Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Monza, 2018

Hamilton wins Italian Grand Prix after lap one clash with Vettel

2018 Italian Grand Prix summary

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Lewis Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza ahead of Kimi Raikkonen after clashing with championship rival Sebastian Vettel on the first lap.

Hamilton and Vettel collided at the second chicane when fighting over second place, seeing Vettel fall to the rear but continue. Kimi Raikkonen led the majority of the race but could not hold off Hamilton in the closing stages.

At the start, Raikkonen led away, with Vettel unable to take the lead from his team mate at the first corner. Hamilton pressured his championship rival heading into the Variante della Roggia chicane and tried to make a pass around the outside.

The two rivals made side-by-side contact, with Vettel spinning with damage and dropping to the rear of the field. The Safety Car was deployed, allowing Ferrari to pit Vettel and assess the damage with Vettel resuming

When the race restarted, Hamilton passed Raikkonen along the start/finish straight to take the lead, but Raikkonen immediately retaliated to repass the Mercedes into the Roggia Chicane.

Raikkonen led until the end of lap 20, when he became the first of the front runners to stop, switching for the Soft tyres.

Mercedes opted to keep Hamilton out to try and overcut the Ferrari, eventually pitting on lap 28 but resuming back behind the Ferrari.

Hamilton would have to pass Raikkonen to win and began to put the Ferrari under pressure, getting within a second of the leader, who was managing blistered rear tyres.

On lap 45, Hamilton finally got within striking distance of the Ferrari and used DRS to get into Raikkonen’s slipstream and dived down the outside of the Ferrari into the Rettifilo Chicane, taking the lead to the delight of Mercedes and the dismay of the Tifosi.

Behind, Valtteri Bottas tried a similar move around the outside of Max Verstappen, but the Red Bull moved over into the side of the Mercedes, forcing Bottas to take the escape road and earning Verstappen a five second time penalty.

With Raikkonen’s rear tyres visually blistered, Hamilton was able to comfortably pull away and tick off the laps to take his sixth victory of the season and extend his championship advantage.

Raikkonen finished second, with Verstappen crossing the line third on track but being demoted to fifth behind Bottas and Vettel after his penalty.

Romain Grosjean finished sixth for Haas, ahead of the two Force Indias of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez. Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll rounded out the points.

2018 Italian Grand Prix reaction

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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147 comments on “Hamilton wins Italian Grand Prix after lap one clash with Vettel”

  1. Hands up of you missed Ferrari pit calls! They are back!

    1. I missed the 2016 Ferrari strategy of do whatever Mercedes doesn’t do. They didn’t win any races that year and I still can’t figure out why…

    2. I almost put my foot through the TV when they called Kimi in on lap 20! I knew then that that was their strategy to let Vettle win, have him pass Kimi late in the race. But, since Vettle blew it on lap one, they should have changed strategy. It really looks like Kimi is really not allowed to win. He did 0 laps on softs in practice, and was not complaining of were on his Super Sotfs. An incredible blunder by Ferrari. Not going to win either championship with strategy like that!

      1. Actually, it’s VET who did 0 laps on Softs before the race. So, basically you say Ferrari did not allow VET win in Baku, ’cause the “mistakes” are similar?!

      2. @careypatrick

        It really looks like Kimi is really not allowed to win.

        Maybe not. But maybe Vettel actually revealed a bit more than intended in his post-quali comments:

        If he [Raikkonen] is on pole, I guess he is allowed to win

        That’s a bit of a strange comment. It could be just meaningless. Or it could actually mean that if Raikkonen outqualifies Vettel, then he’s allowed to try to win. If he doesn’t, then whatever happens in the race, he’s expected to be used to try to get a Vettel victory (compromising pit strategy etc.).

      3. GET IN THERE LEWIS!

  2. Mercedes was gentle on tires today possibly and this has been the trend for the last few races. Ferrari can blame themselves for the result, they pitted Kimi too early.

  3. Amaizing run of mistakes by Vettel. Totally his fault this one as well. Baku, Germany, France and now today. A huge amount of points lost!

    This Ferrari is by far the best they’ve built since 2008 and he’s just making a very bad use of it.

    1. @fer-no65 Very much true, all of what you said. It seems a lot like his first championship with Red Bull, lots of errors and inconsistency. He surely is feeling the weight of the red overalls, and specially the pressure to emulate his idol Schumacher. He just can’t get some momentum going.

