LEWIS BLOWS FERRARI FAIRY TALE
An Italian GP for the ages that so nearly brought a fairy-tale win for Kimi Räikkönen, but Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were having none of it…
Call it a fiery riposte to that sweltering Silverstone Sunday when Ferrari mugged Mercedes on home turf. Here at Monza, as the onset of meteorological autumn began to tug gently at the leaves of the whispering trees, Brackley’s finest snatched certain victory from Ferrari’s plate under the disbelieving eyes of the tifosi.
QUALIFYING
Singing – football-style tribal chanting – greeted Kimi’s Räikkönen’s pole position in Monza and where else but the hallowed Autodromo could deliver such a moment of F1 theatre?
His 1m 19.119s tour, for his 18th career pole – the fastest lap in F1 history – at the head of Ferrari’s 60th front-row lock-out, was a high-speed honey that owed as much to the straight-line performance of the SF71H and a slipstream from Seb Vettel, as it did to the Iceman’s cool, error-free precision.
More than a year has passed since Räikkönen’s last pole (Monaco 2017); more than five since his last win (Australia 2013) and if he’s not the electrifying firebrand of the early noughties, his native speed remains intact.
Räikkönen success came at the cost of Vettel joy. Seb might have expected pole here, having been fastest in second and third practice, and in Q1 and Q2. But running third in a four-car ‘quali’ train, behind Hamilton, ahead of Kimi, he benefitted less from a ‘tow’ than his team-mate. His final pole shot was more than two-tenths quicker than his first Q3 run, but that wasn’t enough to quell the Kimster, who sliced more than three-and-a-half tenths off his previous best.
A valiant Hamilton emerged third from this fabulously tight battle, waged on Pirelli supersofts. His first Q3 run, 1m 19.390s, put him on provisional pole. But at the death there just wasn’t enough grunt behind his shoulders to secure P1.
Ferrari’s lockout – their first at Monza since 2000 – underlined the advantage they’ve enjoyed since mid-season: Bottas’s P4 was more than half a second from pole and represented a truer reflection of Mercedes’ current deficit to Ferrari than did Hamilton’s stellar time.
Behind the top four was a chasm to Max Verstappen on 1m 20.615s. Renault’s motors still can’t hold a candle to Ferrari and Mercedes PUS – despite a ‘C-spec’ upgrade for Monza – and P5 represented a considerable achievement for Red Bull on one of the team’s weakest tracks. Max would surely be vulnerable to an attack from a Ferrari-powered Romain Grosjean (P6) and a Mercpushed Esteban Ocon (P8) come race day. Sainz (P7) would be in the thick of it, though team-mate Nico Hülkenberg was condemned to a back-ofthe-grid start after changing prescribed engine components. A similar fate befell Dan Ricciardo, who would line up in P19.
RACE
For 45 of 53 laps this was the most mesmerising Italian GP. Crowd darling Räikkönen seemed to have enough speed to keep a pressing Hamilton at bay and had already survived a mid-race ‘Hammertime’ period when Lewis went for a bold overcut.
Alas, the fairy tale was not to be, and the fizz went from the final eight laps like bubbles from stale champagne. This race had been so tense, so poised between Kimi and Lewis, that the final result – brilliant though it was for Hamilton and his own title ambitions (he now leads Vettel by 30 points) – could only be an anti-climax.
When the silver and red machines pulled into parc fermé, Räikkönen seemed lucky, indeed, even to have scraped home second, 8.7s behind Lewis, so shot were his rear Pirellis. And it was this factor, rather than any inherent Räikkönen or Ferrari performance shortfall, that would prove decisive.
Kimi took off from pole, rebuffing a Turn 1 challenge from Vettel, and proceeded to turn 21 laps on supersofts, before his first (and only) stop for softs – this being in accordance with Pirelli
guidance for ‘optimum race strategy’.
Vettel fell out of contention further around the first lap, at the second chicane, where he was jumped by Hamilton. It was the sweetest of outside passes, but one which resulted in light contact and a Seb spin. So began a long afternoon’s fightback for Vettel to an eventual P4 – an error having cost him a possible victory for at least the third time this season.
A four-lap Safety Car period followed, after which a fully lit Hamilton fancied his chances against the other Ferrari. He slipstream-passed Kimi into T1… only for Räikkönen to return the favour into the second chicane. Kimi, having regained the lead, was able to progress to his lap21 pitstop without further drama, but this strategy, while ‘optimal’ according to strategists’ data, now committed Kimi to 32 laps on softs.
On worn supersofts Hamilton was a speed match for a fresh-booted Räikkönen and it was here that Mercedes played their tactical masterstroke with Bottas. He inherited the lead when Hamilton stopped and succeeded in slowing Kimi down, easing him gently back into Hamilton, just as Räikkönen would have hoped to be controlling the pace from the front.
All this was to Hamilton’s benefit for by lap 38, after Bottas stopped, Hamilton was within DRS range of Kimi. Ferrari’s data was telling a tale already evident to the naked eye, by virtue of a dark black stripe on Kimi’s left rear: his Pirellis were blistering. Hamilton’s position became stronger by the lap and the coup de grâce came on lap 45, with a deft round-the-outside pass into T1. The remaining laps were mere formalities as Hamilton charged to his 68th victory, with Räikkönen tip-toeing home behind.
Bottas placed third after T1 fisticuffs with Verstappen for which Max was penalised five seconds (also enabling Vettel to jump to P4).
This had been a mighty motor race – F1 at its epic, stirring best – and it was won by the right man. But also, for the Räikkönen romantics willing him to win, by the wrong one too.
“VETTEL FELL OUT OF CONTENTION FURTHER AROUND THE FIRST LAP, AT THE SECOND CHICANE, WHERE HE WAS JUMPED BY HAMILTON. IT WAS THE SWEETEST OF OUTSIDE PASSES, BUT ONE WHICH RESULTED IN LIGHT CONTACT AND A SEB SPIN