Italian GP – The Race: Sovereign in Monza, Lewis Hamilton knocks everyone out!

Here we are at the time of the last European Grand Prix of the season! The Italian Tifosi have come in droves to support Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen, who will be able to feel the fervor emanating from the stands from their respective cockpits.

Qualified third and second respectively, they are in any case the main challengers to Lewis Hamilton, the man to beat this season. The World Champion remained unyielding yesterday afternoon in Qualifying by securing the Pole Position, his 11th of the season! But will he be able to hold them off at the start, after experiencing some difficult starts recently?

On the sidelines of the race, many tributes were paid: in the stands, banners were seen in memory of Jules Bianchi. He was indeed a driver for the Ferrari Academy. On the grid, a minute of silence was observed in honor of Justin Wilson, who passed away two weeks ago during the penultimate round of the Indycar season.

This Italian Grand Prix will be raced in ideal weather conditions: 38 degrees on the track versus 21 degrees in the air. The sun is shining on Monza!

Can @ScuderiaFerrari get jump on Hamilton at #ItalianGP start? Few minutes left #GPItalia #ForzaF1 pic.twitter.com/EVrMgkkWTX

— Formula 1 (@F1) 6 Septembre 2015

At 2 p.m., the 20 drivers depart for the warm-up lap. At the back of the grid, we find all the penalized drivers: from Jenson Button in 15th place to Daniel Ricciardo in 19th, including Alonso, Sainz, and Kyvat. Finally, Max Verstappen, initially unqualified after his issue yesterday, has been allowed to start.

All this added to Marcus Ericsson’s 3-place penalty for obstructing Hülkenberg in Q1, amounts to a total of 158 grid penalties, setting an absolute record for a Formula 1 Grand Prix!

Lewis Hamilton leads the pack to a stop on the starting grid.

The five red lights go out, and the 2015 Italian Grand Prix is underway!

At the start, shock: Kimi Räikkönen stalled! He nevertheless manages to start, but Ferrari already loses a chance of victory!

STALLED: Räikkönen left on the grid as the field passes by. Big blow for Ferrari #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/9wuG9lHun2

— Formula 1 (@F1) 6 Septembre 2015

Vettel, for his part, tries to overtake Hamilton at the end of the straight, but the Englishman closes the door just enough to keep his leading position. Behind them, confusion reigns, but no major incidents to report: several drivers are forced to take the escape road at the first chicane.

At the end of the 1st Lap, Hamilton is in the lead. He is followed in this order: Vettel, Massa, Bottas, Pérez, Rosberg, Grosjean, Hülkenberg, Ericsson, Button. A very good situation for the two McLarens as Alonso is just behind in 11th position. It can be noted that Rosberg has once again had a poor start.

In the 2nd lap, the hero of Spa is betrayed by his machinery: Romain Grosjean’s Lotus must already stop! The Frenchman reports a suspension problem over the radio. He was actually hit by Felipe Nasr’s Sauber, which ruined his weekend. The race is already one to forget for Lotus as Maldonado also retires a few seconds later. The Venezuelan’s streak of premature retirements continues. Frustrating as well for his team, which could have achieved a good result.

.@RGrosjean retired too. Looks like something broken after contact, subject to confirmation. Not our day. pic.twitter.com/pupEPann7W

— Lotus F1 Team (@Lotus_F1Team) 6 Septembre 2015

At the front of the race, Hamilton opens up a small gap of two seconds over Sebastian Vettel. Behind, Kimi Räikkönen is in full comeback mode. He is already in 10th place by the end of the 5th Lap. Just ahead of him, a surprising Jenson Button in 9th position. But he can’t keep up the illusion for much longer and he drops back in the Standings, overtaken by Räikkönen, then by Sainz, Ricciardo, and Kyvat. The Renault engines are running closely together at this early stage of the race.

After 10 Laps, the Top 10 is as follows: Hamilton, Vettel, Massa, Bottas, Rosberg, Pérez, Hülkenberg, Ericsson, Räikkönen, and Ricciardo.

Carlos Sainz receives a 5-second penalty. The young Spaniard is already heading to the pits to serve his penalty, taking the opportunity to change his tires: he opts for the softs.

Higher in the standings, we still find Rosberg in 5th position. He is closing in on Bottas and trying to overtake him: He seems to be suffering from a significant power deficit compared to his teammate’s car, which is still calmly leading the race. Sebastian Vettel is actually 8 seconds behind after 15 laps. Felipe Massa, meanwhile, is 15 seconds behind.

The positions remain unchanged for a few laps. In any case, we witness a great duel for 12th place between the young Max Verstappen and the experienced Jenson Button. Beautiful maneuvers from both men who respect each other by leaving enough space.

In the 19th lap, Nico Rosberg makes his pit stop: he puts on medium tires. Will he now attempt to finish the race with this same set of tires? A lap later, Felipe Massa follows suit. He comes out behind Rosberg, who makes a good move. Valtteri Bottas is still on track. He pits at the end of the 23rd lap. He comes out behind Rosberg and Massa. Behind them, we find Daniel Ricciardo, who hasn’t stopped, and Sergio Pérez, who has stopped.

Leading this Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton is currently unchallenged and dominates significantly: 16.3 seconds ahead of Vettel, and 42.9 seconds ahead of Räikkönen. On the 26th lap, Sebastian Vettel makes his pit stop. The Scuderia driver’s stop takes 2.4 seconds.

At the 27th lap, which is at the halfway mark of the race, it’s Lewis Hamilton who changes his tires: he opts for medium tires. The stop is perfectly executed by the Mercedes mechanics, allowing Hamilton to continue his race.