    2. It’s like watching Vettel race in 2010

      1. @padschli He’s even more crash-prone now than in 2010 or Rosberg in 2016.

        1. Interesting comparisons. I don’t think VET 2018 would mind that much if he too went on clinching the WDC.

    3. For us ferrari fans its really sad, knowing that its the best ferrari car in a decade but in the hands of the wrong driver.. Seeing performances like today make me cheer for hamilton rather than vettel.

      1. No real Ferrari fan would ever cheer for. Mercedes driver huge Vettel errors for sure but he’s a big part of how competitive the team is today.

      2. I’m a Hamilton fan. I was cheering for Raikkonen. :)

        1. Hats off to Rai for being fair and fast. Too bad his team pit him early… He was good today and deserved to win fair. Also one of the few fair racers in the field in overtakes. Unlike his team mate, he is calm and goes for it when he knows it ‘ll stick and knows when to back off fairly.

          1. yeah, as a Hamilton fan i almost felt bad for cheering when Ham made the pass for the win. As a fan, it was exactly what i wanted to see, but i like Raikkonen and wanted too see him win.

        2. Yeah me too. Hamilton has been praying at my patience but I still support. But, when he passed Rai I was heartbroken.

      3. He’s doing a hell of a lot better than Raikkonen though, over the year.
        Only shows how good Hamilton is that they both have a better car than him.

  4. Seb can blame himself for losing the race for Ferrari. What was he thinking trying to dive bomb Kimi? I am sure Ferrari would have won this had they had 2 cars in front of Lewis.

  5. Argh… Yet again, everything falls into place for Mercedes and Hamilton, can’t see them not winning this year with this luck… I just want a win for Kimi before he retires, is that too much to ask? :(
    Also, funny to see Mercedes employing the strategy that everyone complains about Ferrari using… Except it actually worked here as tyre deg on the supers was so low (Ferrari kinda shot themselves in the foot by only taking one set of softs so they couldn’t learn how bad they were on long runs in practice).
    Lap 1 crash – racing incident. Vettel was fully steering, just had a bit of understeer, and Hamilton left enough room.
    And, what was Verstappen on with that move on Bottas?

    1. Mercedes doesn’t use team order mate.

      They have a wingman, it is different.

      It’s funny, especially after the “will Kimi be allowed to win” article over here

      1. @johnmilk Bottas was never in contention, he did a perfect job and didn’t lose out in terms of the race, since third was as good as he was going to manage. So you can’t say he was ‘sacrificed’ for Lewis’s win.

        1. mental gymnastics at 100% here

          1. Why? Explain how Mercedes messed up Bottas’s race? He still finished third. It’s not as though they swapped their drivers round or stopped Bottas from trying to beat Hamilton in this race.

          2. Granted this was before Verstappen’s penalty, so we don’t know if Bottas would have passed him. You’re pretty sure anyway that he didn’t lose 3rd.

          3. @mbr-9, to play the devil’s advocate, given that Verstappen had already passed Bottas off the line and then been leading him right up until the pit stop phase, there is an argument that the strategy that Mercedes went for with Bottas makes a fair bit of sense in those circumstances.

            Verstappen already had track position over Bottas, and we saw that Red Bull then moved to protect that track position by making an earlier pit stop. At that point, Bottas was still setting reasonably consistent lap times – I think he went on to set a personal best a few laps after Verstappen pitted – and, given that Vettel’s rear tyres were clearly already badly blistered, with Kimi then running into problems with blisters on his rear tyres quite early on in his stint, Mercedes might have thought that there was a risk that they could have the same issue.

            Now, the question is what benefit Mercedes had in pulling Bottas in earlier than they did. Verstappen had already taken 3rd place from Bottas, and pulling Bottas into the pits immediately after Verstappen would have probably seen Bottas return to the track behind Verstappen and with the risk that his tyres could end up blistering in the way that those on the Ferrari had.

            By stretching out that stint on the supersoft tyres, it gave Bottas the opportunity to come back at Verstappen later in the race with tyres that would be less heavily worn than those on Verstappen’s car – and, given how both Bottas and Vettel caught him, Verstappen did seem to be a bit marginal on tyre wear in the closing laps of the race.

