Lewis Hamilton won this afternoon with great superiority 2015 Italian Grand Prix. The English driver also ran away to the lead as 54 points is what is between him and Nico Rosberg, who retired with broken engine. Sebastian Vettel saved Ferrari’s honour as Felipe Massa closes podium.


 

Race started with first surprise of the weekend; Kimi Räikkönen left the car in the grid for too long and arrived to first turn in last position. Hamilton escaped with Vettel as Rosberg was bothered by Räikkönen’s Ferrari and fell to P7. McLaren made a great start and Button was into points zone with Sainz Jr. Both Lotus retired on two first laps as Grosjean broke the car and Maldonado received a touch.

As laps were going on Hamilton was going further from Vettel as Räikkönen was escalating until reaching eighth position. Hottest fight was between both Red Bull, Sainz and Button. McLaren driver would stay for short time in points zone and fell to twelfth position, until Nasr and Verstappen, who were coming from last positions, caught him and left him in P15, just in front of his team mate.

Sainz, suffering pressure from both Red Bull, stopped early when he received a 5 second penalty for track limits. He would stop two times. Rosberg, in front, overtook Bottas and was going for Massa. Meanwhile, Vettel got distance from them as Force India were in no one’s land.

Rosberg was first to stop. Good decision from Mercedes, as next lap Massa was in but brasilian was not unable to stay in front of german driver. Nico was into podium position and with just Vettel between him and his teammate. Vettel stoped and so did Räikkönen, positions did not change; fights would have to take place on track.

Räikkönen, with fresher tyres, finished his climb overtooking first Ericsson’s Sauber and then both Force India. Pérez was in front of Hülkenberg, who had problems with his VJM08. Behind, Ricciardo overtook Ericsson as Alonso retired, again, for engine issues.

But when just 3 laps were remaining, Nico Rosberg’s car was smoking. Fires came and engine was broken. This has a lot to do with german’s championship, which might be almost lost. Massa was now into the podium.

Meanwhile Hamilton was told to be as fast as possible and not ask anything about this order. This mistery would make Hamilton finish 4 seconds away from Vettel (25 seconds) and complaining about the order as “it was too risky”.

What actually was going on was that Mercedes were susceptible to receive a penalty because of incorrect pressure on tyres. Finally this would not happen and Hamilton maintains victory and is now 54 points away his teammate.

Formula 1 is coming back in two weeks for Singapore Grand Prix in spectacular Marina Bay night circuit.

 

Results:

Pos Driver Team Time
1 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes After 54 Laps
2 Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari +25.042s
3 Felipe Massa BRA Williams +47.635s
4 Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams +47.996s
5 Kimi Räikkönen FIN Ferrari +68.860s
6 Sergio Perez MEX Force India +72.783s
7 Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India +1 lap
8 Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull Racing +1 lap
9 Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber +1 lap
10 Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull Racing +1 lap
11 Carlos Sainz ESP Toro Rosso +1 lap
12 Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso +1 lap
13 Felipe Nasr BRA Sauber +1 lap
14 Jenson Button GBR Mclaren +1 lap
15 Will Stevens GBR Marussia +2 laps
16 Roberto Merhi ESP Marussia +2 laps
17 Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes DNF
18 Fernando Alonso ESP Mclaren DNF
NC Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus DNF
NC Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus DNF