In qualifying Hamilton had comprehensively outpaced his team-mate, sealing pole for the Monza race ahead of Rosberg by a margin of almost half a a second. The expectation was that with such a sizeable pace advantage, at lights out for the race the championship leader would simply drive away from his rival and seal his own seventh win of the campaign. However, at the start, it wall went wrong for the Briton. He initially got away at the same time as the rest of the field but then he bogged down badly and slid down the order as those around him on the front rows surged past.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel slotted into P2 ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, while Valtteri Bottas took fourth place ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Another driver who got away badly was Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull. The Dutch prodigy also bogged down and fell back from his P7 starting slot to 12th place by the end of lap one. Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez too made a dreadful start and slid from tenth on the grid to 20th place.
Hamilton quickly passed Ricciardo for fifth place and then at the end of lap 10 he passed Bottas to take fourth place. Verstappen, too, began to claw his way back through the order, rising to ninth place by the time Hamilton was past Bottas, At the front, though, Rosberg was busy building a gap, and by lap 11 he had carved out a 4.4s gap to Vettel and had 11.0s in hand over Hamilton. Bottas was now slipping back into the clutches of Ricciardo and at the end of lap 13 the Williams driver decided that discretion was the better part of valour and he dived towards the pit entry, taking on soft tyres during the stop. Verstappen also took the opportunity to pit for soft tyres on the same lap as did Alonso.
Raikkonen, though, chose a different path and when the Finn pitted on lap 15 he took on a second set of supersoft tyres, trusting that a two–stop race might be the right strategy. Vettel then showed his hand on the following lap, the four-time champion also taking on supersoft tyres during a first stop slowed momentarily by a problem with the gun on the front left wheel. Those stops promoted Hamilton to P2 behind Rosberg and at the start of lap 20 the Briton found himself 13.4s behind his team-mate, with Vettel third ahead of Raikkonen, Bottas and Ricciardo, who had moved to soft tyres. Further back, Verstappen was still working hard to make his way back toward the major points, finding himself in eighth place behind Sergio Perez after 24 laps.
Rosberg made his single stop from the lead on lap 24, taking on a set of medium tyres that would see him to the end of the race. The stop was not perfect, however, as a slight delay with the right front wheel costing the German valuable time. Hamilton made the same switch on the following lap and emerged behind the two Ferrari, both of which would need a final pit stop. Vettel now began to push on his supersoft tyres, attempting to make time in advance of his second stop on Rosberg and the chasing Hamilton. By lap 33 he had closed the gap to Rosberg to 4.1s and he then pitted for soft tyres, emerging in P5 behind Ricciardo.
The gap from the Ferrari man to Hamilton was now 19 seconds, with Hamilton on medium tyres and Vettel on softs. Raikkonen soon followed suit, making his second stop on lap 34 and taking on soft compound Pirelli rubber. The brief halt saw him rejoin in P6, behind Verstappen. The order now saw Rosberg leading, 11.5s clear of Hamilton with Ricciardo third ahead of Vettel and Raikkonen.
Ricciardo made his second stop, for a final set of supersofts, on lap 37 and he rejoined in P6, once again finding himself behind Bottas, but on newer, quicker tyres. The Australian quickly began applying pressure, lapping upwards of a second quicker than the Williams man and closing the gap to fifth place to 2.4s by lap 42. It was the major developing battle at the upper end of the order as at the front Rosberg led Hamilton by almost 13s, with the Briton 14s clear of Vettel in third place and the lead Ferrari driver six seconds ahead of Raikkonen in fourth.
By lap 47 Ricciardo was inside DRS range of Bottas and despite his supersoft tyres having taken a battering in the wake of the Williams, the Red Bull driver pulled off a superb move under DRS into the first chicane to take P5. The Australian’s team-mate was also making moves. Verstappen rose to P7 on lap 49 with a good move down the inside of Perez into the second chicane. Caught unawares, the Mexican was forced to cross the chicane to avoid clashing with the opportunistic Dutchman. And that was how the order remained. Four laps later Rosberg crossed the line to claim his first Italian GP win ahead of Hamilton, with Vettel third ahead of Raikkonen.
The Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Verstappen were split by the Williams of Bottas in P7, while the final points-scoring places went to Sergio Perez, Felipe Massa, with the Brazilian scoring points in his final Italian Grand Prix and Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.
Rosberg’s win means he closes the gap to championship leader to just two points, with Hamilton now on 250 points to his team-mate’s 248. In the Constructors’ title battle Mercedes extend their already massive lead at the top of the table to 208 points but Red Bull’s lead over Ferrari has been cut to 11 points.
ITALIAN GRAND PRIX, MONZA
53 laps, 306.720km., Weather: Sunny.
CLASSIFIED:
P. DRIVER TEAM TIME/GAP
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1ч17:28.089
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG + 15.070
3. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari + 20.990
4. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari + 27.561
5. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull + 45.295
6. Valtteri Bottas Williams + 51.015
7. Max Verstappen Red Bull + 54.236
8. Sergio Perez Force India + 1:04.954
9. Felipe Massa Williams + 1:05.617
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India + 1:18.656
11. Romain Grosjean Haas + 1 lap
12. Jenson Button McLaren + 1 lap
13. Esteban Gutierrez Haas + 1 lap
14. Fernando Alonso McLaren + 1 lap
15. Carlos Sainz JR. Toro Rosso + 1 lap
16. Marcus Ericsson Sauber + 1 lap
17. Kevin Magnussen Renault + 1 lap
18. Esteban Ocon Manor + 2 laps
Fastest Lap: Fernando Alonso - 1:25.340
NOT CLASSIFIED:
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso
Pascal Wehrlein Manor
Jolyon Palmer Renault
Felipe Nasr Sauber
After 14 races:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Lewis Hamilton 250 1. Mercedes AMG 498
2. Nico Rosberg 248 2. Red Bull 290
3. Daniel Ricciardo 161 3. Ferrari 279
4. Sebastian Vettel 143 4. Williams 111
5. Kimi Raikkonen 136 5. Force India 108
6. Max Verstappen 121 6. McLaren 48
7. Valtteri Bottas 70 7. Toro Rosso 45
8. Sergio Perez 62 8. Haas 28
9. Nico Hulkenberg 46 9. Renault 6
10. Felipe Massa 41 10. Manor 1
11. Fernando Alonso 30
12. Carlos Sainz JR. 30
13. Romain Grosjean 28
14. Daniil Kvyat 23
15. Jenson Button 17
16. Kevin Magnussen 6
17. Pascal Wehrlein 1
18. Stoffel Vandoorne 1
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