ITALIAN GRAND PRIX RESULTS
MONZA, Italy: Lewis Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday with an utterly dominant drive that sent the Briton clear at the top of the Formula One world championship for the first time in a year.
The triple champion, who started the last race of the European season from a record 69th career pole position, led Finnish team-mate Valtteri Bottas to a runaway one-two finish at Ferrari’s home track.
“I love it here in Italy and I love the passion of the fans,” Hamilton declared on the podium jutting out over a sea of red-shirted Ferrari fans, with plenty of boos coming his way amid the cheers.
“We did a great job, the team did an exceptional job this weekend,” he added. “Mercedes power is definitely better than Ferrari power.”
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who had led the standings since he won the Australian season-opener in March, finished third in the final race of the European season and 36.3 seconds behind the winner. Bottas was 4.4 adrift of Hamilton. “It was a difficult day, a difficult start,” said Vettel. “My race was fairly isolated, we tried to keep as close as possible but we simply didn’t have the pace.”
“You could say it’s a bad day but I know the team is on the right way... so I am in a very positive mood despite the numbers.”
Hamilton is now three points clear of the German, with seven races remaining. Mercedes are 62 points clear of Ferrari in the constructors’ 1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:15:32.310, 2. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Mercedes +00:04.471, 3. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari 00:36.317, 4. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull - TAG Heuer 00:40.335, 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 01:00.082, 6. Esteban Ocon (France) Force India - Mercedes 01:11.528, 7. Lance Stroll (Canada) Williams-Mercedes 01:14.156, 8. Felipe Massa (Brazil) WilliamsMercedes 01:14.834, 9. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India - Mercedes 01:15.276, 10. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull - TAG Heuer 1 lap, 11. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) Haas - Ferrari 1 lap, 12. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso - Renault 1 lap, 13. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Renault 1 lap, 14. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso - Renault 1 lap, 15. Romain Grosjean (France) Haas - Ferrari 1 lap, 16. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany) Sauber - Ferrari 2 laps, 17r. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 3 laps, 18r. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber - Ferrari 4 laps, r. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) McLaren 20 laps, r. Jolyon Palmer (Britain) Renault 25 laps Fastest Lap: Daniel Ricciardo,1:23.361, lap 49. DRIVER AND CONSTRUCTOR STANDINGS Drivers, points: 1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 238, 2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari 235, 3. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Mercedes 197, 4. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull 144, 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 138, 6. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull 68, 7. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India 58, 8. Esteban Ocon (France) Force India 55, 9. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso 36, 10. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Renault 34, 11. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams 31, 12. Lance Stroll (Canada) Williams 24, 13. Romain Grosjean (France) Haas 24, 14. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) Haas 11, 15. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 10, 16. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany) Sauber 5, 17. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso 4, 18. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) McLaren 1, 19. Jolyon Palmer (Britain) Renault 0, 20. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber 0, 21. Antonio Giovinazzi (Italy) Sauber 0 Constructors, points: 1. Mercedes 435, 2. Ferrari 373, 3. Red Bull - TAG Heuer 212, 4. Force India - Mercedes 113, 5. WilliamsMercedes 55, 6. Toro Rosso - Renault 40, 7. Haas - Ferrari 35, 8. Renault 34, 9. McLaren 11, 10. Sauber - Ferrari 5 (rank: r = retired, nc = not classified) standings. The first driver to win two races in a row this season, with Monza following on from Belgium a week ago, Hamilton now leads Vettel 6-4 on victories in 2017. He has 238 points to Vettel’s 235.
The last time Hamilton led the standings on his own was at Monza a year ago, with now-retired teammate Nico Rosberg emerging as the eventual champion.
FEW THRILLS Hamilton and four-time champion Vettel were level on points this year after China in April, with one win and one second place each.
If Sunday’s race was a dull affair, there was at least plenty of sunshine in marked contrast to the steady rain that drenched fans and delayed qualifying for hours on Saturday.
Hamilton pulled away cleanly from his historic pole, and fourth in a row at Monza, and was never challenged as he drove to the chequered flag with the minimum of fuss.
It was his third Italian Grand Prix win in four years and 59th career victory.
Force India’s French rookie Esteban Ocon, chasing his first podium finish, grabbed second place off the line from 18-year-old Canadian Lance Stroll in the Williams but then faded and finished sixth.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen clashed with Brazilian Felipe Massa’s Williams in an incident that forced the Dutch teenager to pit with a puncture.