Italian GP 2014: Hamilton wins at Monza after Rosberg's error

Lewis Hamilton won the 2014 Italian Grand Prix ahead of his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa in the Williams. Hamilton gave away his pole position at the start. The race was decided on lap 29, when Rosberg locked up for the second time at the first chicane of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza and had to take the escape road. Hamilton took the lead and held it all the way to the chequered flag.

Everything pointed to a perfect weekend for Hamilton. He was on pole, with Rosberg alongside him. But when the lights went out, Hamilton barely got moving. According to Autosport, his car was stuck in the wrong engine mode. The team, according to the FIA, spoke of a mix-up in the start software. By the first chicane Hamilton had dropped to fourth, behind Rosberg, Kevin Magnussen in the McLaren and Massa.

Valtteri Bottas fared even worse. The Finn started from third on the grid, had too much wheelspin and was outside the top ten after the opening lap. Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull also lost ground: he slid through the run-off area at the first chicane and, according to the FIA, dropped from ninth to twelfth.

Hamilton quickly found his rhythm again. On lap five Massa passed Magnussen at the second chicane, and Hamilton followed him through into third at the first Lesmo. On lap ten he went around the outside of Massa to take second (Autosport, grandprix.com).

Rosberg had the lead, but the braking zone into the first chicane proved his undoing. As early as lap nine or ten he locked his wheels and had to go through the escape road. He stayed in front, but his advantage shrank considerably. Autosport reports that it was halved from 3.6 seconds.

The Mercedes drivers made their only pit stop in quick succession: Rosberg on lap 24, Hamilton on lap 25. Both needed around 24.5 seconds to pass through the pit lane. Hamilton briefly led in between, and after his stop Rosberg was back in front from lap 26. But Hamilton was now right on his tail.

The decisive moment came on lap 29. Rosberg braked too late again, locked up and once more went straight on through the chicane. Hamilton moved ahead and never gave up the lead. He also set the fastest lap of the race. According to Autosport, his winning margin was 3.175 seconds. It was Hamilton's sixth win of the season (FIA) and the 28th of his career (Wikipedia).

Massa ran in third for a long time. After his stop on lap 23 he brought it home safely and took his first podium since the 2013 Spanish GP. Behind him, Bottas delivered one of the best drives of the day. Using the slipstream on Monza's long straights, he passed, according to Wikipedia, Kimi Räikkönen, Sergio Pérez, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Magnussen and finally Sebastian Vettel one after another. He finished fourth.

Ricciardo opted for a long first stint and did not pit until lap 26. On fresher tyres he got past Button, Pérez and Magnussen in the final third of the race. Five laps from the end he also passed his teammate Vettel, the reigning world champion, at the second chicane. Ricciardo finished fifth, Vettel sixth. Behind them came Pérez in the Force India, Button, Räikkönen in the Ferrari and Magnussen.

• Fernando Alonso (Ferrari): Officially he retired with an engine failure after 28 laps. According to Autosport and Wikipedia, the energy recovery system (ERS) failed. Alonso parked the car in the run-off area at the first chicane. According to Autosport, it was his first technical retirement in five years and the first of his Ferrari career. And it came at the Scuderia's home race, of all places.
• Max Chilton (Marussia): He was out after five laps following a crash. He arrived too fast at the second chicane, the Variante della Roggia, hit the kerbs and ended up in the barrier. The Safety Car was not needed (Wikipedia, grandprix.com).
• Kevin Magnussen (McLaren): He forced Bottas off the track during a battle at the first chicane. For that he received a five-second time penalty, added to his race time. According to Autosport, it dropped him from seventh to tenth.

Winners: Daniil Kvyat made up the most places. The Toro Rosso driver started 21st and finished eleventh, ten positions further up. He narrowly missed out on points. Ricciardo gained four places and was the best Red Bull driver. With third and fourth, Williams were the second-strongest team of the day.

Losers: The day was most bitter for Alonso: he retired and was classified 21st, 14 places behind his grid position. Magnussen started fifth but finished only tenth, partly because of his penalty. And while Rosberg did take 18 points, he threw away the win with his own mistakes.

After 13 races, Rosberg led the 2014 drivers' championship with 238 points, with Hamilton on 216. The battle between the Mercedes drivers was wide open again, with the gap down to just 22 points. Ricciardo stayed third on 166 points. Bottas moved past Alonso (121) into fourth with 122 points.

In the constructors' standings Mercedes extended their lead to 454 points, with Red Bull on 272. Williams made the biggest jump: with 177 points the team overtook Ferrari (162) to move into third. For the traditional Grove outfit, Monza was further proof of their resurgence in the first season of the turbo-hybrid era. For Ferrari, on the other hand, it was a disappointing home race.