            By trying to do something different, it at least gave Bottas a chance to do something about Verstappen, rather than just coping his strategy with the near inevitability of spending the rest of the race stuck behind him, just as they had been in the opening stint. Maybe it would have paid off even without the penalty for Max, and maybe it wouldn’t have, but at least they put themselves in a position to try and do something different rather than just “following the leader” and running the same strategy that Verstappen did.

            What, therefore, would you suggest that they should have done with Bottas instead?

          4. @mbr-9 @johnmilk Bottas explains how their plan had always been for him to do a long stint (and how his race wasn’t sacrificed for Hamilton’s).

          5. @david-br I see. I’m in the wrong on this.

        2. That’s quite the stretch. Yet most will believe it

          1. Can you explain how Bottas could have achieved second?

        3. RAI was never in contention for most races, he even got beaten many times by VER in inferior machinery, yet you did not refrain from blaming Ferrari of… something. His stats this season look so good because VET messed up, not because RAI performed but was sacrificed. As I said, RAI couldn’t beat the RBRs, so it’s ridiculous to blame Ferrari for not giving him fair treatment. The only thing Ferrari can be blamed is for keeping him so many years, and from now on, for keeping around VET too. If VET loses this champ because of his mistakes, Ferrari should get rid of both of them immediately. Too bad for them they cannot sign anymore for 2019 VET, RIC or ALO.

      2. @johnmilk

        It’s funny, especially after the “will Kimi be allowed to win” article over here

        To be fair… there is no way in hell that Ferrari would have let Kimi take the win and Sebastian finish in P2. I’m sure you know that as well. It’s the time in the season where both the #2 drivers will be used as a pawn. The only difference being Vettel is performing poorly enough to not even be in contention for team orders.

        1. Vettel is performing poorly enough to not even be in contention for team orders.

          Or Kimi. Whenever VET is winning and could use a cushion, RAI is somewhere on 5th, 6th or worse.

          1. Neil Debacquer
            3rd September 2018, 7:30

            The races Kimi has finished he has been only twice of the podium and the times he DNFed were never his fault lol

    2. @hugh11

      Bottas moved along side Verstappen then put his wheels between the Red Bull’s from the last clip I saw on TV.
      The first clip made it look like Verstappen moved over. With the bias now building against Max again I’m no longer interested in going through the clips. It just makes me miss the old days of wheel to wheel battles and no DRS or tyre lottery.

      1. Oh really? Because we all saw Verstappen moving his car around 2 meters to the left before he squeezed Bottas and forced him into the escape road. Verstappen got 2 penalty points as well for this incident, it was clearly his mistake! If you can’t be neutral even in this then that is a big problem.

    3. I do feel for Bottas – if he was unsure about his position in the team before, he certainly knows it now. He looked like one of Hamilton’s little lap dogs out there today.

      1. That is why I am very happy that Leclerc is in Ferrari 2019.
        Kimi has always been on podium by chance, not by merit.
        Idiot@
        I am happy for Lewis success, for the first time in my life.

    4. This wasn’t about Hamilton’s luck, I think this win was all about Vettal and the preasure of an home grandprix.
      That’s twice this season. Ditto last year, and all those unecessary race ‘incidents’.

      That said this opportunity goes back to how Farrari qualified, a very poor call lead to Vettal’s 2nd place behind Raikkonen. That should never have happened. The over-take by Hamilton was again all down to Vettal placing himself out of position.

      There’s no doubt who the better driver is, with or without the fastest car. Whatever you say about Hamilton he is a master of the unpredictable. All things being equal, he will his own luck.

  6. The current top 5 drivers represent 5 different levels of skull and achievment. On top of that list Lewis Hamilton.

    1. If I were Arrivabene, I would replace Vettel with Hamilton. This Hamilton is just too much than this Vettel.

      1. Hamilton is locked in for an equally competitive team. If they want a championship.. they better call Fernando, or try to get Max out of his Red Bull Honda contract.

        1. the original VER can’t be that disinterested either

        2. Krichelle – Please remind us; how many years was Nando at Ferriari and how many championships did he win for the Scuderia?

