Posted on 7th September 2015
In the Italian GP, Lewis Hamilton won the race ahead of Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel in second place and Felipe Massa in third; despite having an FIA investigation after the race regarding tyre pressures and a possible tyre infringement.
After the race, the FIA discovered that the left-rear tyres of Hamilton’s and team-mate Nico Rosberg’s cars were both found to be below the pressure stipulated by F1 supplier Pirelli for the Monza weekend – by 0.3psi in race winner Hamilton’s case and 1.1psi on Rosberg’s car.
But the stewards determined that the tyres were initially inflated correctly and had reduced in pressure by the time the measurement was taken because they had cooled down due to their warming blankets being unplugged.
The FIA issued the following statement regarding the investigation into Hamilton as follows:-
‘Having heard from the technical delegate, the team representatives and the Pirelli team tyre engineer, the stewards have determined that the pressures in the tyres concerned were at the minimum start pressure recommended by Pirelli when they were fitted to the car.
In making this determination regarding pressures, the stewards noted that the tyre warming blankets had been disconnected from their power source as a normal procedure and the tyres were significantly below the maximum permitted tyre blanket temperature at the time of the FIA’s measurement on the grid and at significantly different temperatures from other cars measured on the grid.
Further the stewards are satisfied that the team followed the currently specified procedure, supervised by the tyre manufacturer, for the safe operation of the tyres. Therefore the stewards decide to take no further action.
At the start of the race, Lewis Hamilton gets a good start as does Sebastian Vettel who is now second after Kimi Raikkonen stalled on the grid. As we head into the first corner, Felipe Massa is now ahead of his team mate Valtteri Bottas.
As we head into the next few corners, we see Pastor Maldonado moving slowly down the grid as is Felipe Nasr. Also, Nico Hulkenberg and Marcus Ericsson are battling with each other for ninth place; with Ericsson putting pressure on him. At this point of the race, Raikkonen is now 18th and Nasr and Max Verstappen pit; with Verstappen serving his drive through penalty.
On Lap 2 of the race, Hamilton leads Vettel by 1.5 seconds as Nico Rosberg and Sergio Perez battle for fifth place as Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado officially retire from the race with Maldonado retiring with a broken floor and Grosjean with broken suspension.
There was a battle for tenth in the first few laps of the race for tenth place between Carlos Sainz Jr, Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen that took everyone's attention (Raikkonen passed Ricciardo at the Parabolica corner on Lap 3) as did Jenson Button who was up to ninth at this point in the race.
Lap 6 sees Raikkonen battling through the field and overtakes both Carlos Sainz Jr and Jenson Button and is now up to ninth place. But within the space of a lap, Button drops to twelfth after Sainz Jr and Ricciardo in a couple of corners are able to overtake him and on the eighth lap, he loses another place to Daniil Kvyat and is now thirteenth.
At this point of the race, on the team radio, we learn that Rosberg is suffering with his brakes and is now starting to fall behind the leaders. Lap 11 sees the stewards announce that Sainz Jr has received a five second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage which he takes at the end of the lap.
There was a battle in the first half between Valtteri Bottas and Nico Rosberg for fourth place and Rosberg receives vital information that his brake situation is improving; while also catching the Williams in the process. Rosberg tries to make a move on Bottas going into Turn 1 on Lap 14 but couldn't get by.
We also saw a battle for twelfth place between Max Verstappen and Jenson Button which saw both drivers pushing each other, passing and repassing each other until Verstappen into Turn 1 managed to make the move stick.
The pit stop window for a one stop strategy opened on Lap 18 and at the end of the lap; both Nico Rosberg and Nico Hulkenberg made their pit stop for new tyres; with the rest of the field following suit over a period of a few laps. At the start of Lap 20, Raikkonen is finally able to pass Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson for fifth place on the track in a great move at Turn 1.
The second half of the race sees both Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel remaining in the positions that they were in before and settling into their own races. At this point of the race, Hamilton leads Vettel as before.
