Today we hoped for a gigantic battle, one of great vengeance between the two title contenders - knocking more carbon fibre panels off each other and banging wheels... Sadly we were denied that opportunity once again, in fact it is starting to become a regular occurrence to see hopes of more controversy dashed as a race progresses. Hungary and Belgium had their moments which spurned on the conspiracy theories and arguments across the realm of the internet, but not since Bahrain have we had a proper race long duel for the race win. It was supposed to be on the cards for today, all the ingredients were in place, a front row lock out by a pair of dominant cars and a score that needed settling after Spa. But while that particular recipe failed miserably, it was down to the remainder of the field to serve up an alternative menu, even if it was delivered with a delivered in the form of some overly easy DRS enabled overtakes down the main straight.
The Race
At the start it looked like the race was going to get very interesting, because Hamilton didn't get the best of launches and handed the lead to Rosberg. Magnussen and Massa also followed the German through, demoting Lewis down to fourth place. Bottas also had a reasonably terrible start, and plummeted down the order, Ricciardo also had a reasonably terrible time at the beginning of the day ending up forced across the first chicane by the volume of traffic crowding up at the first apex. The Australian was joined by the Sauber of Adrian Sutil running across the alternative chicane profile. It appeared Hamilton had difficulties with the RS modes which prevented him from making a more successful start.
From the very back of the grid Daniil Kvyat was making some initial progress, up to 17th place from 21st - taking care of the two Marussias, Kamui and Grosjean. The Toro Rosso making good use strong straight line speed in comparison to those teams at the bottom end of the field. At the front however Rosberg was running away from the chasing pack, because Magnussen was a little down on pace and holding back Massa and Hamilton behind him. Both Lewis and Felipe were putting pressure on the Dane - this had all the hallmarks of a very interesting fight, if Magnussen's defensive efforts at Spa were to be repeated. This time his defensive strategy wasn't quite as effective, blocking the inside line for the Della Roggia chicane - but Massa simply drove round the outside of the McLaren compromising Kevin's exit. This allowed Hamilton to sneak up the inside of the first Lesmo to take third place. Once released from behind Magnussen Massa set the fastest lap of the race, and brought Hamilton along with him.
The second chicane proved to be rather perilous for Max Chilton, the Marussia driver ironically went through a corner a little too quickly for someone who is perpetually last (barring Ericsson). As a result he hid the large curbs at the second apex and launched into the air suffering a hard landing before bouncing into the tyre wall and into retirement. Max's second ever retirement and the first one that didn't involve him taking out his team-mate in the process - I noticed that the internet and media in general weren't all up in arms about that intra-team collision. The yellow flags waving to clear Chilton's car prevented Hamilton from having a look at Massa into the Roggia chicane, but it was only a temporary reprieve. Then something most odd occurred, Nico Rosberg made a mistake, mysteriously missing the first chicane at Rettafilio with only the tiniest hint of a lock up as evidence. Nico had to negotiate the slalom of polystyrene marker boards on the escape road losing almost two seconds to the Massa/Hamilton battle behind. I wouldn't recommend doing that one again Mr Rosberg...
On the next lap, Hamilton put a pass on Massa in the first chicane, going round the outside of the Williams, and Felipe gave Lewis racing room - a far cry from 2011 when the pair were continuously crashing into each other. This meant the two Mercedes drivers were now 1-2 - and hopes for that battle for the lead to take place. While gap between the two lead cars was going to take a few laps to close, it was a good time to take a look at what was happening elsewhere in the field. Starting at the back of the field - where Bianchi was resisting the attentions of Romain Grosjean's Lotus. Romain attempted an outside pass into the first chicane but despite some wheel to wheel contact mid-corner the Marussia maintained control of the position. Grosjean would later take the place and power ahead. Then there was Bottas, initiating a recovery drive after making a terrible start and losing so many positions, Valtteri's progress was helped in part by the fact that Magnussen was backing up everyone from fourth on back.
Bottas' first target was Kimi Raikkonen, the Ferrari being no match for the straight line speed of the Williams - and so Bottas set after his next victim Sergio Perez. Today Sergio was able to live up to his previous title of 'One-Stop Perez - unfortunately it was one-stop strategies all round so it wasn't really a unique trait this time. Valtteri found it fractionally more difficult to defeat the Force India running a similar engine to the Williams but through the power of DRS and a superior top speed the Finn was through. Alonso was a much easier pass, even though the Spaniard defended the inside line on the main straight, Bottas merely breezed past on the main straight... right in front of the Ferrari fans... that'll not go down too well. Out front the gap was starting to close quite quickly, and Hamilton had narrowed the deficit to within 1.4s enough to start feeling the benefits of the slip-stream effect from the back of his team-mate's car.
