Nico Rosberg Wins the Italian Grand Prix

After starting in second place, it was Nico Rosberg who was victorious in the Italian Grand Prix for Mercedes, marking the German’s twenty-first win in Formula 1.

Nico Rosberg Wins the Italian Grand Prix

It was Nico Rosberg who was victorious at the Italian Grand Prix for Mercedes, marking his twenty-first Formula 1 win. Despite starting in second place, Rosberg led from the outset, taking the lead immediately at the start of the race after his team mate, Lewis Hamilton had a bad start. Having a poor start, Hamilton slipped down to sixth in the first lap, however, worked his way back to the front of the pack, overtaking Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas. Hamilton finished in second place. Through this result, Rosberg again closed the points gap between himself and his team mate in the drivers championship, with there now only being two points between the Mercedes pair. It was Sebastian Vettel for Ferrari who rounded out the podium positions in third place, in front of his team’s home crowd. This marked the end of a dry run for Ferrari after failing to finish on the podium for four consecutive races until today’s race.

Finishing in fourth place also for Ferrari was Kimi Raikkonen, with the Finn securing 12 points for himself and his team. It was Daniel Ricciardo who finished in fifth for Red Bull Racing after starting in sixth place. Ricciardo moved himself into fifth place in the latter stages of the race, overtaking Williams‘ Valtteri Bottas in what has been described as the ‘overtake of the season’ by Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle. Bottas finished in sixth place.

Finishing where he started was Ricciardo’s team mate, Max Verstappen, who crossed the line in seventh place. Verstappen had a very disappointing race, having a poor race start after going into anti-stall mode. Despite this, Verstappen’s race remained clean, after the young Dutchman has received criticism over the past week for ‘erratic driving’ at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez finished in eighth place for Force India, while his team mate, Nico Hulkenberg finished in tenth place. Felipe Massa split the Force India cars for Williams, finishing in ninth place in what will be his final Italian Grand Prix after announcing his retirement earlier this week.

With a points finish looking likely for the Haas F1 Team after Esteban Gutierrez’s fantastic qualifying pace yesterday, their pace did not materialise into a top 10 finish. Gutierrez secured Haas F1’s first appearance in Q3 yesterday in qualifying, however, had a poor start on the first lap, slipping down to twentieth place. Gutierrez finished the race in thirteenth place while his team mate, Romain Grosjean finished in eleventh, just outside of the points.

In what is a circuit that does not suit McLaren, the Woking based team finished in twelfth and fourteenth place, with Jenson Button battling with Grosjean for eleventh place on the final lap. Button drove a great recovery race after having a poor start and being forced off the track in turn 1. By the end of the first lap, the British driver was in last place, however, fought his way back up the field. Fernando Alonso pitted with three laps to go, running in thirteenth place. By pitting, Alonso secured the DHL Fastest Lap award for McLaren

The Italian Grand Prix marked a disappointing weekend for the Renault F1 Team, with Kevin Magnussen finishing in seventeenth place and Jolyon Palmer retiring after an early collision with Sauber’s Felipe Nasr. For this accident, Nasr received a ten second time penalty, with Palmer being unable to avoid contact with the Sauber.

Daniil Kvyat once again retired for Toro Rosso, with his race coming to an end due to a damaged floor caused by contact on lap 1. During the race, rumours were floating around the paddock that this is Kvyat’s last race for Toro Rosso, with Spanish TV reporting that Kvyat will be replaced by GP2 driver, Pierre Gasly for the remainder of the 2016 Season. Despite this, these reports have been dismissed by Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko, with Kvyat’s Formula 1 future not being decided until October.

For driver of the day there are three candidates: Jenson Button for driving a great recovery drive after his poor start; Daniel Ricciardo for making one of the best overtakes of this season; and Valtteri Bottas. Although Bottas did lose out to Ricciardo for fifth place in the race, his efforts managed to move Williams once again ahead of Force India in the constructors championship. For this reason, Bottas is my driver of the day.

The next race of the 2016 Formula 1 Season will be in Singapore at the Marina Bay Circuit from the 16th-18th of September.

Results from the Italian GP:

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 25 points
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 18 points
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 15 points
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 12 points
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 10 points
6. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 8 points
7. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 6 points
8. Sergio Perez, Force India, 4 points
9. Felipe Massa, Williams, 2 points
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1 point
11. Romain Grosjean, Haas F1, 0 points
12. Jenson Button, McLaren, 0 points
13. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas F1, 0 points
14. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 0 points
15. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 0 points
16. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
17. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 0 points
18. Esteban Ocon, Manor, 0 points
19. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, Ret
20. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, Ret
21. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, Ret
22. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, Ret

Drivers Standings after 14 races:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 250 points
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 248 points
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 161 points
4. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 143 points
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 136 points
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 121 points
7. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 70 points
8. Sergio Perez, Force India, 62 points
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 46 points
10. Felipe Massa, Williams, 41 points
11. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 30 points
12. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 30 points
13. Romain Grosjean, Haas F1, 28 points
14. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 23 points
15. Jenson Button, McLaren, 17 points
16. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 6 points
17. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1 point
18. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 1 point
19. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas F1, 0 points
20. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 0 points
21. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
22. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 0 points
23. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 0 points
24. Esteban Ocon, Manor, 0 points

Constructors Standings after 14 races:

1. Mercedes, 498 points
2. Red Bull Racing, 290 points
3. Ferrari, 279 points
4. Williams, 111 points
5. Force India, 108 points
6. McLaren, 48 points
7. Toro Rosso, 45 points
8. Haas F1, 28 points
9. Renault, 6 points
10. Manor, 1 point
11. Sauber, 0 points

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