At the start, Hamilton made a poor getaway, appearing to have no power when the lights went out. He was passed by Rosberg, McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen, who made a superb start from fifth, and Williams’ Felipe Massa. Hamilton reported that he had a technical problem and his team informed him that the race start mode of his car "was all in a muddle" and that they would try to rectify the software glitch. Behind the front four came Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, who had passed Fernando Alonso.
Valtteri Bottas was the man who lost out most, however. The Finn made a terrible start and promptly dropped like a stone to 11th position. Daniel Ricciardo, too, had a problem, running wide at the first chicane. He dropped from ninth on the grid to 12th at the end of lap one. After five laps Massa was past Magnussen and the Brazilian was quickly followed by Hamilton, who had been told that he now had full ERS at his disposal. At the front, Rosberg was now three seconds clear but the gap was beginning to diminish. It dropped further on lap nine when Rosberg made an unforced error, outbraking himself into Turn One. He was forced to take the escape road and slalom his way through the polystyrene boards beforee rejoining.
A lap later Hamilton passed Massa around the outside of the first chicane, slipping past the Williams on the inside as the pair exited the section to take second. That left the gap between Rosberg and his team-mate at just over two seconds. Behind them the order, on lap 12, was Massa followed by Magnussen, Vettel, Button, Alonso, Perez, Bottas in P9 and Kimi Raikkonen in 10th. At this point, Bottas was the man on the move. On lap 14 the Finn made his way past Perez and then he breezed past Alonso on the pit straight on lap 16 to claim P7.
Further ahead, Magnussen was the cork in the bottle. Eleven seconds down on third-placed Massa, the Dane was holding up Vettel and Button. That logjam allowed Bottas to close and he soon passed Button on the pit straight with ease. Vettel made a single, very early stop on lap 18, taking on hard tyres and emerging in P15. Perez was the next in, the Mexican too taking on hard tyres, followed by Raikkonen on lap 20. The Finn rejoined in P13. At the front, Bottas passed Magnussen for fourth place and that was the cue for Magnussen to pit for hard tyres, in tandem with Alonso.
Leader Rosberg visited pit lane on lap 24, with Hamilton just over a second in arrears. The Briton was told it was "hammer time", but could he make up the deficit? The answer was negative. Hamilton emerged just over a second and a half adrift of the German. Hamilton was then told by his pit wall that he would need to save tyres for an attack at the end of the race.
The Englishman, though, was not in the mood to wait and promptly set purple lap times to close in on his team-mate. The pressure told immediately. On lap 29 Rosberg once again went too deep into the first corner and was forced to take the escape road for the second time, handing the lead to Hamilton. The Mercedes messaging suddenly went into reverse, with Rosberg now being told to save tyres and fuel for a late-race assault on the lead.
Behind them, Alonso’s race came to an end on the same lap, the Ferrari driver losing power on the pit straight. He pulled off track and stopped at the first chicane to record his first retirement of the season. The order, then, on lap 33, was Hamilton, 2.9s ahead of Rosberg, with Massa 13.7s further back. Vettel was now fourth, having used the undercut of his very early stop and the clear air afforded by it, to get ahead of Magnussen. Bottas was sixth ahead of Perez, Button, Raikkonen and Ricciardo. Bottas was pressuring Magnussen hard, however, and on lap 31 the pair went wheel-to-wheel into the first corner, with Magnussen on the inside. Bottas was forced to pull out of his attempted passing move and crossed the chicane.
The Finn eventually got past the Dane on lap 37 on the pit straight to claim P5. Magnussen’s afternoon got worse, as he was then hit with a five-second stop and go penalty for the earlier incident with the Williams driver. Further up the road, Bottas made a move past Vettel to claim fourth place and just behind, Ricciardo on fresher tyres than those ahead, went past Button to claim eighth place. The Australian was soon pressuring Perez and after setting up a move through the Curva Grande, he made it past the Force India into the second chicane on lap 41. That put Magnussen in the Red Bull driver’s sights and the Australian again used the first chicane to make a move, passing the Dane under braking.
Ricciardo, armed with tyres seven laps younger than his team-mate, closed quickly on Vettel. He made a first attempt into Turn One, but Vettel braked late and refused to give way. The champion got a poorer exit from the corner, however, and Ricciardo used the better grip available to him to pull alongside on the run to the second chicane. He ducked down the inside and swept past to claim fifth. At the front, Hamilton had comfortably pulled away from Rosberg, with the gap at a steady 4.2s.
Rosberg seemed to have no answer to the Britain’s pace and was eventually forced to settle for second place. Now the bottleneck was Vettel, with the German trying to nurse his worn hard tyres to the flag. Magnussen was just behind, appearing content to make it to the flag and take his penalty after the end of the race, as allowed by the regulations when no more pit stops are scheduled. Perez, behind Magnussen could sense a move on the Red Bull driver might be possible but he could find now way past the Dane.
Thus, Hamilton took his sixth win of the season, ahead of Rosberg, Massa, who took his first podium finish Spain in 2013, and Valtteri Bottas. Ricciardo was fifth ahead of team-mate Vettel. Perez was classified seventh ahead of Button and Raikkonen, while Magnussen dropped to 10th after his penalty time was added.
ITALIAN GRAND PRIX, MONZA
53 laps, 306.720km., Weather: Sunny.
CLASSIFIED:
P. DRIVER TEAM TIME
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1h19:10.236
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG + 3.175
3. Felipe Massa Williams + 25.026
4. Valtteri Bottas Williams + 40.786
5. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull + 50.309
6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull + 59.965
7. Sergio Perez Force India + 1:02.518
8. Jenson Button Mclaren + 1:03.063
9. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari + 1:03.535
10. Kevin Magnussen McLaren + 1:06.171
11. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso + 1:11.184
12. Nico Hulkenberg Force India + 1:12.606
13. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso + 1:13.093
14. Pastor Maldonado Lotus + 1 lap
15. Adrian Sutil Sauber + 1 lap
16. Romain Grosjean Lotus + 1 lap
17. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham + 1 lap
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia + 1 lap
19. Marcus Ericsson Caterham + 2 laps
20. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber + 2 laps
FASTEST LAP: Lewis Hamilton - 1:28.004
NOT CLASSIFIED:
Fernando Alonso Ferrari 29
Max Chilton Marussia 6
After 13 races:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Nico Rosberg 238 1. Mercedes AMG 454
2. Lewis Hamilton 216 2. Red Bull 272
3. Daniel Ricciardo 166 3. Williams 177
4. Valtteri Bottas 122 4. Ferrari 162
5. Fernando Alonso 121 5. McLaren 110
6. Sebastian Vettel 106 6. Force India 109
7. Jenson Button 72 7. Toro Rosso 19
8. Nico Hulkenberg 70 8. Lotus 8
9. Felipe Massa 55 9. Marussia 2
10. Kimi Räikkönen 41
11. Sergio Perez 39
12. Kevin Magnussen 38
13. Jean-Eric Vergne 11
14. Romain Grosjean 8
15. Daniil Kvyat 8
16. Jules Bianchi 2
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