It's getting evident that anyone who wants to win the 2010 F1 World Championship better start on the front row.
Fernando Alonso's victory for Ferrari in its home grand prix means that 10 straight winners this season have now started from the top two spots on the grid.
Furthermore, of the four remaining tracks that have previously hosted events, each saw the eventual winner start from the front row last year.
Of the contenders, points leader Mark Webber has to be feeling fairly confident, as he has the most front-row starts of any realistic title competitor in 2010, and has four victories when starting from the front two positions, also the most among his title foes.
Webber's outlook down the stretch is no doubt optimistic, as he's the only driver of the five title contenders to earn points in each of the last two races.
Fernando Alonso may have something to say about that, however, as he moved up two places in the driver standings with his Monza victory and is surging at just the right time. Ferrari has come back strong after tailing off midseason, and Alonso is benefiting greatly from that, scoring three top-two finishes in his past four races.
On Sunday, he became the first driver since Vettel in 2009 at Silverstone to complete the weekend hat trick (pole, win and fastest lap), and the first Ferrari driver since Felipe Massa in the 2008 finale. It was no doubt a big win for Ferrari, as the passion from the marque's fans is always evident when F1 comes to Monza.
The Prancing Horse now has 18 wins in 61 Italian Grand Prix events, while no other make has more than nine.
Anyone who may not have seen the race would think that it was an absolutely dominant showing by Alonso, but that simply was not the case.
While his race was impressive, he was consistently challenged by Jenson Button, who benefited from an excellent start to claim the top spot after the first lap.
It took a very quick pit stop from the Ferrari squad to put Alonso in the lead, and that was by the slimmest of margins. The time in the pits was the difference, however, as Alonso's total pit time was nearly a second briefer than Button's.
It made for a thrilling conclusion to a race that provided some early-lap fireworks with Lewis Hamilton's retirement.
At the time, it looked as if Hamilton's hopes of a second title may have taken a considerable hit, but that ended up not being the case. Red Bull was never much of a factor, with Vettel and Webber fighting for fourth- and sixth-place finishes respectively.
Elsewhere, Alonso and Button finished 1-2, but their failure to score points at Spa means that they are still hunting down Hamilton in the standings. After everything was said and done, Hamilton left Italy just five points shy of leader Webber, with the five contenders separated by less than 25 points.
While Alonso stole the show on the F1 side, congratulations are also in order to the newest GP2 champion, Pastor Maldonado. His subpar weekend in Italy belies his dominant season, one that includes six race wins, and his title is certainly well deserved. More importantly, it further paves the way for a future F1 seat, as recent GP2 champions have often been provided an opportunity to compete in Formula One nearly immediately after their title.
Among GP2 champions, only Giorgio Pantano has not competed in F1 since, but he had his shot with Jordan in 2004. Hulkenberg, Glock, Hamilton and Rosberg all claimed F1 rides the season following their GP2 titles, so Maldonado's future certainly looks bright.
Also of note from Italy is that Michael Schumacher was mathematically eliminated from the title hunt. While he never had a realistic chance of claiming this year's crown, it does seem remarkable to be discussing Schumacher's elimination from title contention with still two months remaining in the season.
