Lewis Hamilton believed his lap to secure pole position at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Saturday was “fantastic” after securing his fifty-sixth pole of his career on Saturday afternoon.
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Hamilton later blamed himself for his poor getaway and not the team.
“We are so fortunate to be driving for this team and to be representing them and to be driving a vehicle as it was today, I got it right in the sweet spot and was able to do an exceptional time with it”.
“From there it was just about managing the tyres during the first stint and I was delighted to get back up to second after the first stop”.
Hamilton leads the standings by nine points heading into the prestigious race and was glad to equal two legends of the high-octane sport.
“Once you are out front here it is relatively plain and simple… all he had to do was match some of my times and he was sorted”, said Hamilton. I definitely did it the best I had done it all weekend.
“Looks like they have been in a world of their own today, but who knows what happens tomorrow”.
Gobbled up by Rosberg, both Ferrari drivers and then the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo on the long run down to the opening chicane, Hamilton was left facing an nearly impossible task of winning for a third year on the trot in Italy.
Hamilton managed to climb back to second place, but the time lost meant Rosberg cruised to his first Monza win.
As Rosberg punched in quick laps, making as much hay as he could while the Italian sun shone on him, Hamilton took only a lap to dispose of Ricciardo, but another 10 before Bottas finally succumbed as his Williams’ supersofts began to lose their edge. He clawed his way up to second and though he made up some ground on Rosberg it was never going to be enough to close the gap.
“The race is on with Lewis”, Rosberg said.
Rosberg once led this championship by a margin of 43, but with the momentum stacked in Hamilton’s favour, that will seem like an age ago to the German now. “We’re not struggling with pole positions, it’s just getting off the line”.
After the race, Hamilton told the crowd: “The start wasn’t great but it was still a great day for Mercedes and I’m proud to be part of it”.
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“He did a great job and I just had to get back up to second”. “We have had so many things go against us on our side of the garage that to come back and be where we are, it has been a phenomenal year, and there’s still lots of good things that can happen moving forwards”.
