Hamilton has won the Italian GP 2018, after starting from third, Raikkonen started from pole but a last minute tire hitch saw him lose P1 to the Brit. Bottas finished fourth behind Verstappen, but the Dutchman was given a 5s penalty which dropped him to fifth behind Vettel.
Vettel suffered a spin on lap one, which saw him lose P2 after an early pit stop with a front wing damage.
The Italian GP 2018 top ten were 1 Hamilton, 2 Raikkonen, 3 Bottas, 4 Vettel, 5 Verstappen, 6 Grosjean, 7 Ocon, 8 Perez, 9 Sainz, 10 Stroll.
Above and below that giant @ScuderiaFerrari flag 😍#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/YxsznH1KZv
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 2, 2018
Raikkonen led the pack during the formation lap, with Vettel right behind him and Hamilton in third. Lights out and the Finn managed to hold his lead through to the first corner. But Vettel spun at the second corner, touching Hamilton in the process, the Brit jumped to P2 while the Ferrari man dropped down the order with damage. Hartley was out too, and the safety car took over.
“That was silly, where did he want to go?” said Vettel after touching Hamilton. Vettel stopped for a new front wing and was out in P18. After restart, Hamilton managed to snatch the lead from Raikkonen but the Ferrari fought back and grabbed the lead once more. Meanwhile, the stewards decided to take no action on the Vettel-Hamilton incident.
⏮️ REWIND TO THE OPENING LAP: Hartley collides with Ericsson's Sauber and the Toro Rosso man is out ❌ #ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Eg2HbApQYM
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 2, 2018
Alonso began slowing down on lap 11, before diving into the pits for a retirement. By lap 15 Vettel was already in the top 10, but with some damage. Ferrari brought Raikkonen in on lap 21, he took on some supersofts. Mercedes asked Hamilton to stay out, “It’s Hammertime, Lewis,” they told him.
Ricciardo stopped on lap 25 with a broken car, his sixth retirement of the season. Hamilton made his stop on lap 28, by then Raikkonen had set a new fastest lap of the race forcing the Brit to take third behind Bottas who was yet to stop and the Ferrari man.
Both Ferrari and Mercedes warned their drivers Raikkonen and Hamilton to watch their tires. But Raikkonen’s tires were in a far much worse state, and on lap 45 Hamilton managed to breeze past the Ferrari to take P1. Vettel too was trying hard to pass Verstappen, who was yet to serve a 5s penalty which he wasn’t very happy about.
3 more laps left and Hamilton had a 7s lead over Raikkonen. Verstappen and Bottas were third and fourth. The Brit went ahead to win the Italian GP 2018, leading Raikkonen, Verstappen and Bottas.