          1. He was there 5 years in a car that was clearly inferior to Red Bull. Ferrari didn’t even have a working wind tunnel.
            Vettel has the car and is going to lose yet another opportunity for a WDC and WDC.
            He is still beloved by the Tifosi as shown as is more Ferrari than Vettel will ever be.

            https://twitter.com/alo_oficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

    2. “Skull”
      He’s got a a really good brain in there, that’s for sure

  7. I think Ferrari just couldn’t manage the soft tyre. Kimi had used up the tyres before he caught up with Bottas who was still going fast on old super softs.
    After Vettel took himself or of contention, I kinda of wanted Jimi to win the race.

    1. Mercedes tricked Ferrari in pitting Räikkönen too early. As a result he had to push really hard to keep up with Hamilton, so his tires were in pretty bad shape after the stops. Even though I’d really love to see Räikkönen win this race, Hamilton deserved to win as he was blindingly quick.

      1. @f1infigures

        Blindingly quick against a sitting duck and badly blistered tyres, yes. Other than that Kimi put in a shift good enough to win the race by a safe margin.

        1. Always a joy to read your comments and see you doing cart wheels to downplay Hamilton’s achievements. Keep it up, mate.

          1. Blazzz, it’s more of a case of the fervent belief of a zealot in Max Verstappen and therefore needing to downplay the performance of every other driver on the grid, whilst simultaneously making it sound as if Verstappen is such a god that he can walk on water and raise the dead as well.

            @f1infigures, I’m not sure it was a case of Ferrari being “tricked” when Vettel’s tyres began blistering very badly very early on in his stint as well. Given that only Ferrari seemed to have that many problems on the soft tyres, it points to me towards this being more of a set up issue with the car – they covered very few laps on the softs in the practise sessions (Vettel didn’t use the softs until the race itself, and Kimi only had one set to use in practise).

            Keith, did Kimi really have the pace to win today? Kimi’s times dropped off quite noticeably in the latter stages of the race – there was even a point where one of the Williams was able to unlap itself because Kimi had backed off that much – and the fact that Hamilton, despite slowing up a bit on the final lap, had a 9 second lead by the time he crossed the line suggests that, irrespective of Bottas, the way Kimi’s tyres degraded in the latter part of the race would have seen Hamilton pass him anyway, just that it would have been a few laps later on.

        2. Don’t forget Lewis’ “wingman” who demolished a 5.5 second advantage for him. Kimi had the pace to win today, and drove basically flawlessly, including the restart (he was always going to be at risk down the straight, so get it over and done with early and get a good exit for a come back at T4).

          It was Bottas’ defense that won Mercedes (and Hamilton) the race. Ferrari’s pit stop was early, but not that early. Even with blistered tyres, the 5.5 seconds Kimi pulled ahead would have made things much more difficult for Lewis, who had his own (minor) tyre trouble that would have been worse had he had to push that gap.

          1. Errm no.

            The gap was only 5.5 because Mercedes told Lewis to stay out after Kimi had pitted. Before Kimi pitted, Lewis was within the 1sec window the WHOLE race. There is no doubt Lewis would have made up that gap, but it would simply have taken him longer to do it.

            More so, Lewis’s “minor tyre trouble” (front left flat spot) only happened because he tried to overtake Kimi.

            The fact is (1) Kimi took too much life out of his tires early on. (2) Mercedes was better at tyre management today that the Ferrari’s, and (3) Lewis was faster than both Ferrari drivers today.

          2. @kbdavies If Hamilton had had to make up that gap by himself it’s also likely that he would have run into tire trouble. Even stopping 8 laps after Kimi he was being told by his race engineer that the tire management was critical. So Bottas definitely played a huge part in Hamilton’s win.

        3. Let’s not forget that great call by Mercedes to have Hamilton pit, as Bottas held up Raikkonen. The best example of that strategy i’ve seen in recent times. The substory of this race was strategy. Can Mercedes keep this going?

          Now imagine if Hamilton had been driving for Ferrari…

          1. What’s great about that call?! It was luck and BOT having his own race sacrificed in order to mess up RAI’s race. It worked. AGAIN! Like in Hungary… where BOT also started to set personal best times when he was told to keep behind VET. Same thing today against RAI. Mercedes was faster and today they just showed they play mind games by saying Ferrari is faster. They don’t use their full potential – most likely because of reliability concerns-, but when needed they unleash it for some laps.

