Italian Grand Prix 2013: Vettel Tightens Grip On Fourth Championship With Convincing Win

Sebastian Vettel looks likely to win the 2013 Formula One Drivers' Championship after beating title rival Fernando Alonso in a convincing win in the Italian Grand Prix.

After his sixth victory of the season, Vettel holds a lead of 53 points over Alonso, and needs the equivalent of two more wins from seven races to secure a fourth World Drivers' Championship.

Red Bull had a particularly successful day, with retiring Australian Mark Webber taking third place on the podium, while Lewis Hamilton finished a disappointing ninth.

The Brit is now 81 points behind Vettel and his title challenge in his first season as a driver for Mercedes is effectively over.

Vettel was often out of range of the TV cameras during the race, such was his advantage, and Ferrari fans made their feelings clear when he took to the podium by booing the three-time championship winner as he celebrated his win.

"It was a fantastic race but you can hear the difference when you don't win here in a red suit," Vettel said.

"But it means you have done well and beaten the red men.

"The race was terrific for both of us [Vettel and Mark Webber]. We had problems with the gearboxes at the end, but I was OK because I had a good cushion."

Hamilton, meanwhile, will be glad to see the back of an especially frustrating weekend, during which he failed to finish in qualification and then suffered problems with his car at the beginning of the race.

"It was a difficult weekend," he told BBC Sport. "I am ninth, we should have been much further ahead. I am very disappointed with myself. I blew it in qualifying and it was impossible to make up the places. Overall it was a disaster of a weekend."

Nevertheless, Hamilton insisted on talking up the positives from his first year with Mercedes, saying: "It's a real shame but these kind of things happen. It has been a good year - we're just going to keep pushing."