LAP 27/53: Räikkönen yet to stop as Hamilton keeps lead after his pit stop #ItalianGP #GPItalia pic.twitter.com/fsDS4XCL3q

— Formula 1 (@F1) 6 Septembre 2015

The time has come to take stock of the Top 10:

Hamilton, Vettel, Räikkönen (who still hasn’t stopped), Rosberg, Massa, Bottas, Ricciardo, Pérez, Kyvat, Hülkenberg. Rosberg passes Räikkönen smoothly on the next lap; he can now catch up to Vettel.

After imploring his team to let him in, Iceman finally stops to change his tires on the 29th lap. The stop almost caused damage as Roberto Merhi behind him nearly collided with him, locking his wheels just behind.

He returns to ninth position: he needs to climb back up again. He passes Ericsson and then Hülkenberg on the straight with DRS.

But the dominance of Mercedes is still overwhelming this afternoon: even Nico Rosberg is performing in the exercise of the fastest lap, and that with an engine that has been used since the Canadian Grand Prix.

UPDATED FASTEST LAPS: The two Mercedes cars have held the edge as we enter the second half of the #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/f5kvvPajM7

— Formula 1 (@F1) 6 Septembre 2015

His team also excels in the duration of pit stops.

TOP THREE – PIT STOP COMPARISON

1 HAM: 2.7 seconds

2 VET: 2.4 seconds

3 ROS: 3.2 seconds

#ItalianGP #ForzaF1 pic.twitter.com/M7AFOUojV1— Formula 1 (@F1) 6 September 2015

Vettel is therefore under pressure and sees Rosberg coming back one after the other: the battle for 2nd place is in full swing. The positions remain unchanged for now, Räikkönen is not yet able to close the gap enough on Pérez to overtake him.

**There are now 10 laps remaining** in this Italian Grand Prix, so we are at the 43rd lap. Hamilton is a very calm leader: he has a 22-second lead over Vettel!

The four-time World Champion will be looking behind him instead, as Nico Rosberg is now a little less than 4 seconds away. He can thus consider snatching his 2nd place, which would still be quite an affront for Scuderia on their home turf.

Behind this podium, we find: Massa, Bottas, Pérez, Räikkönen, Hülkenberg, Ericsson, Ricciardo. A great race for the Swedish driver from Sauber. He catches up to a Hülkenberg who complains on the radio about a lack of grip.

Further down the standings, Button and Alonso have fallen back significantly: they are battling together for a modest 15th place. Quite a shock for the legendary McLaren team and its two drivers! We’ll have to wait for Singapore and the array of new developments that will follow. The Spaniard, moreover, retires a few laps later.

There are now 5 laps left to complete and a strange message from Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton is ordered to attack. Technical problem or simple mind game from the team? The Englishman, in any case, is listening to his engineer and accelerates as much as possible! In the Mercedes garage, Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda look very worried on the screen.

For this race finale, battle for 6th place between Sergio Pérez and Kimi Räikkönen, Iceman takes it! Also to follow: the potential fight between the two Williams, Bottas catching up to Massa for 4th place.

Twist on the podium: Nico Rosberg’s old engine has given up the ghost; he has to retire. Vettel can breathe easy, as he will keep his 2nd place. Massa and Bottas will now fight for the podium. Massa narrowly holds off his teammate.

Rosberg eyes better luck at #SingaporeGP in two weeks after #ItalianGP cut short near end #ForzaF1 pic.twitter.com/wjsSPLQ9L3

— Formula 1 (@F1) 6 Septembre 2015

In the lead, Lewis Hamilton crossed the finish line as the winner of the 2015 Italian Grand Prix. He is dominant this season; it is already his 7th victory and the 40th of his racing career!

Sebastian Vettel steps onto the podium once again: he will be able to savor a podium in Monza in Red. The podium will also delight the Tifosi with Felipe Massa’s 3rd place, who still carries Ferrari in his heart.

HAMILTON: “Look at this crowd. It’s incredible. My team is remarkable and what we have achieved is amazing” pic.twitter.com/5u11d7BmUj

— Formula 1 (@F1) 6 Septembre 2015

Here is the complete classification of the 2015 Italian Grand Prix:

N°	Driver	Team	Times	Gap	Laps
1	Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	1:18:00,688		53
2	Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari		+25,042	53
3	Massa	Williams Martini Racing		+47,635	53
4	Bottas	Williams Martini Racing		+47,996	53
5	Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari		+1:08:860	53
6	Perez	Sahara Force India F1 Team		+1:12:783	53
7	Hülkenberg	Sahara Force India F1 Team		+1 Lap	52
8	Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing		+1 Lap	52
9	Ericsson	Sauber F1 Team		+1 Lap	52
10	Kvyat	Infiniti Red Bull Racing		+1 Lap	52
11	Sainz Jr.	Scuderia Toro Rosso		+1 Lap	52
12	Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso		+1 Lap	52
13	Nasr	Sauber F1 Team		+1 Lap	52
14	Button	McLaren Honda		+1 Lap	52
15	Stevens	Manor Marussia F1		+2 Laps	51
16	Merhi	Manor Marussia F1		+2 Laps	51
17	Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team		DNF	50
18	Alonso	McLaren Honda		DNF	47
19	Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team		DNF	1
20	Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team		DNF	1

Breaking news: Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes team are currently under investigation by the FIA due to abnormal pressure detected on the Englishman’s car. This concretely explains the Mercedes team’s concern at the end of this Grand Prix…