Rosberg has won back-to-back races following Hamilton’s grid penalty and third place at Spa, but the German denied the “tide” of the title battle was now going his way.
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“It is obviously a track you can overtake on but for some reason you need a second advantage [of speed] on the vehicle in front to be able to really put the overtaking maneuver into action”, Hamilton said of the storied Monza track, which has hosted more F1 racing than any other circuit. “I did everything normal”, he said. Fortunately, we’ve got it back for the next three years.
“Obviously the race was lost at the start”, he said.
“I am not thinking about the championship”, said Rosberg. Hamilton retired with a mechanical failure, while Rosberg could finish only fourth. Starting from pole, Lewis messed up his race when the five red lights went out, allowing Rosberg to move into the lead at the first corner.
With the regulations forcing drivers to use at least two different compounds in a dry-weather race, that left Vettel and Raikkonen defenceless against the one-stopping Hamilton, who was effectively gifted second place when the Ferraris made their second stops.
As Ferrari is arguably the most powerful entry in F1 and has a huge fan base in Italy, so losing the race would’ve had a much bigger impact than simply dropping a classic venue from the schedule.
“My goal was to get back to where I was but I could see Nico pulling away”.
“I think we had good pace but it was sort of expected that they would be quicker than us in race pace”, said Vettel, who got the loudest cheers on the podium.
Putting his Red Bull sixth on the grid was all that could have been hoped for, with Mercedes way out in front and Ferrari and Williams both set up to make the most of the fastest track in Formula One. “But I will live to fight another day”.
‘In this particular case, it is a combination of things so that is why I don’t want to go there. “We raced side by side through turn one and then he ran me off the road in turn two”. “It’s always going to be a great battle and I look forward to what’s to come”.
After his nightmare start, Hamilton moved up to fifth by the end of lap two after overtaking Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. “I’m sure Ferrari will come back”, Vettel said.
“The start wasn’t great, but it is still a great day for Mercedes-Benz and I am proud to be a part of it”.
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Max Verstappen secured a seventh-place finish following a poor start to the race, beating Force India’s Sergio Perez in the final laps of the race.
