“We can not go there with too much confidence because we were miles off a year ago – 1.8 seconds – and that is huge, so it is our most hard race and it will be a challenging weekend”, Rosberg added.
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“Hamilton’s lead in the World Drivers’ Championship has now been cut to just two points with Rosberg’s victory with the next race on the calendar in Singapore on September 18”.
With Williams and Red Bull on a two-stop strategy, Ricciardo found himself on the speedier supersoft tyres towards the end of the race and chased down the Williams from a long way back on lap 47 to pull off what is being hailed as the overtaking move of the season.
“I could have kept on going at the pace l was going and l could have brought the gap down to six [seconds] – maybe”. 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.
Hamilton’s dream of winning the Italian GP for the third consecutive time was crushed and the Brit conceded that he didn’t get off the blocks well.
“We had been dominant all weekend and it was less than a tenth which lost us the weekend – that’s tough for everyone”, said Hamilton.
‘But when you think of where we have come from, it is not so bad as we are still leading the world championship.
Poor getaways have become a frequent feature for Mercedes this year and the data from Hamilton’s W07 vehicle will be pored over by the Englishman and his team of engineers when they reconvene at the world champion’s Brackley headquarters on Tuesday. “The contract is only for three years, but I hope we will be here for another 100”, said Ecclestone.
“We have a relatively inconsistent clutch”, he insisted.
“I could see Nico pulling away, and while anything can happen, the chances of the win decreased lap by lap”.
“We do practice starts all weekend, and they’re varying a little bit, and then we get a drastic variation on the grip”.
“They’ll be working very hard – it’s not a quick fix so it’s not something we can change for the next race”.
“We are not struggling with pole positions, just getting off the line”. Daniel Ricciardo is sitting at third with 161 points overall.
“It is a very special day for me, I am very happy to have finally won here in Italy”, said Rosberg.
How did Nico Rosberg win?
Hamilton now has 250 points, Rosberg 248 with Singapore’s night race the next destination. The only thing I heard was in the race he said “don’t worry, guys, I got it wrong in the start”. My belief to win individual races is still my best approach, so why would I change it? A new agreement between the relevant parties means that the race continue to be held for years to come – and held at Monza. I knew I could push Lewis in the race either way – if he was in front of me or behind me.
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He said: “I can assure you that on Tuesday, the starts is the only thing I am going to be talking about because everything else we are doing really well”.
