LECLERC EDGES MERCEDES AMG DUO FOR FERRARI HOME WIN

Charles Leclerc took his second F1 win in a row and handed Ferrari its first home win in nine years after edging a titanic race-long battle with Lewis Hamilton and resisting pressure from the Briton’s Mercedes team-mate in the final laps.

At the start pole sitter Leclerc held his advantage and took the lead ahead of Hamilton and Bottas. Behind them Sebastian Vettel in the second Ferrari lost out to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg early in the lap and dropped from his starting position of fourth to fifth place.

Vettel fought back, however, and at the start of the next lap he retook fourth with a move past Hulkenberg into Turn 1. His hold on the position didn’t last long, however. On lap five the German carried too much speed into Ascari and lost control. The Ferrari driver spun in mid-corner and slid off track. He quickly rejoined but in doing so he forced the onrushing Lance Stroll to also spin.

The Racing Point driver then mirrored Vettel’s unsafe return to the track and the Canadian’s actions forced Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly wide into the gravel. The incidents resulted in Vettel behind handed a 10-second stop/go penalty, while Stroll received a drive through penalty. Both drivers made their way to pit lane to serve the sanctions and dropped to the rear of the field.

Hamilton was the first of the leading pack to pit, on lap 19. The Mercedes man opted for medium tyres and rejoined in fifth place. Ferrari covered, with Leclerc pitting on the next lap for hard tyres, a choice that would prove crucial later in the race.

Leclerc emerged ahead of Hamilton but the Mercedes driver quickly began to close the gap. Leclerc passed the slower Hulkenberg around the outside of Parabolica to regain third place and that allowed Hamilton attack into Turn 1 and into the second chicane.

Leclerc defended hard, however, and Hamilton was forced to cut the chicane. The Ferrari driver’s defence earned him a black and white flag for unsportsmanlike conduct. Hamilton once again began to put Leclerc under heavy pressure and on lap 36 the Monegasque driver made a mistake. He outbraked himself on the approach to Turn 1 and was forced to cut the first chicane. Hamilton tried to pounce into the second chicane and Leclerc again defended robustly to hold off the challenge.

With 15 laps remaining, Hamilton’s medium tyres began to go off and a mistake into Turn 1 allowed Bottas to sweep past into second place. With his challenge over and a huge gap back to fourth-placed Daniel Ricciardo the championship leader opted to pit for new soft tyres and on lap 51 he posted the race fastest lap of 1:21.779 to grab a bonus point to add to his 15 for third place.

Ahead, Leclerc comfortably held off Bottas to take his second career win and a first victory for Ferrari on home soil since 2010. Behind Hamilton Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg were fourth and fifth respectively. Hulkenberg was closed down by Red Bull Racing’s Alex Albon in the closing stages with the Thai driver closing a 12-secomnd gap on lap 36 to just 1.1s by the flag.

Sergio Pérez was seventh for Racing Point, with the Mexican resisting enormous pressure from Max Verstappen in the final laps as the Dutch finished in a strong P8 after starting from 19thon the grid. Behind Verstappen, the final points positions were taken by Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

2019 ITALIAN GP - MONZA 53 laps, 306.720km., Weather: Sunny
CLASSIFIED:
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1h15:26.665
2.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	+ 0.835
3.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	+ 35.199
4.	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	+ 45.515
5.	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	+ 58.165
6.	Alex Albon	Red Bull	+ 59.315
7.	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	+ 1:13.802
8.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 1:14.492
9.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	+ 1 lap
10.	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 1 lap
11.	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	+ 1 lap
12.	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	+ 1 lap
13.	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+ 1 lap
14.	George Russell	Williams	+ 1 lap
15.	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	+ 1 lap
16.	Romain Grosjean	Haas	+ 1 lap
17.	Robert Kubica	Williams	+ 2 laps
FASTEST LAP: LEWIS HAMILTON - 1:21.779
NOT CLASSIFIED:
18.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	techical
19.	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	techical
20.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren	techical
HISTORY - HYBRID ERA 2014 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h19:10.236 2015 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h18:00.688 2016 Nico Rosberg - Mercedes AMG - 1h17:28.089 2017 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h15:32.312 2018 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h16:54.484 2019 Charles Leclerc - Ferrari - 1h15:26.665 @MakFormula1 - Republic of Macedonia

***CLASSIFICATION AFTER 14/21 RACES***
DRIVERS:
1.	Lewis Hamilton	284
2.	Valtteri Bottas	221
3.	Max Verstappen	185
4.	Charles Leclerc	182
5.	Sebastian Vettel	169
6.	Pierre Gasly	65
7.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	58
8.	Daniel Ricciardo	34
9.	Alex Albon	34
10.	Daniil Kvyat	33
11.	Nico Hulkenberg	31
12.	Kimi Raikkonen	31
13.	Sergio Perez	27
14.	Lando Norris	25
15.	Lance Stroll	19
16.	Kevin Magnussen	18
17.	Romain Grosjean	8
18.	Antonio Giovinazzi	3
19.	Robert Kubica	1
20.	George Russell	0
CONSTRUCTORS:
1.	Mercedes AMG	505
2.	Ferrari	351
3.	Red Bull	266
4.	McLaren	83
5.	Renault	65
6.	Toro Rosso	51
7.	Racing Point	46
8.	Alfa Romeo	34
9.	Haas	26
10.	Williams	1