Italian Grand Prix sees Lewis Hamilton dominate to take Mercedes 1-2

Formula 1 headed to Monza for the next power circuit on the 2017 calendar. Due to the high speed nature of the track, the advantage was clearly Mercedes’ due to its superior power unit. A wet qualifying session meant that the field was mixed up for the race. Lewis Hamilton started from pole and was surrounded by rookie drivers, with Lance Stroll starting in second and Esteban Ocon in third. A disappointing qualifying saw Ferrari occupy the third row of the grid while Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were both shuffled to the back of the back with grid penalties.

Italian Grand Prix sees Lewis Hamilton dominate to take Mercedes 1-2

When the lights went out, Hamilton led into Turn 1 while Ocon got the jump on Stroll to move into second. It was also a good start for Raikkonen who passed Valtteri Bottas to move into fourth. By the end of the first lap however, Bottas got the jump back on his fellow countryman, and regained fourth.

Bottas then began to slice his way through the field, overtaking Stroll on lap 3 for third and Ocon on lap 4 for second. This meant that he was the second half of a Mercedes 1-2 in the race. While this was happening, Verstappen fell into difficulty after having a strong start, colliding with Felipe Massa which meant that he picked up a front right tyre puncture.

Sebastian Vettel also started cutting his way through the field, desperate to put on a good show in front of Ferrari’s home crowd. He passed Stroll and Ocon in quick succession, pushing the drivers out of contention for a podium finish.

After struggling with tyre degradation, Raikkonen pitted on lap 15 to perform the undercut strategy on Ocon and Stroll ahead.  He rejoined in 11th. This promoted Force India to pit Ocon in an attempt to cover off Ferrari, succeeding with the Frenchman rejoining in tenth. Williams was slow to make its strategy call on Stroll and the Canadian was pitted one lap later. This meant that he was jumped in the stops by Raikkonen, dropping him down by one position in the net-race standings.

After running close behind Ocon for much of the race, Raikkonen finally cleared the 20 year old to move into sixth.

At the front, Hamilton, Bottas and Vettel continued to run in the podium positions having not yet pitted. Vettel made the move on lap 32, ditching his supersoft tyres for a fresh set of softs. This promoted Mercedes to take action, calling Hamilton in on lap 33. This handed Bottas the lead temporarily, with the Finn pitting one lap later.

After Jolyon Palmer retired earlier in the race, Stoffel Vandoorne became the second casualty of Monza, losing power in the late stages while running inside the top ten.

When Daniel Ricciardo pitted, he dropped from third in the order to fifth, handing Vettel back his podium position. On the fast supersoft tyres, he was able to overtake Raikkonen and begin to close in on his former Red Bull team mate, with 10 seconds separating them and ten laps remaining. Despite setting multiple fastest laps, Ricciardo was unable to maintain his pace and was only 4 seconds shy of Vettel when crossing the line.

When the checkered flag waved, Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in first place, marking a second consecutive win after he also claimed the victory at Spa last weekend. Bottas was next up, making sure that Mercedes secured another 1-2 finish. Vettel rounded out the podium positions for Ferrari, giving the Tifosi something to cheer about when they flooded the track to celebrate the race result.

Daniel Ricciardo led the rest of the field across the line in fourth place, followed by Raikkonen, Ocon, Stroll, Massa, Sergio Perez and Verstappen.

Through his race win, Hamilton has taken the lead in the Drivers’ Championship from Sebastian Vettel, and now heads to Singapore with a three point advantage.

With regards to driver of the day, Daniel Ricciardo is the clear winner. The Australian qualified in third place originally, however, a grid penalty meant that he started the race down in 16th. He put in a flawless drive for Red Bull, and was able to jump four Mercedes powered cars to secure fourth, having a shot at third although he ultimately failed to close in on Vettel.

Results from the Italian Grand Prix:

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

Drivers Standings after the Italian Grand Prix:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 238 points
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 235 points
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 197 points
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 144 points
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 138 points
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 68 points
7. Sergio Perez, Force India, 58 points
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India, 55 points
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 36 points
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 34 points
11. Felipe Massa, Williams, 31 points
12. Lance Stroll, Williams, 24 points
13. Romain Grosjean, Haas F1, 24 points
14. Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1, 11 points
15. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 10 points
16. Pascal Wherlein, Sauber, 5 points
17. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 4 points
18. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 1 point
19. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 0 points
20. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
21. Antonio Giovinazzi, Sauber, 0 points
22. Paul di Resta, Williams, 0 points
23. Jenson Button, McLaren, 0 points

Constructors Standings after the Italian Grand Prix:

1. Mercedes, 435 points
2. Ferrari, 373 points
3. Red Bull Racing, 212 points
4. Force India, 113 points
5. Williams, 55 points
6. Toro Rosso, 40 points
7. Haas F1, 35 points
8. Renault, 34 points
9. McLaren, 11 points
10. Sauber, 5 points

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