The story sounds familiar, Italian manufacturer with German driver wins Italian F1 Grand Prix at Monza. But the names are different—Scuderia Toro Rosso and Sebastian Vettel instead of the F car and the S man. It’s the first time an Italian manufacturer other than Ferrari has won the race since 1957. Impressive given the Minardi ashes that the team was rescued from by Red Bull just a couple of years ago. After qualifying first as the youngest ever pole position winner in F1 yesterday, Vettel proved that the promise shown last year as a sub for Robert Kubica was for real by leading the race, dominated by wet weather, from start to finish. Lewis Hamilton looked set to upset the fairy tale for Vettel when he decimated the field in the first half of the race slicing and dicing his way all the way to first position from his fifteenth place start. But Hamilton’s wet weather tires didn’t hold up and an extra pit stop put him back in the field for a seventh place finish behind closest championship challenger, Felipe Massa. Hamilton now leads the championship by just one point. Hamilton’s Mclaren teammate, Heikki Kovalainen drove a steady race holding his P2 start for second place, and BMW’s Robert Kubica took third to chip away at Massa and Hamilton’s Drivers’ Championship lead. With four races to go, the championship is still far from a foregone conclusion. Next race, on the street at night in Singapore. Full results and standing, as usual, at [Formula1.com]

