Daylight between Vettel and the rest

Vettels eighth victory of the year gives the Red Bull driver an opportunity to clinch his second Formula One title in the next race in Singapore later this month.

Sebastian Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday,fighting off an audacious challenge from defending champion Fernando Alonso.

Vettels eighth victory of the year gives the Red Bull driver an opportunity to clinch his second Formula One title in the next race in Singapore later this month. It has been an incredible year so far,having progressed so much as a team weve got ourselves in a very good position, Vettel said.

Vettel became the youngest winner in F1 history at Monza in 2008 at the age of 21 with Toro Rosso but his fourth-place finish last year was Red Bulls best result in six attempts at the track until now. The memories of the 2008 win made Vettel grow teary-eyed during the victory ceremony,as thousands of red-clad Ferrari fans rushed below.

It was very emotional seeing all those people down there cheering and running, Vettel said. It means a lot to me and when I crossed the line I remembered every single moment8230; The last two years we had a great car but not here. This race is the best podium the only thing that could be better would be wearing a red suit, the German added,revealing a desire to race for Ferrari someday.

The key points in the race came early on,with Alonso making a risky move to take the lead on the opening straight after starting in fourth position on the grid. Alonso put one tire of his Ferrari on the grass to get around McLarens Lewis Hamilton and then beat Vettel to the first chicane.

Vettel wasnt about to stay second,however,and went around Alonso on the outside of the sweeping Curva Grande in the fifth lap,cruising to victory from there. McLarens Jenson Button eventually passed Alonso to finish second and Alonso was third at the checkered flag.

Vettels eight wins is the third highest season total behind only Schumacher and Nigel Mansell. Mansell won nine races in 1992 while Schumacher registered three seasons with nine wins,one year with 11 and established the record of 13 victories in 2004.

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Paul Di Resta recorded his second best performance of the season,earning four points with a eighth-place finish for Force India while Adrian Sutil could not finish the the race where nine of the 24 cars crashed out. This is only the fourth points-finish result for Resta in the season,with his best coming at Julys Hungarian GP,where he had finished seventh to take six points.