The 2010 Italian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Gran Premio Santander d'Italia 2010) was the fourteenth round of the 2010 Formula One season. It was held in Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza, Italy on 12 September 2010. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso won the race from pole position, taking Ferrari's first win on home soil since 2006 and their last until 2019.
Report
Background
On the Wednesday before the race, Ferrari were summoned before the FIA World Motor Sport Council to answer charges related to fixing a race outcome through the use of team orders – banned since 2003 under Article 39.1 of the sporting regulations following an infamous incident at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix – and subsequently bringing the sport into disrepute at the German Grand Prix. Although Ferrari were fined US$100,000 at the time of the incident, the special meeting of the WMSC opened the door for further sanctions. The tribunal eventually decided against punishing the team further, with a promise to review the ban on team orders, a decision that was received negatively by fans.
Following increased speculation over Red Bull and Ferrari appearing to use flexible bodywork – banned under the sporting regulations – the FIA announced its intention to intensify testing procedures for the second time, having increased lateral load-bearing tests on the front wings at Spa-Francorchamps. Speculation within the Belgian paddock suggested that both teams had been using flexible floors to lower the front wings closer to the roadway, giving rise to the FIA's plan for stricter testing at Monza. On the Wednesday before the race, McLaren admitted to changing the floor of the MP4-25 to meet the increased load tests.
Lewis Hamilton led the drivers' championship and Mark Webber went into this race 3 points behind, since Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso did not score in Belgium. They were over a race win behind Hamilton and Webber. Sakon Yamamoto took Karun Chandhok's seat again for the Italian Grand Prix.
Qualifying
The first qualifying session saw all six cars from the new teams knocked out, with Jarno Trulli in the Lotus leading among them in 18th. His teammate Heikki Kovalainen was 19th and then came Vitantonio Liuzzi, whose Force India had had technical issues. Timo Glock had originally been ahead of Liuzzi in his Virgin, but he was handed a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox, putting him at the very back. Lucas di Grassi was 21st in the other Virgin ahead of Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto in the HRTs.
There were no real surprises in the second qualifying session either, as the two BMW Saubers of Kamui Kobayashi (13th) and Pedro de la Rosa (17th) were eliminated along with the Toro Rossos of Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari, the Force India of Adrian Sutil and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes. Also eliminated was Vitaly Petrov, who qualified his Renault 15th but was given a five place grid drop for blocking Glock in the first session.
Rubens Barrichello scraped into the top 10 and qualified tenth in his Williams, just behind Robert Kubica in the other Renault. It was a good performance from the other Williams of Nico Hülkenberg, who out qualified his teammate to qualify eighth. Nico Rosberg was probably pleased with seventh in the Mercedes, but then came the championship contenders. A mistake put Sebastian Vettel sixth, and it was a tough day for his Red Bull team as Mark Webber could only qualify fourth in the sister RB6. The two McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button had chosen completely different car set ups, and it did not work out for Hamilton who could qualify only fifth. It was looking good for Ferrari in front of their home crowd, and Felipe Massa qualified third. It was their day as Button was pipped to pole by Fernando Alonso, the 19th pole of the Spaniard's career.
Race
At the start of the race, Jenson Button had a fantastic start, jumping his McLaren from second past Fernando Alonso's Ferrari. Alonso, who was alongside his teammate Felipe Massa through the turn one chicane, just clipped the rear of Button's diffuser, but there was only light damage to the McLaren. As the pack headed down to the second chicane of turns three and four, Button's teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was in fourth, tried to pull a move on Massa, but there was contact between the two. Although Lewis tried to carry on, the front track rod was broken and he pulled up at the next corner. Massa managed to carry on unscathed. Kamui Kobayashi did start the race but retired his BMW Sauber on the first lap with a gearbox failure.