F1: Hamilton wins in Monza

Mercedes’ social media reps called the 2015 Italian Grand Prix a ‘bittersweet’ race. That couldn’t be a more apt term, for whilst Lewis Hamilton piloted his #44 W06 to win the Italian Grand Prix, his teammate’s Merc blew up with just a few laps to go. This was the first weekend where there was a difference in spec between the cars. Whilst both began the weekend with the new 2016 engine, Rosberg has had to revert to an older spec engine (which was the same motor that was involved in the dramatic Spa tyre explosion) due to problems with the new powerplant. The team did a fabulous job of switching out the engine in the space between FP3 and the start of qualifying. More drama did come Mercedes’ way, for they only realised Hamilton’s rear left tyre was 0.3 of a psi below the legal limit. Realising that they may incur a 25 second penalty, they had no choice but to tell Hamilton to go flatout and pump in some fast laps to build up a gap greater than 25 seconds to cover off themselves. Hamilton did manage to do it, and his efforts were in vain though, for the FIA didn’t actually penalise the Brackley-based outfit. Bittersweet is also a term that the Maranello-based outfit can use to describe their home race weekend too. Both Ferraris qualified in the top 3, with Raikkonen out-qualifying Vettel. However, a software issue with the clutch meant Raikkonen fell right back through the pack, and had to dice his way several times to get back up into the points. He finished 5th, after completing some spectacular overtakes. Vettel on the other hand, had a decent start, and held on to P2 throughout the race.

OneShift Editorial Team

07 Sep 2015

and apart from a few battles with Rosberg, they drove a fairly uneventful race. However, things did hot up between Massa and Bottas post-Rosberg’s retirement though, as the teammates battled for the final podium position, a battle which Massa came out on top of.

The Force Indias had promising pace all throughout the weekend, but seemed to fall flat on their noses in the race. Perez, like the Williams, drove a fairly uneventful race bar a few little battles with Raikkonen, who was recovering from his botched start. Hulkenburg had far more fun out there, even though his fun was cut short due to little technical glitches with his Mercedes motor.

The honour of the highest finishing Renault-powered driver goes to Daniel Ricciardo, who recovered brilliantly to score points. The bulk of the Renault-powered cars (that’s all the Red Bull-sponsored teams), have gotten engine penalties as a result of reliability woes. Despite the lack of grunt, Ricciardo, as opportunistic as ever, made use of every single gap he could find, and once again, consistently outdrives the RB11. His teammate makes it a double points scoring weekend for the struggling team in P10. The RB11 may be the last Renault-powered Red Bull, as the Austrian team seeks to find another powerplant.

Marcus Ericsson finishes P9 for Sauber, with Felipe Nasr down in P13.

The Toro Rossos had a dreadful weekend, with Verstappen starting last and having to complete a drive-through penalty early on due to his engine cover exploding during qualifying. With his electric pace, and daring late braking manoeuvre, he hussled the STR10 to finish P12. Sainz finished 11th.

Fernando Alonso retires from the race with just 6 laps to go. Button, despite a lack of power from the Honda, managed to finish in front of the Ferrari-powered Manors. It may sound ludicrous, but it seems as though that the Manors and McLarens are similar pace-wise. A lot more development will have to come from the Honda guys if they want to match the rest of the pack.

The Manors, as predicted, finished last 2 of the finishers.

Both Lotuses retired early on due to collision damage.

Pictures used for illustration purposes only.

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