  8. @hugh11 That’s a really mean assessment. Hamilton made his luck with a brave move at the start, as he announced he would, Vettel messed up – yet again – Hamilton and Bottas then drove perfect races with a good team strategy. Mercedes got everything spot on, no luck involved. Ferrari had all last year to see Vettel’s weaknesses at critical points, and he’s repeating them this year. No mystery involved.

    1. General luck, not just this race

      1. @hugh11 Even then I don’t understand why they’ve been lucky.

      2. If I had more time I’d put together a youtube vid of Hamilton benefiting from safety cars and the competition throwing it away. Worshippers only ever remember the last race.

        1. Motor racing, like so many other competitive disciplines, isn’t contested inside some sort of vacuum. When competitors throw wins away under pressure (and when they especially aren’t known for making mistakes except when under pressure), credit has to be given to the party/parties who applied said pressure. Only a simple mind could boil such patterns of behavior & results down to “luck” in my opinion, but as I’ve stated several times on here I’ll readily admit that I may in fact be the weird one, spouting all this nonsensical logic.

        2. I suspect Hamilton has lost a lot more wins (and arguably WDCs) through luck than he has won.

          But some will consider Hamilton lucky today, often you make your own luck.

        3. But in every one of those cases, Hamilton (and Mercedes) were in a position to take advantage of that luck.

          This is a slugfest between two 4 time WDC’s who have had roughly equal cars for this (and last) season. It’s going to come down to who makes the fewest mistakes, and right now, that’s Hamilton / Mercedes.

      3. Yeah, because luck drives the car fast, takes all decisions and moves.
        It didn’t rain. The track was dry. Everything was set for a Ferrari one-two and they missed it.

        Everytime Hamilton defeats Vettel with an inferior machince you guys come with this excuse.
        Vettel messed up. Kimi had to fend off against two cars and couldn’t make it. That’s it.

        1. Kimi had to fend off against two cars and couldn’t make it.

          Exactly. Vettel’s mess up cost Raikkonen (or himself) the race too as it left Ferrari exposed tactically.

        2. When Vettel had the superior car it was Alonso taking the title challenge to him not Hamilton who struggled to dominate Button and Rosberg.

          1. Alonso taking the title challenge to him not Hamilton

            Kinda easy to do that when you have a compliant Massa as a number 2 isn’t it? And when you have a team willing to sabotage their own car (Austin 2012) just to aid Alonso’s challenge.

            Alonso has only ever had top tier team mates in his career in 3 seasons- with Button and Hamilton. So far, he has lost in 2 out of 3 seasons to those either of those team mates.

          2. Mostly because Alonso didn’t had to dominante anyone in the first place.

          3. Big Joe you’re particularly salty today, give the internet a little break mate. Maybe go lie down and run your hand across your Vettel poster with tears in your eyes. 😂

  9. My top 10 this season

    1. Hamilton
    2.
    3.
    4. Verstappen
    5. Raikkonen
    6. LecLerc
    7. Alonso
    8. Bottas
    9. Vettel
    10. Hulkenberg

    1. Not fair for RIC

  10. Great race and great performance from Mercedes. It was a true team effort and both the drivers executed strategy to a tee.

    Ferrari and Vettel on the other hand have thrown this championship away.

    Can’t see anyone but Lewis and Mercedes winning the title this year, if it’s not already won!

    1. Yeah Mercedes certainly did their home work.

      You’ll note Hamilton made two attempts at the start to get along side Vettal. The first time he narowly avoided by being clipped. The second time, Vettal was aware of the threat and was weaving alll over the place, which is what let Hamilton in. I would guess that move was studied and discussed by Mercedes. Vettal would also have known after the first attempt that that move was on the cards. The rest is about how Vettal handled the preassure.

  11. Barring any technical/reliability misfortune, Hamilton will take this title, and this time definitely in an inferior car.

    I didn’t write ‘mistakes’ in those possible reasons cause Hamilton doesn’t make any.

    1. @invictus

      Clearly he’s in the best team and there’s hardly anything in the cars. A tenth at most.

      1. How is he clearly in the best team? Are you saying Vettel hasn’t had the faster car the majority of this season? Or are you saying Lewis + Mercedes is a better team than Vettel + Ferrari, because I can agree with the latter. Vettel is underperforming.

    2. @invictus If I was really pressed I’d say the worst Hamilton did this was destroy his tires in Austria, but then he retired through a separate issue.
      Just like 2017 he just stays consistent and the championship comes to him. The cars are even closer now but he’s farther ahead in the championship than at this same point last year, and he had one more retirement than last year, too.

