Force India’s Sutil misses podium; Barrichello wins Italian GP

Monza: In a race full of high voltage and dangerous moments, Force India’s Adrian Sutil missed the podium by a whisker as Brawn’s Ruben Barrichello won the much celebrated Italian GP, piping pole leader Lewis Hamilton.

Sutil however came fourth and managed to get five crucial formula one points.

Starting second on the grid, Sutil could have done an encore of Force India's podium finish in Belgium but the German fumbled in his second pit stop, missing the mark and nearly knocking out two pit crew.

His teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi had a heartbreaking debut as the Italian rose to fourth only to retire after 23 laps with a gearbox gremlin.

It was a one-two for Brawn with Rubens Barrichello beating teammate Jenson Button by 2.8s.

Force India now have 13 points and the vastly improved outfit would now look forward to make the most of the remaining four races of the season.

Despite the pit-stop goof up, Sutil never gave up and was hot on the heels of Kimi Raikkonen's Kinetic Energy Recovery System-powered Ferrai car even though he could not overtake the Finn.

The duel with Raikkonen was the highlight of Sutil's spectacular race even though the Force India driver did not manage to get past his Ferrari opponent.

Raikkonen and Sutil in fact pitted on the same lap but the extra time that Sutil needed proved decisive in the end, denying him his first podium place.

This was Sutil's first points for the Silverstone-based outfit and his cause was helped by Lewis Hamilton's last lap crash when the McLaren driver was running third.

On the other hand hot favourite Australia's Mark Webber crashed out of the Italian Grand Prix on the first lap Sunday to leave his title hopes hanging by a thread.

The Red Bull driver, who started 10th on the grid, was fourth in the overall standings and 20.5 points behind championship leader Jenson Button with just four races remaining after Monza.

Webber collided with BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, who also retired after first coming into the pits to try to rectify the damage.

"It looked like a racing incident with Robert Kubica at the start. He was inside my left wheel and I couldn't see him, there was contact and It flicked me up in the air a bit, the car wasn't that damaged but I just couldn't get out of there," Webber told BBC radio.

"I haven't had any points in the last three races. I am going to struggle if I am not scoring points. I have had a good little run at the championship but we have to keep going."