Lewis Hamilton claimed his sixth win of the 2018 Formula 1 season with a scintillating performance at Monza. Who were the winners and losers?
Formula 1 made its stop to the famous Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Italy for the 14th race of the the 2018 season, the Italian Grand Prix. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton had to fight for this race, which had a lot of championship implications, and fight he did.
Hamilton started the race in third place on the grid after the Scuderia Ferrari teammates showed well in practice and locked out the front row, with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel taking first and second place, respectively.
Vettel lost his chance to fight after a lap one contact with Hamilton. This contact left the German stationary, facing the wrong way, and waiting to rejoin the back of the pack. Hamilton went on to have a dynamic battle with Raikkonen, who celebrated his 100th career podium finish this weekend.
The Italian Grand Prix delivered a mass of exciting storylines and a load of disappointment for Ferrari fans. Who were the winners and losers?
Winners
Lewis Hamilton and his championship bid
Lewis Hamilton is making a career out of starting out the season slow and finding his championship form later on. At the beginning of the race, he was in a position to potentially lose some of his 17-point advantage over Vettel in the driver standings.
However, when Vettel made contact with Hamilton’s side pod on lap one, Vettel spun and Hamilton continued unabated and challenged Raikkonen for the win. When it came down to who could race hard and keep the car pointed in the right direction, Hamilton proved to put together the strongest effort to get the win.
This win is Hamilton’s third in the last four races, as he won the German and Hungarian Grands Prix. After the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton has 256 points, which is 30 points ahead of Vettel, who sits in second place in the driver standings with 226 points.
Williams Martini Racing
2018 has been a dismal year for the proud Williams Martini Racing team, as pace and consistency have been equally hard to come by. Before the Monza race, Williams had four championship points between their two drivers, with Lance Stroll being the only driver to bring in any points.
At the Italian Grand Prix, this all changed. At the initial conclusion of the race, it was believed that Stroll finished in 10th place and Sergey Sirotkin finished in 11th. But Romain Grosjean had his sixth place stripped due to a technical infraction, thus promoting Stroll to ninth and Sirotkin to 10th.
The Italian Grand Prix ended up being the first race of 2018 in which both of the team’s drivers score points. This result must be taken with a grain of salt, as Williams still sit in 10th (last) place in the constructor standings.
Losers
Sebastian Vettel and his championship aspirations
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Sebastian Vettel had every opportunity get back some of the points separating himself and current driver standings leader Lewis Hamilton at Monza, but his own mistakes cost him yet again.
With 14 races of the Formula 1 calendar in the books and only seven races remaining, time to dig out of a hole is fleeting. Vettel did his part by outqualifying both Mercedes drivers. He was only narrowly being beaten out by teammate Kimi Raikkonen. With an all-Ferrari front row, Vettel had the groundwork laid out to dig away at Hamilton’s then 17-point-advantage and please the animalistically diehard Ferrari fanbase that take their yearly pilgrimage to the Ferrari home track. Unfortunately, it was by Vettel’s own hand that the Italian Grand Prix slipped away.
During the first lap, Hamilton attempted an overtake around Vettel at the slower Variante della Roggia complex (turns four and five). Vettel failed to hold his inside advantage and made contact with the left side pod of Hamilton’s car. Hamilton continued on while Vettel spun. Race stewards took no action and labeled the contact a racing incident.
Romain Grosjean and Haas
Romain Grosjean was on track to have another very positive weekend in regards to points earned for his personal driver championship standings, and for Haas in the constructor championship battle with Renault Sport.
Grosjean qualified and initially finished the race in sixth place. However, a post-race investigation launched by Renault found that part of the Haas undertray was not in accordance with the current parameters allowed. Thus, Grosjean was disqualified from the race, which meant that he and Haas surrendered the eight points that they had gained as a result of his sixth place finish.
This penalty only hit Grosjean, as the same fault could not be identified on teammate Kevin Magnussen’s car after Magnussen made contact during the initial part of the race. If Grosjean had not been disqualified, Haas would now be tied with Renault for fourth in the constructor standings.
The next Formula 1 race is the Singapore Grand Prix from Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore. Race coverage will be shown live on Sunday, September 16 on ESPN2 beginning at 8:10 a.m. ET.