    3. What inferior car are you talking about when Ferrari destroys the Softs after 10-15 laps?! The inferior car is Ferrari, no doubt.

      1. @mg1982

        What inferior car are you talking about when Ferrari destroys the Softs after 10-15 laps?! The inferior car is Ferrari, no doubt.

        Come on dude. Surely you don’t believe that.

        At Spa, Ferrari took care of it’s softs a heck of a lot better than Mercedes did theirs. Suddenly, Vettel bins it and Raikonnen burns his tyres out while trying to get by Bottas and Ferrari is the second best car?!?!?!

        1. @todfod Without looking at today’s race in much detail I’d understand why someone would.

          Though yeah tbh other, (much?) more significant factors played a role than “Ferrari’s car eats through softs faster”.

          1. Just saying that because things don’t pan out in the race sometimes doesn’t make Ferrari the 2nd quickest car. It’s been the better car this year.. And I find it hard to believe that anyone who seriously follows the sport believes Mercedes are stronger.

          2. This could be the down side to Ferrari’s new found power out of the corners. It could be that there is a penalty for having greater traction out of the corners. All this might lead to a new tire compound designed especially for the Farrari engine. ;)

        2. It’s not Spa, right?! Their tyres did not work in Spain either. Ferrari took care a lot better than Mercedes at Spa? A 5sec advantage is a lot better?!

          1. A 5 second advantage is enough to deliver a win.

      2. Only in f1 would a fan insult their team car to make excuses for a loss….just like the drivers.

  12. If I was to go and take part in a race and my main competitor threw it away, I’d consider myself lucky and be quite embarrassed if I was worshipped over it.

    Lewis was lucky (again)

    1. LOL stop crying

      1. Lol 😂 😂😂😂

    2. Crying guy 😂😂😂😂😂😂

    3. How did Ferrari throw it away? When Lewis PASSED VET around the OURSIDE. That a straight up duel son.

    4. ‘Big Joe’….

      Amazing how that luck has been following him around since he was 8 in cadet karts, all the way through F3, F3 Euro, GP2, and F1.

      He is one lucky guy.

      I hear Fangio was super lucky too!

      Seriously, have a word with yourself…

    5. And just to add, Lewis gets extra lucky in the rain!

    6. Honestly, your paradigm is often divorced from reality but fun to read (although not worth a comment ;)) Today every post is a reality dysfunction and it’s amusing!

      Please keep it up, you are not a frothing-at-the-mouth fan-boy but it is great fun to read Bigjoe, thanks!

    7. This guy is a joke.

  13. Ferrari has made a great car this year probably their best for 10 years. Their drivers are not using it to its full potential. Still 7 races left with plenty of points but the next 3 races are critical and both Vettel and Raik need to come 1-2.

  14. Yes, Vettel blew it, and I’ve had a strong dislike for the ‘team-mate as a buffer’ trick for as long as I’ve followed F1, but got to hand it to Hamilton – exceptional racecraft, the two overtakes were beautifully executed. Sometimes races just fall into your lap, but today he showed the difference between a good driver and a great one.

  15. Another horrentous race approach by Vettel. He goes too deep in the chicane, gets a bad exit & rather than staying in the slipstream of Kimi after Curva Grande(as he wasnt close enough to properly attack), he changes his line & allows Hamilton to attack him.
    Another costly mistake by Vettel this season, in front of the Tifosi as well…
    On the other hand, super team work by Mercedes. They fooled Ferrari by faking a pitstop & used Bottas in the best way.
    Verstappen did ruin his solid race with his “defence”, but solid drives by Grosjean-Perez. Stroll put the Williams to the points & if we take into account last season, where his 2 “standout” (aka being on Massa’s pace) races were Baku & Monza, we can assume that the car isn’t that horrible (especially in high speed circuits).

    1. Same here. Arrivabene and the president must be furious with Seb as he definitely cost them that win. Had he remained cool and stayed behind Kimi, I am 1000% sure a red overall would be on the top step of that podium instead of a silver overall.

