Sport
Lewis Hamilton wins the Italian Formula One Grand Prix
A jubilant Lewis Hamilton celebrates after winning the Italian Formula One Grand Prix. PHOTO/AFP
Lewis Hamilton battled back from a troubled start to win the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday after Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg cracked under pressure and saw his Formula One championship lead cut to 22 points.
Rosberg, whose 29th lap mistake cost him the lead and the race, finished second as dominant Mercedes celebrated a first one-two since Austria in June and their seventh in 13 races.
Brazil’s Felipe Massa was third for Williams in his first podium appearance since May 2013. Rosberg, who now has 238 points to Hamilton’s 216 with six races remaining after the end of the European part of the season, recognized his error.
“It’s a terrible feeling to lose the lead like that but in the end Lewis was really quick in the whole race. He came like a rocket and I had to push and I made the mistake,” he said.
Hamilton had taken pole position for the first time since May but problems with the car’s start controls left him struggling to get away. He was fourth into the first corner as Rosberg led untroubled but kept his cool. “I’m quite grateful today that I didn’t lose it, I didn’t end up crashing in the first corner, I didn’t end up touching anyone, I didn’t end up locking or anything like that. I managed to keep my composure,” he said.
It was the start of a thrilling chase, with Hamilton – the 2008 world champion hunting down his quarry and seizing the lead when Rosberg missed the chicane. The Briton had earlier shunned advice from his race engineer to back off and save tires for a later attack and it proved the right approach.
The two crossed the finish line 3.1 seconds apart, with Hamilton celebrating his first win since Britain in July. It was his sixth of the season and 28th of his career, taking him ahead of triple champion Jackie Stewart in the all-time lists.
“It was a difficult race,” said Hamilton. “For whatever reason, at the start the button didn’t press which engages the launch sequence. “For the formation lap it didn’t work and when I got to the grid and put it on again, again it didn’t work. It was very strange. I’ve never really had that happen before.”
In a sport full of conspiracy theorists, Rosberg and team bosses ridiculed a suggestion that he might have been ordered to cede place to Hamilton as a result of what happened in Spa. “I’ve heard about that, but what would be the reason for me to do something like that deliberately? There is no possible reason,” he said, explaining that he had missed the chicane to avoid locking up and ‘flat-spotting’ a tire – which would have forced an extra pitstop and a lot of lost time.
Rosberg, blamed by his own team for the second lap Spa collision that led to Hamilton’s retirement from that race, was booed for the second grand prix in a row.
Source: Reuters