the start of the year and were unable to match the likes of Force India. However, a change in Pirelli tyres has hurt the latter team badly, giving McLaren a chance to fight back.

All in all, it will be an interesting race on Sunday and the Italian fans will be hoping for a Ferrari comeback. If that happens and Alonso takes a victory, the season will definitely become more interesting than before.