      1. Most likely they would have swapped positions around lap 10 (done in the past in Monza), and lead for the majority of the race, without having the fear of the undercut…

      2. Then you would have accused them of tactics and for taking the victory from poor RAI.

        1. As the championship is going, few people would say that. And having seen Ferrari in the past, breaking a healthy geabox in order to be at the clean side, nothing would be said.

      3. I doubt it. Kimi was as fast or faster than Vettel this weekend, and Hamilton to could stay within 1s of Kimi at will. Hamilton just had one of his races today were he was not going to be stopped.

        1. True, Kimi’s pace was too good & Hamilton seemed very good during the whole weekend.

  16. Can’t believe all the reports about the incident between max and Bottas. Max left enough space for Bottas but Bottas didn’t use it. Also Bottas was never in front of Max and didn’t have anywhere to go in the chicane from where he was. In my opinion it’s pure racing.

    But this is F1 nowadays: results from behind the desk

    1. The problem is Max moved under braking…

    2. You are not allowed to move in the braking zone, and you must leave a car width.
      Max moved towards him under braking and Bottas was over the white line at the point of contact.

      Max was lucky it was his first penalty of the race after cutting the chicane earlier and holding position after leaving the track under pressure.

    3. Max left enough space for Bottas

      Not true. He did not leave a full car’s width.

    4. The stewards had the last word on that one.

    5. You two have no clue about the rules or racecraft. Max was both wrong in leaving no space for bottas and showing poor racecraft. Max is fast but a very poor racer and he deservedly suffers for it.

  17. A piece of advice to everyone:

    Remove the word luck out of your vocabulary. Applied to others its jealousy. Applied to yourself it’s limitation.

    1. @invictus

      Maybe you’re right. Mercedes were the best team by a mile and Lewis would have had no chance in the mistake ridden Ferrari camp.
      Well done Mercedes. Superior team work one the day.

        1. Dude, just respect that Hamilton is a doing a good job as a driver and deserves his success, and then you’ll get over the illogical hate.

    2. Luck is real. If you were born in a tent in he Amazon as opposed to a high rise in Shanghai…..luck.

  18. Like last season, the greatest threat to Vettel’s WDC-chances seems to be he himself.

    1. I don’t understand, the only negative thing I see is a poster depicting Hamilton as a baby. Nothing racist there.

      1. Under the picture, you’l’ see something written in Italian « luipiange » which, translated, means he cries. So no, I do not see this as racism. But I would be embarrassed if I brought a picture like that to the track. I have been to the 2014 German Gp, 2017 Austrian and Italian Gp’s and have not ever seen a picture « like that » through any of the days I spent in the races.

        1. Dear all, Let’s be clear on this: I am clearly referring to the Spanish incident as racist. I am calling the “fans” who do such things as “low”.

    2. I’ve seen worse. The Spanish & Italian fans can never be accused of being gracious losers. Nothing wrong with it, IMO, especially in light of how they must feel now that Hamilton won. I’d bet they’re a lot less happy than he is at the moment.

    3. Not a fan of the way the Tifosi act while losing, but on the flipside I did enjoy the Merc radio call on the slow down lap.

      ‘Formation all the way in for the benefit of our Italian colleagues’

      Made me Lol.

  19. Nothing against true battle but this was far than that. Merc left Bot to deliberately ruin Rai pace and above all tyres. Driving like 10 laps behind Bot it was inevitable that he will get blistering in hot and dirty air and finally would be passed by Ham. Shame for Merc. This is not F1 we would like to see.

    1. It’s a team sport so the team did what was necessary to maximise their points. All successful teams try to maximise their strategy.

    2. Somewhere there’s a tiny tifosi playing a violin sat on a string of the world’s second tiniest violin…

      Possibly my favourite stat from today: Lewis Hamilton now matches Schumacher’s record number of wins (5) at Monza.

      A big thanks to Seb for making that possible!

    3. How many laps did Hamilton spend behind Raikkonen ?

      And Bottas had track position on Kimi; he was entirely entitled to defend his position. Should he have waved him past ?

  20. If this is legal then next race legally Rai should hit Ham and eliminate him from race.

    1. By ‘this’, do you mean Vettel’s effort ?

    2. YellowSubmarine
      2nd September 2018, 20:53

      Did you watch the British Grand Prix this year?

    3. What the hell are you talking about. Who did Hamilton hit? I mean seriously you’ve got to be pretty delusional to try and blame Hamilton for vettel crashing into him. Don’t let you’re hatred for Hamilton get in the way of reality.

