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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Daniel Harris

F1: Lewis Hamilton wins Italian Grand Prix – as it happened

Lewis Hamilton celebrates with his Mercedes team.
Lewis Hamilton celebrates with his Mercedes team. Photograph: Srdjan Suki/EPA

Giles Richards' race report

So there we go. Off to Singapore next, and this is how we stand in the meantime. Thanks for your company; bye!

“Mercedes power is definitely better than Ferrari power,” he cheeky scamps.

Martin Brundle interviews Hamilton, or tries to as people jeer. “I love it here in Italy and I love the fans ... this energy is like nowhere else apart from Silverstone.”

The tunes strike up as the drivers swig bevy.

Paolo Gentiloni presents Hamilton with the trophy and between them they nearly drop it before it’s raised aloft, one-armed.

We have our anthems, or should that be antha.

Out comes Hamilton onto the podium. The home crowd at least have Vettel in the red but Hamilton still receives a smattering of jeers.

Hamilton notes that he wasn’t really pushing. Greenpeace here.

So your top ten once more:

  1. Hamilton
  2. Bottas
  3. Vettel
  4. Ricciardo
  5. Raikkonen
  6. Ocon
  7. Stroll
  8. Massa
  9. Perez
  10. Verstappen

Hamilton disembarks and runs a jig, jigs a run, and leaps into his team. He’s happy.

That was as routine as it gets, which isn’t to detract from what Hamilton has done this week - he has been brilliantly dominant. He experienced not a moment of aggravation today, and will fancy himself heavily - ok, even more heavily - to go on from here and regain the drivers’ championship.

Ricciardo finishes fourth - what a drive that is! - Raikkonen next, then Ocon, Stroll, Massa, Perez and Verstappen.

LEWIS HAMILTON WINS THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX TO GO TOP OF THE DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP!

Bottas is second, Vettel third!

A 1-2 for Mercedes.
A 1-2 for Mercedes. Photograph: Sky Sports

Updated

Lap 53/53: Hamilton begins the final lap and is about to record the first back-to-back win this season and move top of the drivers’ championship for the first time this season. Ricciardo, meanwhile, is slowing, those supersofts starting to wear.

Lap 52/53: Double retirement for McLaren now, and this looks like the last time they’l race with Hondas engines; well that’s what everyone who knows seems to reckon anyway.

Lap 50/53: Nothing amiss between Verstappen and Magnusson, decide the stewards; “Man’s game,” rules David Croft, because men are renowned for never whinging when they don’t get their way.

Updated

Lap 50/53: Ricciardo looks set for another fastest lap - there it is ! Can he catch Vettel? Will Hamilton attack that time to add to his pole and imminent victory?

Lap 48/53: Ricciardo has about five seconds to make up on Vettel; he’s got just about enough time for a shy, but could use a back marker’s help.

Lap 48/53: Magnusson isn’t pleased with Verstappen, but it all seemed fair enough to me.

Lap 47/53: Magnusson is doing all he can to steal a point, but Verstappen shuts the door.

Lap 46/53: “Kimi has form getting mugged at the first chicane,” tweets pitflaps, posting Hamilton nailing him on this same course a decade ago. You know where to check it.

Lap 45/53: More from Ricciardo.

Lap 44/54:

Lap 42/53: Ricciardo was barely in the picture when he began that manoeuvre, and it serves as a message to Ferrari who at some point will need a new driver. Ricciardo wants to challenge for titles, but will they want a number two or a rival for Vettel?

Lap 41/53: Brilliant from Ricciardo! He zips by Raikkonen on the inside, coming out of nowhere, brakes perfectly, and the pit-lane applaud. “Vettel’s a bit slow, I think you’re gonna catch him,” the radio tells him.

Ricciardo overtakes Raikkonen for P4.
Ricciardo overtakes Raikkonen for P4. Photograph: Sky Sports

Updated

Lap 40/53: Ricciardo will get a shy at Raikkonen with DRS, perhaps not next lap but no long afterwards. In the meantime, we’ve barely mentioned Hamilton, which tells you precisely the serenity with which he’s proceeding.

