Hamilton Secures Monza Win
By: Dave of Setanta Sports
Lewis Hamilton extended his World Championship lead over Nico Rosberg to 53 points by emerging victorious from the Italian Grand Prix, while the German suffered an engine failure.
Hamilton, starting Sunday’s race from pole position, was helped by a very poor getaway from Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who had been alongside the Mercedes racer on the front row of the grid.
Sebastian Vettel, third in the other Ferrari after qualifying, finished in second place but was unable to put Hamilton under any serious pressure in the battle for victory.
Rosberg started from fourth place, following a qualifying outing affected by power issues, and looked set to finish third until his old-specification engine gave way late in the race, leaving Hamilton in a very commanding position on the drivers’ points ladder.
Williams grabbed third and fourth, with Felipe Massa edging Valtteri Bottas, as the Brazilian had also done on Saturday. The Finn fought Massa thrillingly in a fantastic fight at the conclusion to Sunday’s action but the former Ferrari driver did enough to secure a spot on the podium.
Having belatedly gotten going off the line, Raikkonen superbly cut his way through the field from last place to finish fifth.
Sergio Perez lost out in an enthralling late contest with Ferrari’s Finn but can be pleased with his sixth-place finish, which helped Force India to take fifth place in the constructors’ standings off Lotus.
Perez’s teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, finished seventh, with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo battling through from 19th, following a grid penalty, to take eighth place.
Marcus Ericsson finished an excellent ninth for Sauber, while the final available point went to Daniel Kvyat, who almost matched teammate Ricciardo’s achievement by powering up the order from close to the back of the field.
The Lotus machines of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, eighth and tenth respectively on the grid, both retired due to opening-turn incidents. The Frenchman suffered rear suspension damage because of contact from behind, while the Venezuelan broke the floor of his car by being forced across the chicane.
As the lights went out at the start, Raikkonen initially failed to get away, while Vettel slipstreamed Hamilton towards the opening chicane. The Englishman, however, took the inside line and successfully defended into and out of Rettifilo, before disappearing off into the distance.
Rosberg, who had dropped two places at the start having taken evasive action to navigate around Raikkonen’s stationary Ferrari, was fifth by the time that he visited the pits. The German, however, managed to leapfrog both Williams cars during the pit-stop phase, although he was forced to overtake Raikkonen, who had yet to stop at that stage, out on track to move up to third place.
Rosberg tried all that he could to hunt down Vettel during the latter stages, but suffered an engine failure with just a couple of laps remaining.
Hamilton, meanwhile, appeared to be in total control up front before being surprisingly asked to speed up by his team. It later transpired that Mercedes were under investigation because its tyre pressures on the grid had been below Pirelli's 19.5psi guideline - the team were anticipating a potential time addition in asking Hamilton to push - but the Englishman remained calm to secure the win.
It appears increasingly unlikely that Rosberg will be able to wrestle the World Championship crown from the grasp of Hamilton, who enjoyed a weekend in Monza of pole position, fastest lap and a lights-to-flag race triumph.
Italian Grand Prix: provisional race results
Pos. Driver, Team, Time/Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1hr18:00.688
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, +0:25.042
3. Felipe Massa, Williams, +0:47.635
4. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, +0:47.996
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, +1:08.860
6. Sergio Perez, Force India, +1:12.783
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, +1 lap
8. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, +1 lap
9. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, +1 lap
10. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, +1 lap
11. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, +1 lap
12. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, +1 lap
13. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, +1 lap
14. Jenson Button, McLaren, +1 lap
15. Will Stevens, Manor, +2 laps
16. Roberto Merhi, Manor, +2 laps
-
Not classified/retirements
Driver, Team, Laps
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 51
Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 48
Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1
Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1
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Date:July 19th, 2017