  21. Just…. no.

    1. Oops, meant @john above

  22. I predicted one of the Ferrari’s will hit Lewis; as neither of them is good at wheel to wheel racing – with Vettel obviously the much worse one. My money was on him hitting Lewis, with Lewis coming worse off.

    I’m glad it happened the other way around.

    The only problem, contact is now more likely to happen between them in future races as Vettel always wants to prove a point. He is no better than Vesterppen in this regard.

    In fact, i make them both the worst wheel to wheel racers on the whole grid at the moment. Their sense of entitlement, unwillingness to yield or concede, coupled with a red mist that regularly descends, earns them this unflattering accolade.

    1. Wheel to wheel is a celebrated part of the Ferrari history, Im sure Vettel would have seen all the historic footage…
      Were approaching the anniversary of the last infamous wheel to wheel mano a mano incident, ala Singapore. It will be interesting to see how Ferrari celebrates their last homegoal.

    2. @kbdavies
      I think you are largely right, but there is one mitigating factor. With a 30 point lead mutual destruction is bad for the Vettel as he loses a chance to gain points. So he has to be very careful.

      Now Hamilton has to be super careful around RIK and VER. But let’s give Kimi props for racing clean today. The stands were full of trifosi who would have adored a Hamilton
      DNF.

  23. I pretty much agree, Verstappen however imo is to high.

  24. Raikkonen drove brilliantly, Lewis drove brilliantly. The race was decided by Merc’s strategy. Had they not asked Bottas to stay out to act as a mobile chicane – which they’re entitled to do and while cynical, it’s perfectly within the rules (in fact Ferrari tried exactly the same trick with Raikkonen in China) – Raikkonen would have probably managed his 6 second gap to Hamilton and coast home with far less threat from behind. Unfortunately he wasn’t given the opportunity.

    Kimi gets my driver of the day because he showed incredible guts and ‘sisu’ to repass Hamilton and battle as the sole Ferrari against two fast Mercedes acting in a pincer movement. He’s still got it and I hope they resign him for 2019.

  25. Well I speculated yesterday on another thread, what would happen if Lewis got between the two Ferraris with Kimi being ahead. Well it came to pass and it produced a very exciting race.

    As others have stated, I also think Ferrari have produced a car that could easily win the Championship but in my opinion it is not being driven to its best effect. I think Ferrari has the slightly better car all things considered but the Merc is only just behind. Seb keeps making costly mistakes under pressure though. This must be at least the third time this season. As for Kimi, he drove very well today but I think he was done for by his tyres and to me it seems he’s lacking those final few tenths in pace at this stage of his career.

    Lewis did everything he could and produced a superb performance. His race today illustrates why he is probably on course for his fifth title whilst Seb looks like he might be stuck on four for some time or ever even. I know it’s too early to say it’s over this year though by any means. One DNF for example and everything could change.

    I say all of this as someone who is pretty neutral as far as the top 2 are concerned. I think they’re both great drivers at their best and I just want the championship battle to be close and exciting.

  26. Good win for Hamilton, obviously Vettal blew it at the start. But tactical mistakes by him or Ferrari seems to be par for the course this year.
    Raikkonen ? See above.
    Bottas did OK.
    Riccardio must be wondering what’s going on as he had the new engine that did not seem to provide more speed and stopped well before the end.

    1. Ricciardo had a clutch failure, not engine. Bottas helped lewis and finished 3rd, his expected finishing position. Please do your research before spewing foolishness.

  27. Mercedes move was brilliant. Got on the way of Raikonnen without killing Bottas race. Absolutely brilliant.
    Lewis was superb. As for Vettel… another mistake, another attempt to use the interviews to distort the truth to his fans. Pathetic.

  28. Masterful victory for Hamilton but gutted for Raikkonen. Can’t believe he was on point to win for Ferrari in Monza, after all these years, and saw it slip away like that. He really drove well all weekend and deserved this. But Hamilton was so fast today he could just park under Kimi’s wing and match his pace on old tires. I doubt Vettel could have held him off either even without Vettel’s stumble.

  29. I guess thats why they pay Lewis the big bucks. He monstered them on their home turf when Ferrari thought they were a shoe-in for a 1-2. Fantastic Race to watch! Kimi almost had it to so i feel for him

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