Monza, (Italy): Lewis Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prix for Mercedes here Sunday with an utterly dominant drive that sent the Briton clear at the top of the Formula One (F1) World Championships for the first time in a year.
The triple champion, who started the last race of the European season from a record 69th career pole position, led Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas to a runaway one-two finish at Ferrari’s home track.
“I love it here in Italy and I love the passion of the fans,” Hamilton declared on the podium jutting out over a sea of red-shirted Ferrari fans, with plenty of boos coming his way amid the cheers. “We did a great job, the team did an exceptional job this weekend. Mercedes power is definitely better than Ferrari power,” he added.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who had led the standings since he won the Australian season-opener in March, finished third in the final race of the European season and 36.3 seconds behind the winner. Bottas was 4.4 adrift of Hamilton.
“It was a difficult day, a difficult start,” said Vettel. “My race was fairly isolated, we tried to keep as close as possible but we simply didn’t have the pace,” Vettel said.
Hamilton is now three points clear of the German, with seven races remaining. Mercedes are 62 points clear of Ferrari in the constructors’ standings.
The first driver to win two races in a row this season, with Monza following on from Belgium a week ago, Hamilton now leads Vettel 6-4 on victories in 2017. He has 238 points to Vettel’s 235.
Force India’s French rookie Esteban Ocon, chasing his first podium finish, grabbed second place off the line from 18-year-old Canadian Lance Stroll in the Williams but then faded and finished sixth.
Reuters
