Business Standard

Hamilton eats into Rosberg's lead after virtuoso Italy drive

Image

AFP Monza (Italy)
Lewis Hamilton turned a poor start into a dramatic victory ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in Sunday's Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, cutting the German's lead in their bitter battle for the drivers' championship from 29 points to 22 with six races remaining.

Hamilton dropped to fourth on the opening lap, but recovered with a daring high-speed slalom to take second and then the lead.

He finished 3.1 seconds ahead of Rosberg, who appeared to crack under pressure after 29 of the 53 laps when he made a mistake at the first chicane.

A poor consolation for the German runner-up, it was the first time he had finished on the podium at Monza.
 

Rosberg was booed when he stepped onto the podium as the fallout from his controversial clash with Hamilton early in the Belgian Grand Prix a fortnight ago effectively ended the Briton's race.

Brazilian Felipe Massa came home third, 25 seconds adrift of Hamilton -- for his first podium finish of the season -- ahead of his Williams team-mate Finn Valtteri Bottas, Australian Daniel Ricciardo and his Red Bull team-mate four-time champion German Sebastian Vettel.

It was Hamilton's sixth win this year, his second at Monza and the 28th of his career -- he needs just three wins to equal Nigel Mansell's British record of Grand Prix successes.

For the first time in five years, two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso failed to finish a race, retiring his Ferrari with mechanical problems.

"Well done guys on the deserved one-two, it's a good result for the team," said Rosberg in a team radio message.

"Sorry to the guys on my side of the garage. It's a shame.

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Sep 07 2014 | 8:21 PM IST

Explore News