Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, of Britain, steers his car on his way to win the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at the Monza racetrack
Lewis Hamilton cruised to his seventh win of the season at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, and nearly doubled his Formula One lead over Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, whose engine caught fire with two laps remaining.
However, Hamilton’s victory was under question after stewards summoned Mercedes concerning tire pressures on both of their cars. Hamilton’s left rear tire pressure was 0.3 psi below the minimum, while Rosberg’s was 1.1 too low.
“I wasn’t aware of it,” Hamilton said, adding that 0.3 psi “is not really a huge amount on one tire.”
Sole tire supplier Pirelli, still recovering from the Belgian GP two weeks ago where there were frightening tire deterioration problems, didn’t think there should be a penalty.
“We are totally sure no one is cheating,” Pirelli spokesman Roberto Boccafogli said, adding that “0.3 psi is nothing. … Such a small thing.”
Otherwise, it was a golden weekend for Hamilton, who topped every practice, started from pole position and led the race from start to finish.
“I dont know if I’ve ever had a weekend like this,” said Hamilton, who is aiming for his second straight F1 title and third overall. A potential challenge from Ferrari fizzled when Kimi Raikkonen stalled on the front row of the starting grid.
In perfect conditions, Hamilton finished 25 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the other Ferrari, while Felipe Massa crossed third, 47 seconds back.
Massa finished just three tenths of a second ahead of Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas.
“It’s the best second-place I’ve ever had,” said the four-time world champion Vettel, who raced for Ferrari for the first time at Monza. “The emotions on the podium are incredible.”
Amid speculation that Monza might be removed from the circuit after its contract expires next season, Vettel made an emotional call to keep the race in Italy.
“If we take this race away from the calendar for any (poor) money reasons I think you are basically ripping our hearts out,” said the German, who won twice at Monza with Red Bull and once with Toro Rosso before signing with Ferrari a year ago. “Because this (race) makes it so much more worthwhile. You look left, look right, and people are just happy to be part of it. And it makes our day. It’s incredible.”
If the result stands, Hamilton now leads Rosberg by 53 points with seven races remaining this season. As thousands of red-clad Ferrari fans rushed out onto the track below, Hamilton was joined on the winner’s podium by Star Wars creator George Lucas.
“This circuit is such a special one for me. I think it’s the same for all the drivers,” Hamilton said. “When you stand atop that podium you feel incredible pride and incredibly proud to be amongst the greatest who have ever stood up there. And you see a sea of fans in red. The sea of fans is just unlike anything I’ve seen.”
With the 40th win of his career, Hamilton moved within one victory of his childhood idol Ayrton Senna and Vettel on the all-time list. The Briton also became the first driver to secure back-to-back wins at Monza since Damon Hill in 1993-94.
Hamilton had such a comfortable lead that he told his team midway through the race that he was turning his engine down.
But Mercedes must have been made aware of the tire pressure issue late in the race, because the team started to send worrisome messages to Hamilton via radio. “We need to pull a gap,” a Mercedes engineer told Hamilton. “Don’t ask questions, just execute.”
Vettel wasn’t interested in being bumped up to the winner’s spot courtesy of a time penalty to Hamilton. “It’s all about fairness and respect and he did a better job today so we have to respect that,” Vettel said. “I was second on the podium and that’s the emotions I got. I had a great car today but not good enough to win.” Andrew Dampf, Monza , AP
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