MONZA: A red-hot Lewis Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prix to take a 53-point lead in the Formula One championship on Sunday after Mercedes team-mate and closest rival Nico Rosberg retired with his car in flames.

About three-and-half hours after taking the checkered flag, Hamilton’s victory was confirmed following a tyre pressure inquiry.

Hamilton’s left rear tyre pressure was found to be 0.3 psi below the minimum of 19.5 when measured before the race. But stewards decided to take no action because they determined that the pressure was at the correct level when the tires were fitted to the car.

Hamilton said he knew nothing about the controversy when was quizzed at the post-race news conference.

“I wasn’t aware of it,” he said, adding that 0.3 psi “is not really a huge amount on one tire.”

Sole tyre supplier Pirelli, still recovering from the Belgian GP two weeks ago where there were frightening tyre deterioration problems, agreed with the stewards’ decision.

“We are totally sure no one is cheating,” Pirelli spokesman Roberto Boccafogli said, adding that “0.3 psi is nothing. ... Such a small thing.”

Otherwise, it was a golden weekend for Hamilton, who led every practice and started from pole position.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever had a weekend like this,” he said.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took second place, 25 seconds behind the reigning world champion, to give local fans something to cheer as they flooded the track in a wave of red for the podium ceremony.

“It’s the best second-place I’ve ever had,” said the four-time world champion Vettel, who raced for Ferrari for the first time at Monza. “The emotions on the podium are incredible.”

Brazilian Felipe Massa took third for Williams, crossing the line 0.3 of a second ahead of his Finnish team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

The win was the 40th of Hamilton’s career, one less than the career tally of his boyhood hero Ayrton Senna, and seventh of the season as well as his third in Monza.

“This circuit is such a special one for me...when you stand on top of that podium you feel an incredible pride, incredibly proud to be amongst the greats who have stood there,” he said. “The sea of fans is just unlike anything I’ve seen.”

LEWIS Hamilton celebrates on the podium after winning the Italian F1 Grand Prix on Sunday.—Reuters

Hamilton had such a comfortable lead that he told his team midway through the race that he was turning his engine down.

But Mercedes must have been made aware of the tyre pressure issue late in the race — and potential time penalties — because the team started to send worrisome messages to Hamilton via radio.

“We need to pull a gap,” a Mercedes engineer told Hamilton. “Don’t ask questions, just execute.”

“Those last few laps were not cool man,” Hamilton told his engineer over the team radio. “Not cool.”

Rosberg’s tyre had even less pressure but the German was past caring, his hopes literally going up in flames when the German pulled over two laps from the end with smoke and flames billowing out from the rear of his car while in third place.

A pre-qualifying problem had forced Rosberg to start the race with an engine that had previously done five races, while Hamilton had a fresh one with upgrades for the fastest circuit on the calendar.

The German had started fourth but lost places taking evasive action when Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, on the front row with Hamilton, struggled to get away with cars swerving around on either side.

The Finn was last into the first corner but fought back to take fifth place.

Force India’s Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg were sixth and seventh with Australian Daniel Ricciardo eighth for Red Bull.

Sweden’s Marcus Ericsson was ninth for Sauber and Russian Daniil Kvyat 10th for Red Bull.

F1 now heads to Asia for races in Singapore and Japan. The season ends in Abu Dhabi on Nov 29.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2015

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