Elsewhere Sebastian Vettel triggered a raft of pit stops as the German Bloke became the first driver to take his one and only stop of the race. Having just lost out to another Bottas pass in turn one Magnussen pitted along with Alonso, the pair rejoining behind Vettel who benefited from the undercut. Perez rejoined in front of Alonso and Jenson but behind Vettel and Magnussen in what was turning into a tightly contested battle for what was effectively fourth place - Massa being in an isolated third several seconds further up the road. When Bottas came in for his stop he emerged at the same time the train of cars behind Vettel was powering down the main straight. In many respects the Finn was a little too polite through the first corner, leaving enough racing room for those around him to make the turn. As a result Valtteri lost track position to Vettel and Magnussen.
After the Mercedes drivers came in for their respective stops Hamilton was instructed over the radio to maintain a two second gap to Nico to conserve tyres for the end of the race. Lewis was having none of this and continued his charge towards his team-mate, disregarding engineer advice and the prospect of that overdue conflict sounded very exciting. Made even more so when lapping Ericsson brought the two cars closer together. But just as Hamilton closed almost to within DRS range - the seemingly impossible took place. Rosberg made a hash of turn one again, so much for the clinical and precise approach that typified the German's driving style. This time has he once again skipped through the slalom Lewis Hamilton assumed the lead and drove off into the distance. A striking lack of composure and form from Rosberg does make you question what on earth the team did to him in response to the 'incident' at Spa.
The Retafilio chicane was the scene of more action as Bottas was recovering the positions lost after the stop - this time taking on Kevin Magnussen round the outside. This time the Dane resumed where he left off in Spa and unleashed some more robust defensive driving - leaving Valtteri nowhere to go in the middle of the chicane. The Williams driver having to escape across the chicane, a few laps further down the line Magnussen would be handed a 5s stop/go penalty to be added to his next pit-stop... shame the McLaren wasn't coming back in... Instead the additional time would be appended to his final race time. Meanwhile the bottom was falling out of Ferrari's world here on home turf, first it started with Raikkonen being the first victim of a recovery charge from Daniel Ricciardo after a later stop than the others. But that was small change compared to Fernando Alonso's difficulties - right in front of the main Tifosi grandstand the car completely shut down and ground to a halt. His fist mechanical failure since 2010, and thus ending his 100 run of points scoring positions in 2014.
Despite fending off the Williams once before, Magnussen was unable to keep Bottas behind for much longer and inevitably surrendered the position at the end of the main straight. While that particular contest came to an end, another one was emerging further back - Jenson Button found himself behind Sergio Perez. Jenson was able to take the place from the Force India in turn one, but Perez drafted the McLaren through Curva Grande before firing it down the outside of the Della Roggia chicane. Button edged Sergio wide but the Mexican kept the boot in across the speed humps and still managed to take the place back. Both drivers then ran two wide through the first of the Lesmos, before Jenson had to fall back in line on turn in to the second Lesmo. This brilliant exchange was briefly interrupted by the presence of Daniel Riccardo on newer tyres. The Red Bull had visibly stronger braking capacity and could brake much later than either the McLaren or the Force India. Picking off Jenson in turn one and then sweeping to the inside of Perez on the exit of Curva Grande to take the place from Sergio into Della Roggia. As soon as Ricciardo was clear and gone up the road Perez and Button resumed their little scrap. Again Jenson took the spot in turn one, but his brakes were fading and ran deep, Perez maintained the pressure going into the second chicane forcing Button to out-brake himself. This opened the door on the exit and the Force India was through once again.
Because Bottas had maximised his comeback reaching fourth place, it was time to check on the state of Ricciardo's charge through the field - after sneaking past the Jenson/Sergio battle the Australian took on Magnussen. Daniel once again used the grip advantage of fresher tyres to take the position away from the Dane in turn one. This meant that his next target was none other than Sebastian Vettel, would this eventuality mean that despite falling several places behind on the opening lap - Ricciardo could again out-perform the multiple world champion. Looking at the relative pace of the two Red Bull drivers it seemed increasingly likely. Vettel defended in turn one but slid wide compromising his exit - and in a carbon copy of the move Ricciardo made on Perez, the Australian swept across the track and stole the inside line for the Della Roggia chicane and took the place away from Vettel.
