Posted on 5th September 2016
At the Italian GP at the Spa-Francorchamps yesterday, Nico Rosberg claimed his seventh win of the 2016 season, ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel in a race which didn't see much action; apart from Fernando Alonso setting the fastest lap of the race unexpectedly.
The race looked set to be a straight fight between the Mercedes teammates and title rivals, but a slow getaway by Hamilton at the start meant Rosberg led into Turn 1. It looked like excessive wheelspin and most likely driver error from Hamilton that caused this start and in the space of a few seconds his chances of victory went into freefall as he dropped to sixth place and his hopes of a comeback slip away in the opening ten laps after getting stuck behind Valtteri Bottas.
After several laps of holding back to look after his tyres Hamilton got by on lap 10. Hamilton did not need to pass both Ferraris on track as the red cars both pitted in front of him, happy to stick to a two-stop strategy to keep Bottas’ Williams at bay.
He emerged from his only stop behind both Ferrari drivers but was soon released back into second position when they made their final stops. Despite clearly pushing in the final stint and running deep at the first chicane Hamilton never came close to even challenging Rosberg for the lead out in front.
The Ferrari drivers were in a race of their own for third and fourth, which was settled when Vettel emerged from his second stop marginally ahead of the Finn. Behind that, Daniel Ricciardo caught and passed Valtteri Bottas at Turn 1 for fifth place late on after taking on an alternate strategy. Both men took super-soft and then soft for their opening two stints,
but while Bottas took on softs at his final stint Ricciardo moved onto the super-softs. That helped him catch and pass the Finn in the closing stages.
But it was Nico Rosberg won the Italian GP and therefore cutting Hamilton's lead down to two points. He finished ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton who was second 15.070 seconds behind him and ahead of Sebastian Vettel in third place who finished 20.990s seconds behind Rosberg.
Kimi Raikkonen ended the race in fourth place ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in fifth place, Valtteri Bottas in sixth place, Max Verstappen in seventh place, Sergio Perez in eighth place, Felipe Massa in ninth place and Nico Hulkenberg who rounded off the top ten finishers of the race.
Romain Grosjean ended the race just out of the points in eleventh place 1 lap down on Rosberg. But he did finish ahead of Jenson Button in twelfth place, Esteban Gutierrez in thirteenth place, Fernando Alonso in fourteenth place and Carlos Sainz Jr in fifteenth place.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Marcus Ericsson finished the race in sixteenth place ahead of Kevin Magnussen in seventeenth place and Esteban Ocon in eighteenth place, two laps down on Rosberg. Daniil Kvyat, Pascal Wehrlein, Jolyon Palmer and Felipe Nasr did not finish the race.
The classification for the Italian GP is as follows:-
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.17.28.089s
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 15.070s
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 20.990s
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 27.561s
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 42.295s
6. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 51.015s
7. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 54.236s
8. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.04.954s
9. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.05.617s
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.18.656s
11. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1lap
12. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1lap
13. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 1lap
14. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1lap
15. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1lap
16. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1lap
17. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1lap
18. Esteban Ocon, MRT Racing, 2 laps
19. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, Not Classified
20. Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, Not Classified
21. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, Not Classified
22. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, Not Classified
Lewis Hamilton still leads the Driver's Championship with 250 points, Nico Rosberg is in second place with 248 points, Daniel Ricciardo is in third place with 161 points, Sebastian Vettel is in fourth place with 143 points, Kimi Raikkonen is in fifth place with 136 points, Max Verstappen is in sixth place with 121 points, Valtteri Bottas is in seventh place with 70 points, Sergio Perez is in eighth place with 62 points, Nico Hulkenberg is in ninth place with 46 points and Felipe Massa is in tenth place with 41 points.
Mercedes still lead the Constructors Championship with 498 points, Red Bull is in second place with 290 points, Ferrari is in third place with 279 points, Williams is in fourth place with 111 points, Force India is in fifth place with 108 points, McLaren is in sixth place with 48 points, Toro Rosso is in seventh place with 45 points, Haas is in eighth place with 28 points, Renault is in ninth place with 6 points and Manor are tenth with 1 point.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
