HURRAH HAMILTON
Lewis Hamilton strode to a dominating win at the Italian Grand Prix to take the championship lead from Sebastian Vettel at Monza on Sunday.
And it was a Mercedes 1-2 in Ferrari’s backyard with the Briton’s teammate Valterri Bottas taking the chequered flag in second, to make it their fourth of the season.
Vettel, who had qualified eighth but started from sixth following grid penalties to both the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, put in an impressive drive to finish third and on the podium.
A Vettel victory it wasn’t but it still was a treat for the Ferrari faithful — the tifosi — who had gathered in large numbers at the historic Monza Circuit, to create a surreal atmosphere for the race.
Meanwhile, it was Hamilton’s 59th victory and his second on the bounce after winning at Spa, last time out. The win helped him overtake Vettel in the Drivers’ Standings with a slender lead of three points. Hamilton is on 238 points with Vettel on 235 points.
Hamiton has six race wins to Vettel’s four this season and it is interestingly playing out with seven races remaining.
It was a dominating race for the Mercedes car on Ferrari’s homeground, as it was power-sensitive circuit, where the stronger engine prevailed.
The 53 laps unfold quickly, with a standard strategy determined result, which was boring and cliched for the audience, after a thrilling qualifying session the previous day. Having broken Michael Schumacher’s record of the maximum number of pole positions, Hamilton’s confidence remain undeterred with the Ferrari drivers no where close.
Carrying unprecedented speed into every corner and straight, the Briton stamped his authority on the whole race. Vettel, on the other hand, revealed that when he went off at Turn 1, something on his car broke and thereafter he lacked confidence and consistency to make it back up to fight for the lead.
For the German, a fight from sixth place to claim a win was going to be a difficult journey, with Hamilton flaunting invincible skills in a dominating car. Perhaps, the third place finish was the best Vettel could ask for, as he eyes a fightback over the remaining seven races.
Finishing fourth on the grid was Ricciardo, who had an interesting journey from the back of the grid to the front. The Australian had taken 25 penalties to start at 16th place. From thereon, an interesting onestop strategy, starting on the soft tyre, as opposed to the majority of the front grid who started on the super-soft tyre, aided the Australian to make up places on the grid.
Ricciardo’s best overtaking manoeuvre was when he late braked while diving into the first chicane on lap 40, passing Kimi Raikkonen to claim fourth place. The Finn eventually had to settle for fifth after leaving enough room for the opportunistic Australian to make an ambitious move. The Australian also post the quickest lap of the race which was 1 minute 23.361 seconds on lap 49.
For Raikkonen, it was a journey from fifth place to fourth, down to 10th after an early pit-stop and back up to fifth where he started. When he was running fourth, there was a subtle swap between the drivers at Lap 3 to aid Vettel to catch up to the cars in the front. However, for Ferrari in general, a compromised qualifying in wet conditions coupled with bad starting positions, made it a difficult race weekend.
Force India’s Esteban Ocon finished sixth after a strong qualifying and race. The Frenchman was followed by Williams’ young teen driver Lance Stroll in seventh. The Canadian driver, who started second due to grid penalties, was unable to sustain his position over the course of the race, with stronger cars behind him.
Williams’ Felipe Massa finished eighth followed by Force India’s Sergio Perez in ninth, with Verstappen rounding off the top 10. The Dutch driver had a clash with Massa at the start, where he punctured his front-right tyre, going into Turn 1, after which he had to pit and work it back up into the points.
The next race in Singapore is a Ferrari-favouring race, which poses a serious tyre degradation challenge for the Mercedes drivers. Given that, this title battle will go back and forth with some exciting circuits ahead, as the F1 circus moves outside Europe.
It’s obviously an incredibly exciting season and the last two races have been incredibly strong for us Lewis Hamilton