Meanwhile, there was a battle on the track between Raikkonen and Rosberg for third place; with Raikkonen being told by the Ferrari team to push hard to keep Rosberg behind him. But Rosberg the next lap is able to pass Raikkonen into Turn 1 for position.
As that battle has ended, the battle for seventh between Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo intensifies and we see Ricciardo passing Perez with a good move taking the position away from him. As Raikkonen pits at the end of Lap 29, we see the Manor of Roberto Merhi very nearly running into the back of him in the pitlane and was lucky not to do so.
The main battles on the track was between Perez and Ricciardo again and also Ericsson and Raikkonen; with both sets of drivers pushing each other and gaining on each other very quickly indeed. Raikkonen was able to pass Ericsson through the Ascari chicane with a gritty move to take eighth place.
By Lap 33, Hamilton still lead Vettel's Ferrari by 19.2 seconds and appears to be at this point in the race driving his own race and dictating the pace to his rivals behind him. But Raikkonen is slicing his way through the field and has now passed Hulkenberg's Force India and is now up to seventh place.
Lap 40 sees the battle between Hulkenberg and Ericsson building up nicely; with Ericsson putting the pressure on Hulkenberg and is catching up slowly lap by lap. In the final stages of the race, we saw both the McLaren drivers battling each other for fifteenth and sixteenth places; while Raikkonen is battling Perez for sixth place and is successful on Lap 51 in a brilliant move heading towards the end of the first sector of the track.
Meanwhile on the same lap, Nico Rosberg officially retires from the race as his engine has blew up and that is a shame for the German driver who did the best race that he could have done and has now lost major ground in the championship to Hamilton.
But it was Lewis Hamilton who won the Italian GP with his fifteenth start with the Mercedes team and equals the record of Sir Sterling Moss by winning the event for two different teams which is a fantastic achievement. Hamilton finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel in second place who was 0.234 seconds behind him and managed to finish ahead of Felipe Massa who finished in third place after an close battle with team mate who was 0.288 seconds behind the Mercedes of Hamilton.
Valtteri Bottas finished a credible fourth place ahead of the Williams drivers of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas in fifth and sixth places. Sergio Perez ended the session in seventh place after his promising form so far this weekend ahead of Romain Grosjean in eighth place, Nico Hulkenberg in ninth place and Marcus Ericsson who rounded off the top ten finishers of the session.
Pastor Maldonado ended the session by qualifying eleventh place ahead of Felipe Nasr in twelfth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in thirteenth place and of the two Red Bull drivers of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo in fourteenth place and fifteenth places; with both drivers struggling all weekend so far to be competitive.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Jenson Button qualified in sixteenth place ahead of his team mate Fernando Alonso and Will Stevens finishing in seventeenth and eighteenth places ahead of Roberto Merhi in nineteenth place and Max Verstappen in twentieth place.
The classification of the Italian GP is as follows:-
1.Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.18.00.688
2.Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 25.042s
3.Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes 47.635s
4.Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 47.996s
5.Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.08.860s
6.Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.12.783s
7.Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1 lap
8.Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1 lap
9.Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1 lap
10.Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Renault, 1 lap
11.Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1 lap
12.Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1 lap
13.Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 1 lap
14.Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1 lap
15.Will Stevens, Manor, 2 laps
16.Roberto Merhi, Manor, 2 laps
17.Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 3 laps
18.Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 6 laps
19.Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, Not classified
20.Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, Not classified
Lewis Hamilton leads the Drivers' Championship with 252 points, Rosberg is second with 199 points, Vettel is third with 178 points, Massa is fourth with 97 points, Raikkonen is fifth with 92 points, Bottas is sixth with 91 points, Kvyat is seventh with 58 points, Ricciardo is eighth with 55 points, Grosjean is ninth with 38 points and Perez is tenth with 33 points.
Mercedes lead the Constructors Championship with 451 points, Ferrari is second with 270 points, Williams are third with 188 points, Red Bull are fourth with 113 points, Force India are fifth with 63 points, Lotus are sixth with 50 points, Toro Rosso are seventh with 35 points, Sauber are eighth with 25 points and McLaren-Honda are ninth with 17 points.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
Photos courtesy of @MercedesAMGF1