Further back we see a strange interaction between Grosjean and Gutierrez - Esteban for no apparent reason moved across on Romain in the braking zone for turn one and clipped his front wing. As a result the Sauber driver suffered a rear puncture and dropped to the back of the field - a post race investigation rewarded Esteban with a 20s time penalty moving him to absolute last place, behind Ericisson. Meanwhile Vettel's declining pace on older tyres following the earlier stop had brought Magnussen, Perez, Button and Raikkonen up behind him. It was a battle Perez was reluctant to get involved with considering that Magnussen in front would take a post-race time penalty, and given Kevin's tendency for agressive defensive driving there was logic to Sergio's decision. At the opposite end of the train Raikkonen came perilously close to a double retirement for Ferrari. Brake failure for Daniil Kvyat found his car would not slow down for turn one and narrowly missed the back of Kimi's car as the Toro Rosso fired down the escape road. Daniil did very well not only to miss Raikkonen but keep the out of control missile he was driving out of the barrier as well - only clipping the polystyrene blocks in the slalom. I assume that the death stare momentarily became a rather worried stare when he arrived at over 200mph and realised the car wouldn't slow down.
Out front however it turned into an uncontested victory for Lewis Hamilton after Rosberg stepped out of the way in the first chicane on two occasions. It was still another 1-2 for the team, so no Toto Wolf angry faces today. The final step on the podium belonged to Felipe Massa who was reasonable anonymous after he lost second place to Hamilton in the first stint. A very well executed recovery drive from Bottas saw him take fourth for Williams ahead of the Red Bull pairing lead by Ricciardo. Magnussen crossed the line in 7th place but would be demoted to 10th with the penalty. This moved Perez up into 7th and Jenson in to 8th. Raikkonen kept Ferrari's points scoring streak going - albeit with only two points for 9th place.
The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
Even though were denied the battle we all hoped to see once more, today did contain a series of performances that deserved some points:
- 25pts - Valtteri Bottas - After a terrible start and more positions lost in the pit stops it was a valiant recovery drive with many passes.
- 18pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Not as many passes as Bottas but the quality was so much better, kudos for still beating Vettel
- 15pts - Button/Perez - Have to have many points for their epic battle in the latter stages of the race, no contact at all times
- 12pts - Daniil Kvyat - Not only for avoiding a potentially enormous accident, but last to the edge of the points deserves points
- 10pts - Felipe Massa - His first podium in a long while and his first for the team with some good early racing
- 8pts - Kevin Magnussen - A brilliant start up into second place and probably didn't deserve the penalty he received
- 6pts - Kamui Kobayashi - Finishing as the top representative from the lower teams after being out-bid by Lotterer last time
- 4pts - Jules Bianchi - Gets some points for being able to fend off the Lotus for a little while in turn one
- 2pts - Max Chilton - Wins the high jump award for his take off in the second chicane
- 1pt - Marcus Ericsson - It might be the result of Gutierrez's penalty, but well done on not being last
The Penalty Points Championship
In a generally average race, it may seem a little harsh to throw penalty points about but some are needed today.
- Nico Rosberg - Made a bit of a mess of that one now didn't we, not only cost yourself the win but ruined what could have been a brilliant fight
- Sergio Canamassass - Gets a penalty point for driving like a complete moron in the second GP2 race this afternoon
- Simon Lazenby - For telling me who won said GP2 race before I had the change to watch it
- The Stewards - Absolutely no consistency in the decision making process at the moment.
Looking ahead to Singapore
Well from one extreme to another, leaving behind the extreme speeds of Monza under the bright Italian sunshine to the plaudits of the Tifosi, and moving on to the concrete walls and floodlights of the street race of Singapore. In all likelihood it will be another Mercedes walkover, dominating all sessions and vanishing off into the distance again. But this time there is much less room for error - if you were to lock up under breaking there is often only a concrete barrier in the way to greet you rather than a polystyrene slalom. The singaporean GP had produced moments of extreme controversy, most notably of all the 'crashgate' scandal in 2009. The race where Piquet Jnr was instructed to crash on purpose so that the safety car would gift his team-mate at the time Fernando Alonso the race victory. Then in 2011 it was another instalment into the ongoing conflict between Hamilton and Felipe Massa... who knows perhaps this could be another ignition point for the in house battle at Mercedes... can't wait
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