“I had an awesome start and it was all from there”, beamed Rosberg.
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“Let our guys work, they know what our aim is, they are in a more certain position than the start of the season and I feel better”.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen says he will have to “analyse” why his auto went into anti-stall at the start of the Italian Grand Prix. “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.
Hamilton fell as low as sixth off the line and, on a one-stop strategy, had to exhaust precious tyre life fighting through to second behind eventual race victor Nico Rosberg.
“I don’t really know what happened at the start but I’ll try to understand it later”, Hamilton added, casting some of the blame on an inconsistent clutch.
“My procedure was done just as I was supposed to”, Hamilton said.
Suddenly the momentum which has slowly been slipping away from Rosberg after he won the opening four races of the year is falling back in his favour.
“Lewis came on the radio and said it was his mistake”, he said.
The Ferraris followed, with Sebastian Vettel eight tenths back in third and Kimi Raikkonen almost a second behind in fourth. “We just had an over-production of torque and the wheels were spinning from the get-go”. Then he jumped into a group of his team members who hoisted him into the air. The huge pace advantage of Mercedes and the two-stop strategies of the Ferrari pair meant Hamilton eventually had a fairly routine drive back to second, but it will be a disappointing result for the world champion after an utterly dominant weekend up until Sunday afternoon.
It was the 21st win of Rosberg’s career.
Obeying orders, Hamilton preserved his new tyres, while itching to pass the Ferraris and chase Rosberg, who led him by 10 seconds, as Manor’s hopes of a points finish ended when German Pascal Wehrlein pulled up and retired.
“Unbelievable!” said a beaming Vettel.
Ricciardo, an Australian of Italian heritage, produced the passing move of the day when he swept past Bottas at the first chicane to seize fifth in the closing laps – and then waved his fist in glee.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen was seventh for Red Bull, ahead of Mexican Sergio Perez for Force India and Williams’ Brazilian Felipe Massa.
On a hazy late summer day, red-clad Ferrari fans lined the entire track, with banners dedicated to current and former drivers.
“You cannot describe the passion, you can only live it”, read another banner.
Soon after the start, Jolyon Palmer in a Renault and Felipe Nasr in a Sauber made contact, sending both cars back to the pits with damage.
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Pascal Wehrlein and Daniil Kvyat were the other two retirements due to vehicle issues.
