McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton thrust himselfback into the title race with a maiden Italian Grand Prix victory on Sunday,while a "dream" race for Formula One leader Fernando Alonso saw theFerrari driver finish third to extend his overall lead.
Speculation about Hamilton's future and a possible switch toMercedes dominated the weekend, but the 2008 champion put the focus firmly backon his driving with his first victory at Monza and the 20th of his career.
"It's a fantastic win in front of the best crowd. I'mhappy for the team. It's been the best day," said Hamilton, who started onpole and led almost from start to finish. "It was pretty trouble-free, Idon't think I had any problems throughout the race and the guys did a great jobthrough the pit stop. And I got a good start for once, so very, very happy withthat."
Hamilton made it three wins in a row for McLaren and movedpast defending champion Sebastian Vettel to take second place in the drivers'standings, 37 points behind Alonso. It could have been a perfect day forMcLaren, but Jenson Button — who started second and looked on course to finishright behind Hamilton — was forced to retire on the 35th lap.
Alonso started from 10th on the grid after he had technicaldifficulties during Saturday's qualifying. However, the Spaniard took advantageof a wretched day for Vettel and the Red Bull team to storm his way through thefield, much to the delight of the fans at Ferrari's home track.
"It was a perfect Sunday for us," Alonso said."After the problem yesterday it was not easy to think about victory. So ifyou are not going to win the podium is the next target.
"All the simulations and predictions said we wouldnever finish on the podium. So it was much better than expected and Jenson wasout of the race and so were the two Red Bulls, so the perfect Sunday ... therace went like a movie for us, like a dream."
Vettel had to retire because of a mechanical problem whenwisps of white smoke started to emerge from his car with six laps to go. He wasjoined on the sideline by Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, who retired at the endof the penultimate lap.
Sergio Perez, who revealed he had been feeling sick allweekend, was second on Sunday, 4.3 seconds behind Hamilton after starting 12th.The Mexican finished strongly, moving through the field in the closing stagesand cutting into Hamilton's lead, after leaving it until lap 29 to pit andchange to softer tyres.
"That was a great race for me for my team. It's unbelievableto get a podium in Monza. It's really special," Perez said. "It wasreally enjoyable. One of those races where you have the pace and you are theone attacking.
"To go that long (before pitting) and to be able tokeep the pace was not easy at all. I did quite a lot of laps on those tyres.Then in the second stint we managed to go maximum attack and I was able to havegood fighting with some drivers. It was just a great race."
Alonso made up three places on the first lap from 10th, andwas up to sixth by the second lap.
"Yeah, the start was good," he said. "Obviouswe didn't have maybe the best start but it was enough to overtake two or threecars, good first corner and then those two first laps were, I think, making thedifference of our race.
"We overtook di Resta, Kimi, Michael very quickly. Andthat gave us the opportunity to follow Sebastian and the quick cars that werethere in the first five positions. So, when you find yourself sixth after twoor three laps, the race improves a lot."
A tremendous tussle with Vettel halfway through the raceforced Alonso onto the grass adjacent to the track to avoid a collision, withthe German later being issued a drive-through penalty.
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa finished fourth after startingthird. The Brazilian got off to a strong start, overtaking Button and almostmoving past Hamilton on the outside just before the first chicane.
Hamilton managed to hold his old rival at bay, only losingthe lead briefly to Perez, who only pit-stopped once.
Button overtook Massa to regain second position shortlybefore their pit stops and it seemed as if a McLaren 1-2 was on the cards afterthe team had achieved a record 62nd front-row sweep in qualifying.
One week after giving himself an outside shot at the titlewith victory at the Belgium GP, however, Button endured a fuel pressure problemand had to quit the race.
That allowed Massa to move into second place but, withAlonso catching him, he allowed his teammate to overtake.
A new threat soon appeared as Perez put in a number oflightning-fast laps. He overtook the Ferrari duo to claim his third podium ofthe season — and his career.
Alonso finished 20.6 seconds behind Hamilton.Massa was a further 9 seconds behind, just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and five-timeMonza winner Michael Schumacher.