Five things we learnt at Monza
1 Balance of power shifts to Hamilton
As Lewis Hamilton took the championship lead for the first time this year, it was difficult not to feel that the edge in his absorbing duel with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel has shifted in his favour. Reinvigorated by a summer’s rest in Cuba and Barbados, Hamilton has looked composed, poised and at ease in his back-to-back victories in eight days. It is with this mentality that he is at his most dangerous.
2 Hungry Ricciardo chews up opponents
Daniel Ricciardo was in ravenous mood, propelling himself from 16th to finish fourth. His frame of mind was best expressed by an exchange with his Red Bull race engineer. “Felipe Massa is on his own, he’s our next target, might be vulnerable,” he was told. “I like them vulnerable,” came the reply from Ricciardo. The Australian produced an array of sumptuous overtakes.
3 Alonso loses his cool after clash with Palmer
There was much chatter on the grid between Mclaren and Renault staff, suggesting an imminent rupture of the Woking team’s 10-year deal with Honda. Fernando Alonso sounded like a man at the end of his tether. There was palpable rage at the idea that he, as a double world champion, should be fighting for position with Jolyon Palmer. “What happened to Palmer?” he asked his garage, after the Briton cut him up. “He had to retire.” “Karma.”
4 Magical Monza melts even the stoniest heart
Monza, the self-styled “temple of speed”, retains its reputation as the most febrile and evocative setting on the Formula One calendar. Even an emotional flat-liner like Vettel was visibly moved by the ecstatic reception he received as Ferrari’s No 1 driver. “I’m still fairly overwhelmed by the lap back to the pits and the podium,” Vettel said, as the back straight was flooded with tens of thousands of many of them letting off red flares.
Bottas’s charge will seal contract extension
Valtteri Bottas has assured himself of at least a oneyear contract extension at Mercedes. Starting fifth, the Finn gobbled up the inexperienced Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon in short order, and then fashioned an extraordinary passing move on Kimi Raikkonen as the two swept around Parabolica, the long right-hander that produces neck-straining G-forces.