Italian GP: Hamilton takes out the win from Raikkonen after an emotional race
Heavy atmosphere was hanging around Monza before the start of the race. What happened during was an emotional roller-coaster for many.
During the first lap, on the first corner, already Brendon Hartley had to retire from the race after a collision with Marcus Ericsson.After an agressive attack from Hamilton, Vettel did not survive the pressure and spun after a contact with the Mercedes car. Already during the first lap we got a safety car, and itwent away on the lap fourth. Immediately after the restart we got a great fight between Hamilton and Raikkonen, switching places a couple of times. After, Raikkonen retrieved his 1st place and continued the race. After his colision with Hamilton, Vettel began his stint from the last place. During the 7th lap Vettel has already gotten into 15th place. There has been a small colision between Magnussen and Perez, a continuity of a very poor performance of Magnussen this weekend. On the 11th lap Fernando Alonso was forced to retire after problems with his car.
Soon after the big fight started due to the tyres and pit stops. Hamilton was kept long on the track due to his good pace and fastly regaining distance to Raikkonen. At lap 20th Raikkonen pits, but in a long run this unfortunately was a start of problems for the Finn. During the 24th, some of the drivers began to report droplets of rain in some sectors of the track. On the 25th lap, the race ended for Daniel Ricciardo, after an engine failure. Vettel kept passing more and more drivers. After Hamiltons pit stop he rejoined after Bottas (who still had to pit) and Raikkonen. Around lap 36th, the problms for Raikkonen began with his tyres. He was told to save them, and Kimi started his long stint to the finish line although there was a chance his tyres might give up. After a fight between Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas, Verstappen received a 5s penalty that will demote him to fifth place. Afterwards Hamilton was able to pass Raikkonen, and from then on it was sure that the British driver will keep the first position and win the race. He is currently 32 points ahead of Vettel in the championship.
Final standings after the race: Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Romain Grosjean, Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Sergey Sirotkin, Charles Leclerc, Stoffel Vandoorne, Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly, Marcus Ericsson and Kevin Magnussen. The ones who retired were Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso and Brendon Hartley.