At the risk of sounding cliched, I have to say that today’s F1 race, at Monza, threw up a few surprises.  The first disappointment was when Sebastien Bourdias of Toro Rosso couldn’t get his engine started. The kid must have been heartbroken, considering that he had fought hard for his 4th place start - ahead of the likes of Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg, not to mention Robert Kubica, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.

The second biggest surprise was that Heikki Kovalainen, who was looking so good in the qualifying, was expected to make shortwork of the Toro Rosso of pole-sitter Vettel, but that never happened.  Right from the word go,  Vettel drove like a man possessed, and started building up a lead steadily.  When he crossed the start-finish line for the final time, still the race leader, he was so excited that he was at a total loss for words, but his gestures from the cockpit of the car conveyed the feeling: He was overjoyed.  A well deserved victory for the young German driver who nows holds the record for being the youngest ever driver in Formula One to win a race. It was also Scuderia Toro Rosso’s first ever win.

Massa tried his best to move up, but a poorly timed pitstop meant that he came out right at the back of almost the entire grid, as he had not been able to distance himself enough from the rest of the runners before pitting.  Result? Massive slowdown, as he had to carve through the field, in rain, with unrelenting spray from the cars ahead of him.  The biggest gainer however was Kubica, who executed his single stop strategy to perfection and got a podium finish. The second biggest gainer was definitely Hamilton who clawed from 15th on the grid to 7th,  taking home two points, just one lesser than Massa.  At one point, Hamilton was running as high as #2, before his first pit stop.  He had been fuelled right to the finish, but the drying track meant that Hamilton had to make a further stop for intermediate tyres.  But for that second stop, Hamilton might even have won the race.  Massa won’t be shedding tears for that !!

Having seen the last race, one would have expected Kimi Raikkonnen to produce some spirited driving, taking a few risks, but that was not to be.  He simply seemed disinterested, and went through the motions, finishing 9th, and without points, for the third straight race.

The standings now:

<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="" class="raceResults"><tbody><tr><th>Pos</th> <th>Driver</th> <th>Nationality</th> <th>Team</th> <th>Points</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1</td> <td> Lewis Hamilton</td> <td>British</td> <td> McLaren-Mercedes</td> <td>78</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2</td> <td> Felipe Massa</td> <td>Brazilian</td> <td> Ferrari</td> <td>77</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3</td> <td> Robert Kubica</td> <td>Polish</td> <td> BMW Sauber</td> <td>64</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4</td> <td> Kimi Räikkönen</td> <td>Finnish</td> <td> Ferrari</td> <td>57</td> </tr> <tr> <td>5</td> <td> Nick Heidfeld</td> <td>German</td> <td> BMW Sauber</td> <td>53</td> </tr> <tr> <td>6</td> <td> Heikki Kovalainen</td> <td>Finnish</td> <td> McLaren-Mercedes</td> <td>51</td> </tr> <tr> <td>7</td> <td> Fernando Alonso</td> <td>Spanish</td> <td> Renault</td> <td>28</td> </tr> <tr> <td>8</td> <td> Jarno Trulli</td> <td>Italian</td> <td> Toyota</td> <td>26</td> </tr> <tr> <td>9</td> <td> Sebastian Vettel</td> <td>German</td> <td> STR-Ferrari</td> <td>23</td> </tr> <tr> <td>10</td> <td> Mark Webber</td> <td>Australian</td> <td> Red Bull-Renault</td> <td>20</td></tr></tbody></table>
Table courtesy: www.formula1.com