After getting smushed by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at the Belgian Grand Prix last week, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton returned the favor this week at the 2018 Italian Grand Prix with a comfortable win over Vettel, who finished fourth after spinning out on the first lap and taking himself out of the race for the podium places. Vettel’s Ferrari teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, took second place while Hamilton’s Mercedes’ teammate, Valtteri Bottas took the third and final podium position.
Raikkonen sat on the pole after setting the fastest qualifying lap in Formula One history and looked like he might be on his way to his first F1 win since 2013 but Hamilton took the lead briefly during the pit crossovers and Raikkonen’s tires degraded faster than Hamilton’s, allowing Hamilton to finally pass Raikkonen on Lap 45 – and Hamilton never looked back.
Vettel, meanwhile, took himself out of the race early as he skirmished with Hamilton on the first lap and spun himself while also losing a chunk of his car – forcing him to pit on the second lap to repair the damage. Vettel spent most of the race catching up and finally secured fourth place on the last lap after taking advantage of a five-second time penalty assessed to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who finished third on the track, but wound up in fifth place behind Bottas and Vettel.
With the victory, Hamilton now takes a commanding 30-point lead in the F1 driver standings – with 256 points to Vettel’s 226 points. Raikkonen sits in a distant third with 164 points.
2018 Italian Grand Prix Top 10
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull
6 Romain Grosjean Haas
7 Esteban Ocon Racing Point [Force India]
8 Sergio Pérez Racing Point [Force India]
9 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault
10 Lance Stroll Williams