
The Spanish Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso goes into the race as the leading driver on the leaderboard with 164 points. In second and third place are the Red Bull Racing-Renault team mates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber on 140 and 132 points respectively. There is much speculation at present around British driver Lewis Hamilton with pundits tipping him to join the Mercedes team to replace the mighty Michael Schumacher for the 2013 season. But this weekend he and current team mate Jenson Button, who both drive for McLaren-Mercedes, go into the race in fifth and sixth position, with 117 and 101 points respectively. With just 8 races remaining the title is still wide open.
An odd fact about this race is that over the past 20 years, only THREE drivers have managed to win the Italian Grand Prix AND win the Formula One World Championship. These three drivers are Vettel, Schumacher, and Ayrton Senna. So chances are whoever wins this race will NOT be the driver who wins the title, at least if history is to be believed. After Monza there are just 7 more races remaining in the 2012 F1 race calendar with the next three races; Singapore Grand Prix on 23 September, the Japanese Grand Prix on 7 October and the Korean Grand Prix on 14 October.