From the rise and falls of Spa, Formula One travels to the legendary straights of Monza, as the championship arrives at the Italian Grand Prix. Join The Roar for a live blog from 10pm AEST.
Just seven points separate Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton in the battle for the title, as the attention this weekend is all on Ferrari, for what is their home race in front of their Tifosi.
Monza is a test of power and the teams with the stronger power-unit have been successful in the past during this hybrid era of Formula One. In fact, Mercedes AMG have not been beaten in Italy since 2014.
The long straights of the 3.7km circuit will expose the weaker power-units, such as the Renault and the Honda – while Mercedes and Ferrari should match each other across the 53-laps.
A delayed qualifying due to torrential conditions, saw Hamilton become the all-time pole scorer in Formula One, having achieved the 69th of his career – surpassing Michael Schumacher now.
Regardless of qualifying second and third in the wet, both Red Bull cars will be starting the race from the rear with grid penalties with changes of power-units for both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
This moves rookie Lance Stroll up to make the first front-row start of his career, whilst Esteban Ocon lines up an impressive third for Force India.
An unfortunate seventh and eighth for Ferrari becomes fifth and sixth, though it will be Kimi Räikkönen who leads Vettel off the grid.
With the weather looks set to be dry for the race, the pressure is firmly on Ferrari to pull the rabbit out of the hat and win at home for the first time since 2010.
Both Hamilton and Vettel share three wins apiece at this circuit, with the German having experienced the delight of triumphing for an Italian team in the form of Toro Rosso in 2008.
Will this be another romp for Hamilton, or can the jumble to the grid provide a cracking race, that could change the landscape of this championship?
Tune into The Roar from 10pm AEST for lap-by-lap commentary and live blog coverage of the Italian Grand Prix.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
That concludes the European leg of the championship and it is hard to think that there are only 7 more races to go in the 2017 title race. Tune in again on The Roar in a fortnight's time, when Formula One head to the Far East for the Singapore Grand Prix. Until then, thanks again for joining in on this live blog and I shall return for Singapore. Ciao!
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
-------- DRIVER'S -------- 238 - Lewis Hamilton 235 - Sebastian Vettel 197 - Valtteri Bottas 144 - Daniel Ricciardo 138 - Kimi Räikkönen 68 -- Max Verstappen 58 -- Sergio Perez 55 -- Esteban Ocon 36 -- Carlos Sainz 34 -- Nico Hulkenberg 31 -- Felipe Massa 24 -- Lance Stroll 24 -- Romain Grosjean 11 -- Kevin Magnussen 10 -- Fernando Alonso 5 --- Pascal Wehrlein 4 --- Daniil Kvyat 1 --- Stoffel Vandoorne 0 --- Jolyon Palmer 0 --- Marcus Ericsson 0 --- Antonio Giovinazzi 0 --- Jenson Button
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Roar Guru
----- CONSTRUCTOR'S ----- 435 - Mercedes AMG 373 - Scuderia Ferrari 212 - Red Bull Racing 113 - Force India Mercedes 55 -- Williams Mercedes 40 -- Scuderia Toro Rosso 35 -- Haas Ferrari 34 -- Renault Sport 11 -- McLaren Honda 2 --- Sauber Ferrari
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Roar Guru
RACE REPORT On the weekend that he became the all-time pole position scorer in Formula One, Lewis Hamilton claimed a supreme victory at the Italian Grand Prix, to for the first time in 2017 take the lead of the championship. The Briton became the first winner to take back-to-back victories also this season, having been untroubled from the start to the chequered flag, to beat his teammate Valtteri Bottas by over 4-seconds. A forlorn Sebastian Vettel rounded out the podium in third, having been threatened by the charging Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo on the supersoft tyres near the end of the race. The German finished a staggering 30-plus seconds behind the two Silver Arrows, in what was a crushing defeat for Ferrari at their home grand prix. It was a lonely finish in fifth for Kimi Räikkönen, as the Ferrari driver was unable to trouble the leading quartet. Ricciardo’s stellar drive, saw the Aussie scythe through the field from sixteenth on the grid, having copped grid penalties pre-race. The Red Bull driver started the race on the soft tyre and made a late pit-stop for the quicker, supersoft compound. The remainder of the points paying positions were sealed out by the Force Indias, Williams cars and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in tenth. Esteban Ocon headed Lance Stroll in sixth, after the pair started third and second respectively. Felipe Massa was a close eighth behind his Williams teammate, despite early grief with Verstappen – which saw the Dutchman’s Red Bull sustain damage. It was another weekend to forget for McLaren, who had both their cars retire from the race with power-unit difficulties. Having come into the race with severe grid penalties, Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso were once again toothless. There was further agitation however from Alonso, who as well as being frustrated with his car – came to blows with Jolyon Palmer again, after their skirmish at Spa. The Renault driver was penalised 5-seconds, after he went off track and gained an advantage at Turn 5 over the McLaren. Though ultimately the Briton was forced to retire from the race with mechanical woes. Hamilton’s win has earned him a 3-point lead over Vettel in the championship, going forward to races which are being said to favour Ferrari – in particular Singapore.