Lap 38/53: Ricciardo who, let’s not forget, started at 16th, is piling on the pace and fifth overall. I’d be surprised if he didn’t nail Raikkonen at least before the chequered flag.

Lap 37/53: Hamilton leads by 3.498; Ricciardo is 12.924 behind.

Lap 36/53: I wonder if Ricciardo will be strong enough to get onto the podium. He’ll stop, but might have the pace to claw back whatever he loses in the process.

Updated

Lap 34/53: Hamilton is now back in front of Bottas, while Ricciardo consolidates in third.

Lap 33/53:

Lap 33/53: So Hamilton comes in and swaps his supersofts for some soft compounds. Bottas now leads - until he takes a blow.

Lap 32/53: Vettel saunters into the pits and comes out behind Ricciardo, who’s yet to stop.

Lap 32/53: Palmer is out of the race; he still awaits his first point of the season.

Lap 31/53: Stroll hits Ocon again, but Ocon hangs on and looks to pull away fractionally through the chicane.

Lap 30/53:

Lap 29/53: Raikkonen is moving clear of Ocon now and then Stroll employs the DRS to have a shy from behind, but runs out of track.

Lap 28/53: Vettel is 17.554 off the lead; he’s making no impression whatsoever on Mercedes.

Lap 26/53: Raikkonen sees a gap as Ocon comes into the chicane, and he slides past! That’s some racer’s nous right there.

Lap 26/53: Verstappen’s asked how quickly he thinks he can proceed through this traffic; “Not very quickly,” he admits, just as he moves over to be lapped by Hamilton.

Lap 25/53: Great stuff on the Red Bull radio:

Engineer: “Great work - Felipe Massa is next.”

Ricciardo: “I like them vulnerable”

Lap 24/52: Ricciardo is still at the top of the speed trap.

Lap 23/53: https://twitter.com/Inter_en/status/904321076943040513

Lap 21/53: Occon, with his new tyres, sorts out Vandoorne and Raikkonen; he’s now seventh. Ricciardo, meanwhile, has seen Perez away and lies fourth. That’s something about which Vettel has to think.

Lap 21/53: Hamilton, though, still hasn’t pitted.

Lap 20/53: Hamilton leads by 4.392; barring an unfeasible mishap, he’s going to win this easily.

Lap 19/53:

Lap 18/53: Ricciardo is now up to fifth. This is a brilliant drive from him.

Lap 17/53: Verstappen, who was last, is now second to last after taking out Grosjean.

Lap 16/53: Raikkonen, who was in fifth, comes into the pits. He’s stationary for 3.7seconds, and Ferrari will use his experience to work out how to strategise for Vettel, completely outpaced in the simple driving.

Lap 15/53: Bottas lays down another fastest lap, as we hear Alonso accuse upshifts of “killing the race”. His team promise to look into it.

Updated

Lap 14/53: Alonso is demanding Palmer get out his road - they’re at 12th and 13th respectively - but that’s even less likely than usual following last weekend’s aggravation.

Lap 13/53: Officially:

Lap 12/53: Phew. The race seems more or less set now, dare I say. Hamilton is cruising, and it’s hard to see how Ferrari change things - they’re 11.1 seconds behind, and are thoroughly outpaced.

Lap 10/53: Hamilton leads by 2.845 - and Vettel by roughly 10 seconds - as we learn that there’ll be no further action on the Massa/Verstappen kerfuffle.

Lap 9/53: Bottas sets the fastest lap of the race, closing the gap on Hamilton for all the difference that makes; extending the gap on Vettel.

Lap 8/53: Vettel with the DRS and he slides into the podium places, zipping by Ocon. But in general, things could not be going better for Mercedes.

Lap 7/53: Verstappen has just put in the fastest lap, problem being he’s 20th out of 20. Meanwhile Raikkonen slides out of the chicane, thus losing more time. Ricciardo has nailed Magnussen, and now lies 9th.

Lap 6/53: Hamilton leads by 3.550 seconds. Behind him Ricciardo is picking his way through the field, up to 10th from 16th.

