Vettel seeks Monza triple as tyre row rages

Previously, only Moss has won the Italian GP with three different teams.

MONZA: Sebastian Vettel bids this weekend to become only the second driver to win the Italian Grand Prix with three different teams as Ferrari seek to add some lustre to an inconsistent season in the last European round of this year’s world championship.

Two weeks after a dramatic tyre failure ended his hopes of a podium finish at the Belgian Grand Prix, the four-time champion German aims to emulate the 56-year-old achievement of Briton Stirling Moss who triumphed in 1956, 1957 and 1959 with Maserati, Vanwall and Rob Walker Racing.

Vettel claimed his maiden Formula One win at the famous old Autodromo Nazionale with the Toro Rosso team in a downpour in 2008 and then won twice more with Red Bull in 2011 and 2013.

Now, he seeks to add a memorable victory on home soil for the scarlet scuderia at a time when the team and their local race, not to mention F1’s Italian tyre suppliers, badly need a boost.

In the wake of his angry departure from Spa-Francorchamps, Vettel clarified his emotional criticism of tyre-suppliers Pirelli.

“Just to make things clear,” he said in a statement. “The team and I decided our strategy for the race together. Our strategy was never risky, at any point. The team is not to blame.”

This ongoing argument — Pirelli have pointed at the team’s one stop strategy as risky — ensures an emotional backdrop to the highly-charged weekend as the defending double world champion Briton Lewis Hamilton seeks to repeat his 2014 victory and stay in control of the title race.

He currently leads his Mercedes teammate German Nico Rosberg by 28 points.

Hamilton, however, may not find events unfold entirely to his liking at the fastest circuit of the year where it is notoriously difficult for any driver to win twice in succession.

The last to succeed was Briton Damon Hill for Williams in 1993 and 1994 and, before him, Brazilian Nelson Piquet, also for Williams, in 1986 and 1987. They are the only two to do so in 30 years. AFP

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th,  2015.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.