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Roar Guru
STANDBY FOR RACE REPORT AND UPDATED STANDINGS
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PODIUM INTERVIEWS - Hosted by Martin Brundle & Jean Alesi HAMILTON - "The team did an exceptional job this weekend." "Mercedes power is better than Ferrari power this weekend." BOTTAS - "Like with Lewis, the start was tricky." "I kept my head down." "Perfect result for us as a team." VETTEL - "It was entertaining, quite good fun." "We were a bit isolated and didn't have the pace of the leaders today."
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Roar Guru
RESULTS FROM THE 53-LAP ITALIAN GRAND PRIX 1 L. Hamilton 2 V. Bottas 3 S. Vettel 4 D. Ricciardo 5 K. Räikkönen 6 E. Ocon 7 L. Stroll 8 F. Massa 9 S. Perez 10 M. Verstappen 11 K. Magnussen 12 D. Kvyat 13 N. Hulkenberg 14 C. Sainz 15 R. Grosjean 16 P. Wehrlein RET F. Alonso RET M. Ericsson RET S. Vandoorne RET J. Palmer
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A SUPREME VICTORY FOR LEWIS HAMILTON AT THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX! The Briton takes the lead of the championship for the first time in 2017 also. VALTTERI BOTTAS completes the one-two finish for Mercedes AMG, claiming second. Whilst SEBASTIAN VETTEL finishes a lonely third for Ferrari, in front of the Tifosi.
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Roar Guru
Lap 53/53: Doesn't look though now that Ricciardo will be able to catch Vettel for an appearance on the podium, though he has once again put in a stellar drive to secure fourth.
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Roar Guru
Lap 53/53: FINAL LAP
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Lap 52/53: 2 LAPS TO GO Ericsson told by Sauber to retire his car, which is unfortunate for the Swede who was running last in the race. And Alonso too! Told once again by McLaren that he needs to retire the car.
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Roar Guru
Lap 51/53: 3 LAPS TO GO No further action from the stewards over the incident involving Verstappen and Magnussen. Ricciardo now with 4.3 seconds of Vettel's third.
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Roar Guru
Lap 50/53: 4 LAPS TO GO Hamilton now setting his own fastest laps, with a 1:23.542. Alonso also asking about the fastest time, as he probably wants to take some caveat out of this race!
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Roar Guru
Lap 49/53: 5 LAPS TO GO Stewards to investigate the incident involving Verstappen and Magnussen.
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Lap 48/53: An unhappy Magnussen now has Kvyat for company, as the Russian looks to take P11. 5.6 between Vettel and Ricciardo, as the Aussie sets another fastest lap.
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Roar Guru
Lap 47/53: Magnussen yields to Verstappen, putting the Dutchman back into the top ten. There was mild contact there between the two, which saw the Haas go onto the run-off. 6-seconds between Vettel and Ricciardo now.
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Roar Guru
Lap 46/53: Verstappen making gains of his own, passing Kvyat in the Toro Rosso.
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Roar Guru
Lap 45/53: 8.3 seconds between Vettel and Ricciardo. Mercedes AMG have reportedly turned down their engines, with a supreme 32-second lead over the Ferrari of Vettel in third.
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Roar Guru
Lap 44/53: Fastest lap of the race for Ricciardo, with a 1:23.915. He is now under 10-second behind Vettel. Verstappen passes Hulkenberg for P12.
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Roar Guru
Lap 43/53: HAM BOT VET RIC RÄI OCO STR MAS PER MAG KVY HUL VER SAI ALO GRO WEH ERI are the remaining runners. Out of the race are Vandoorne and Palmer.