“Do we know what it is that Lewis Hamilton has on his back such that the photographers are eagerly snapping it?” asks Andrew Benton. “Or was he in the process of giving them all a twirl?”

Surely it’s got to be a target? My apologies.

Lap 4/53: The chaps are looking at the aggravation between Verstappen and Massa. Looked fair enough to me.

Updated

Lap 4/53: Ferrari have sent Vettel ahead of Raikkonnen - they’ll have to go some to disrupt this Mercedes one-two.

Lap 3/53: Bottas whizzes past Stroll and Verstappen has a puncture! He’s blaming Massa - “what was he doing?” he asks. Er, trying to overtake you, mate.

Max Verstappen has a puncture
Max Verstappen has a puncture Photograph: Sky Sports

Updated

Lap 1/53: Ocon is in second, and the question now is whether Vettel will be allowed in front of Raikkonen to have a dash at Bottas.

Lap 1/53: Hamilton leads comfortably, and Bottas goes at Raikkonen, taking him out, but Bottas comes back and noses ahead!

Updated

Bottas and Raikkonen are duelling and Raikkonen takes him out!

Updated

AWAY WE GO, HAMILTON OFF WELL!

Updated

I’d struggle even to get my front tyres on the right bit of the line.

The parade lap is underway and all are in shape.

This course has a long run down to the first corner, so we’ll see what’s what round about then, and they’ve all had to start and steer a bit. Almost all the drivers are on supersoft - notably, Red Bull are not.

The chaps are sorting their final preparations...

Our race will be over 53 laps, and the lap record, 1.21:046, is held by Rubens Barrichello, set when he won in 2004 - and Barichello is also the only man to win from outside the top four places on the grid, achieved in 2010.

This is what faces our drivers:

“Please be upstanding...”, entirely different from please stand. But the Italian anthem, what a tune, even if this is some kind of futuristic version with echoey voices and drum accompaniment.

“I think Hamilton is a driver who needs the team around him to be geared precisely to his needs,” emails Matt Loten. “He tends to throw his toys from the pram or lose his head when the car is balanced just right or his team-mate gets a bit too punchy. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that he has been at his most serene when driving alongside Kovalainen, Button and Bottas - drivers who were either clearly supporting acts, incredibly amiable men, or both. Lewis’s worst tantrums have come when he feels the entire team hasn’t been geared towards ensuring his success - when Alonso matched him for pace and ability, when Rosberg had the temerity to mount his own title challenge, and when Ron Dennis didn’t let him have it all his own way in his final years at McLaren. Hamilton seems much better able to handle a straight fight with a top-class rival at a different team, such as this year with Vettel at Ferrari. Of course there are other factors at play as well, but there does seem to be a general trend.”

I guess this is as good a place as any to make clear that I am not an expert in this kind of thing, so my usual nonsense will be even less informed than usual. But Hamilton seems a little more relaxed to me these days.

The drivers are all getting into line in readiness for the anthem.

And here’s Liam Cunningham, who deftly inserts the phrase “sphincter tightening” within two seconds of being on screen.

Huge home support for Ferrari.
Huge home support for Ferrari at Monza. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images

Bending the elbow.

A quick reminder as starts are practised, bites are found and such:

Actually, perhaps I’m talking nonsense. Damon Hill has just noted that the difference between Gilles and Jacques Villeneueve was “passion and anger”, which is why Gilles is a great. Fine line innit, in more ways than one.

Updated

Preamble

There’s a serenity about Lewis Hamilton these days, which hasn’t always been in evidence. He treats setbacks with equanimity - well, relatively speaking and some of the time - seems to have twigged that a race is only a race - and generally seems pretty chuffed with existing.

This can only help his racing. He has all the speed, wit and daring that he’s always had, but perspective never did anyone any harm, and it particularly suits him. His performance in qualifying for this race was majestic, and though the weather forecast suggests that it will not rain, thus giving the rest a chance, he looks set to move to the top of the drivers’ championship for the first time this term - any win will do it.

But F1 being F1, you never know.

Start: 1pm

Updated

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