Formula One made its return last weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix and now they returned to action this weekend for a back-to-back race weekend. This weekend, the teams were at the legendary Monza circuit for the Italian Grand Prix.
Mercedes clenched the top of the table during the opening session on Friday. The teammates swapped positions multiple times during the session, but it was Nico Rosberg who led the way at the end of the first free practice. Both Ferrari drivers followed, roughly a second off of the pace of the Silver Arrows in front. Sergio Pérez was in the top five, while Red Bull had a disappointing session, finishing at the bottom half of the top ten. Haas had a really good session, with both drivers lapping in the top ten. Some teams did not have smooth sailing in the second session of the day, as Fernando Alonso, Felipe Nasr, Esteban Ocon and Felipe Massa all suffered a mechanical issue during the session. However, Mercedes concluded a good day, as they topped the time charts again, although it was Lewis Hamilton on top this time. Ferrari was able to close the gap to Mercedes and Red Bull returned to their good pace, while both McLaren drivers were within the top ten.
Saturday got off to a rocky start, as Romain Grosjean brought out the virtual safety car at the beginning of the session because of a spin. The rest of the final practice session was relatively trouble-free, allowing Mercedes to dominate the session once again, as Hamilton held onto the top spot. Ferrari was once again over a second off of the leader’s pace, while Williams was able to leap-frog Red Bull. Qualifying was also trouble-free and Mercedes topped the charts once again. Hamilton was awarded pole position, with his teammate lapping within half a second. Ferrari locked out the second row of the grid, having been nearly a second off of the pace set by the Silver Arrows. Valtteri Bottas was the sole Williams to make the top ten grid positions, as he finds himself separating the Red Bulls from Ferrari. Meanwhile, Ocon was unable to set a time due to a loss of power.
A poor start from Hamilton on Sunday allowed his teammate to take the lead and for both Ferrari drivers to get by. Hamilton dropped to sixth position, while his teammate built a sizable gap up front. Jolyon Palmer and Felipe Nasr made contact early in the race, ending the Sauber driver’s day and damaging the Renault. The incident resulted in a penalty for Nasr, although it didn’t really matter because both drivers parked in the garage, although Nasr later returned to the track even though he was ten laps down. After 12 laps, Hamilton was able to get by Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas, meaning he only had the Ferrari drivers and his teammate in the way of victory. During pit stops, Sebastian Vettel had a slower pit stop because of a wheel gun issue, although he remained in front of Kimi Räikkönen. Pascal Wehrlein needed to urgently stop the car half way through the race. Meanwhile, Hamilton was able to use race strategy to get in front of Ferrari and take second position. Rosberg took the race victory to close the championship gap, while Vettel completed the podium.
Formula One will be under the lights in a fortnight for the Singapore Grand Prix. The race will be held on the weekend of September 18 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
