Hamilton breezes to easy victory in Italian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton had a trouble-free run in the 2017 Italian Grand Prix and duly claimed his sixth victory of the season, the 59th win of his Formula 1 career.

Hamilton's Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas finished in a comfortable second place. Sebastian Vettel could only manage third, resulting in the Ferrari driver losing the lead of the drivers championship for the first time in 2017. He now trails Hamilton by three points heading to Singapore.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo performed a terrific come back drive to finish fourth despite engine and gearbox penalties amounting to 25 grid spots. Among the scalps he claimed along the way was Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who finished in fifth.

Force India's Esteban Ocon took sixth after making an early pass on Williams Lance Stroll. The Canadian who crossed the line in seventh ahead of his team mate Felipe Massa, with Force India's Sergio Perez the last car not to be lapped in ninth. Max Verstappen claimed the last point of the day in the Red Bull.

Hamilton leaps away at lights out

Sunshine and blue skies over the Autodromo Nazionale Monza meant conditions for the race could hardly have been more different to Saturday. Hamilton took the advantage afforded to him by starting from pole to sprint away at the front on supersoft tyres, while Ocon got the jump on Stroll for second into the first chicane.

Raikkonen pressured Bottas for fourth place and gained the position the first time into Curva Grande. However Bottas was in no mood to be shown up, and the Finn muscled his way back past his compatriot around the Parabolica. Fired up, Bottas then slipstreamed his way past Stroll to move into third place on lap 2 and breezed past Ocon for second place next time round.

Raikkonen meanwhile was going in the other direction. Passed by Bottas, he was then mugged for another position by his title-chasing team mate Vettel. That dropped him to sixth place ahead of Massa.

Verstappen had initially leapt up to eighth place. However, the Red Bull suffered a right-front puncture after connecting with the back of Massa in the first chicane. The Dutch driver was forced to pit for repairs, which dropped him to the back behind Haas' Romain Grosjean, who had also been forced to stop for a front wing change.

By lap 10, Hamilton had built up a comfortable three second lead over Bottas at the front. Vettel had worked his way up to third, but remained ten seconds off Hamilton. Ocon and Stroll were settled in fourth and fifth respectively, followed by Raikkonen, Massa and Sergio Perez. From 16th on the grid, Ricciardo had stormed his way up to ninth: he soon made a brilliant move on Perez at the second chicane to pick up another spot.

Raikkonen gambles on early pit stop

Raikkonen was the first of the leaders to pit on lap 16. He emerged on soft tyres in 11th place just behind McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne, who made for an easy target. Ocon, Stroll and Massa likewise opted for early stops, promoting Ricciardo and Perez to fourth and fifth respectively.

The top five made it past the halfway point before making their stops. Vettel was the first to blink, coming in at the end of lap 31 with 22 laps remaining. Hamilton responded immediately, briefly handing the lead to Bottas who was in next time by. Ricciardo was promoted to third place in the interim and continued until lap 38 before making his own stop.

That dropped him back behind the Ferraris, but his much fresher tyres allowed Ricciardo to catch and pass Raikkonen with ease into the first chicane on lap 42. The gap to Vettel was too large to allow Ricciardo to charge down his former team mate,

The Ferrari driver duly held on to the final podium place. He finished half a minute off the pace off Hamilton and Bottas, even with Mercedes pair turning down their engines for the second half of the race.

Behind Raikkonen in fifth place, Ocon came under intense pressure the two Williams but succeeded in holding them off. Stroll and Massa clashed on the final lap but survived to cross the line in seventh and eighth respectively. Perez was shadowing this battle but found no opportunity to take advantage. He duly crossed the line in ninth, while Verstappen recovered from his early setback to finish tenth albeit one lap down.

Haas' Kevin Magnussen managed to see off Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat for 11th. Nico Hulkenberg had a disappointing race, the Renault finishing out of the points in 13th ahead of Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz, Renault's Romain Grosjean and Sauber's Pascal Wehrlein.

Palmer, Vandoorne and Alonso among retirements

Jolyon Palmer was the first driver to retire from the race, on lap 30 with a technical issue on the Renault. He had earlier served a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage over Fernando Alonso at the second chicane on lap 15. The news had done little to assuage Alonso at the time, who declared: "Five seconds is a joke!"

Vandoorne who was next to drop out, suffering the inevitable engine power failure on lap 34. Alonso was beset by battery power issues and made it to lap 51 before also being ordered to retire, shortly after Sauber's Marcus Ericsson had been ordered to park in the pit lane.

Italian Grand Prix - Race results

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