Mercedes-Petronas dominated in the land of Ferrari as Lewis Hamilton dominated the Italian Grand Prix. The Briton managed to beat Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel amidst a TIFOSI audience, with teammate Valtteri Bottas finishing second. The back-to-back victories have helped consolidate Mercedes' lead in the constructors' standings, while this is for the first time this season that Hamilton has stepped in the world championship lead, ahead of Vettel. The Italian GP also saw the Mercedes driver break the all-time record for pole positions, securing his 69th pole start at the Italian GP. Vettel now stands three points behind Hamilton.
Hamilton led from pole in the race and pretty much dominated the Monza track till the chequered flag was out. The Mercedes driver won with a lead of 4.4 seconds ahead of teammate Bottas. Meanwhile, Vettel finished a distant third 36.3 seconds behind Hamilton. The opening lap had all the action one would expect from race with Esteban Ocon of Force India settling into second, while Lance Stroll was third. At the back, Bottas moved into fourth, having started at sixth, as he banged wheels into Kimi Raikkonen at the first chicane. Raikkonen, however, wasn't letting go of it and managed to reclaim the position at the second chicane. However, the Bottas' W08 just had better pace over the Ferrari and the young driver managed to pass Raikkonen taking the fourth place for the second time.
(This is the Mercedes' third 1-2 finish this season)
Meanwhile, Vettel, who started eighth on the grid, managed to finish the race in third place. The Ferrari driver passed teammate Raikkonen on Lap 3, while aiming to pass Stroll and Ocon over the next couple of laps. By Lap 8, Vettel secured third place behind the two Mercedes cars, but could not match up to the pace, dropping almost half a second a lap. In the later stages, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo put up a tough battle for third place, which Vettel defending until the end of the race.
That said, Ricciardo made one of the more stellar recoveries in the Italian GP, having started 16th. The Australian was handed a penalty for changing too many engine parts, but the Red Bull driver made some incredible overtakes and eventually secured fourth place behind Vettel, and about 20 seconds ahead of Raikkonen.
(Kimi Raikkonen settled for fifth as Daniel Ricciardo defended his fourth position)
Both Ocon and Stroll showed impressive pace this weekend and definitely looked promising as well. While they may have not bagged a podium finish, the drivers finished sixth and seventh respectively, gaining crucial points for their respective teams. Williams' Felipe Massa, on the other hand, finished eighth, having survived contact with Red Bull's Max Verstappen early in the race. The Dutch-Belgian was pushed back on the track after the contact and finished tenth in the race, behind Force India's Sergio Perez.
With Hamilton in the lead and Vettel not too far behind, the world champion certainly seems undecided for now. The battle however, will be interesting enough for spectators and we will be watching it closely as it brews over the next few races. The F1 squad will now be moving to Singapore where Ferrari are expected to have a slight advantage.
