Yesterday’s race was a rare occasion where all three podium finishers had a reason to celebrate.

Hamilton drove brilliantly to secure a win at the red holy ground surrounded by thousands of Ferrari tifosi’s while Alonso fought from tenth to finish third. Perez from Sauber who finished second once again, demonstrated he is no amateur racer and truth be told, it won’t be long before he dons his overalls in Rosso Corsa colours.

Isn’t it an irony that the podium winners retired after the first lap thanks to the infamous first-corner crash that happened last week in Belgium? Also these were the same winners from the Malaysian grand prix that was held earlier this year.

While Alonso still retains the championship title lead, his lead is narrow with just 37 points over his former team mate (and rival) Hamilton. Two other world champions- Raikkonen and Vettel are only a handful of points away from Hamilton and with only seven races to go, we presume they aren’t far from Alonso as well.  

While Alonso and Hamilton had all the reasons to celebrate, this wasn’t the case with their rivals. Jenson Button, winner a week ago in Belgium retired from second place, while in a bizarre turn of events both Red Bull's did not live to complete the race. Besides the initial challenge posed by Massa, and briefly losing the lead to Perez during the pit stops Hamilton had a near lights to flag race to claim his first win at Monza which also happened to be the 20th of his career and McLaren's third in succession.

"It's incredibly close between us and the Ferraris, and obviously the Sauber’s were incredibly quick this weekend, but we've done a fantastic job. We came with a really good package for the last couple of races and it's been a shame I have not got the maximum I needed to get from the performance that we've had for the last few races. But obviously to have two wins in the last three grand prix is good and I hope that we can continue with that pace," reported a thrilled Hamilton.

Alonso, starting with a disappointing tenth on the grid charged his way up the grid, getting past the twin Mercedes and Lotus in the opening seven laps. His duel with Vettel later generated much controversy with the stewards. The stewards claim Vettel forced Alonso onto the grass as he attempted to pass the Red Bull. Nonetheless Vettel eventually retied with mechanical problems.

Webber saw a similar result as the Aussie took too much kerb and spun 180 degrees on the closing laps.

"Towards the end of the race, I had no rear tyres left and I was pushing reasonably hard. Rosberg was coming on his fresh two-stop tyres, so I had to keep pushing and staying on it - for the sake of getting a couple of points, maybe I shouldn't have pushed as hard, but I was trying to stay on it," Webber explained.

Schumacher who drove brilliantly and trailed the back of Raikkonen, finished sixth. The ex Ferrari drivers had a good battle for postion with Raikkonen managing to hold off the seven-time champion. While Lotus were seen as strong contenders at the start of the season, the team’s incapability to make its 'Double DRS' device race-ready and with McLaren victorious at Budapest, Spa and now Monza, there is no question as to which car can adapt to the season better.

With only seven races to go including one around Marina Bay in two weeks, the title seems to be a three way fight between three champions – Hamilton, Alonso and Raikkonen (Who has finished in a podium place six times) though we cannot rule out Button or either of the Red Bulls.