Italian GP driver ratings

He secured a first back-to-back victory of the season, held a near 40-second advantage over his title rival at the chequered flag and snatched the championship lead for the first time since September 2016. Watch this space - Lewis Hamilton is gathering momentum.

Compared to the wheel-to-wheel skills he had to utilise in Spa, this was a rather serene affair for Hamilton - but it was all about that stunning qualifying lap.

Hamilton cemented his place in the pole record books with his dazzling display in the wet, finding just the right amount of grip and power in an Ayrton Senna-esque effort as he finished more than a second ahead of his Mercedes team-mate. "Lewis' lap was unbelievable," was the verdict of Mercedes' Niki Lauda.

Starting on pole ahead of two young guns, Hamilton then successfully navigated Turn One before consistently pounding out fastest laps throughout the race - despite having his Mercedes engine 'turned down'. Hamilton has always claimed he relishes being the 'hunter' when it comes to Sundays, but time and time again he has proved he has the maturity and guile to close out races, too.

With Sebastian Vettel finishing two places back, this was about as perfect a weekend as it gets for Hamilton. "Hamilton seems in a very happy place and he drives beautifully when he's in a happy place," said Sky F1's Martin Brundle. "The season is turning." And now, to Singapore...
Rating out of ten: 10

Valtteri Bottas did the job Mercedes needed him to do on Sunday. He was clinical in getting ahead of the two slower cars that started in front of him on the grid and kept the Ferraris behind him to bring up the sweetest of one-twos for the team on enemy turf.

In fact, the only bother Bottas got from a red car all afternoon was at the start when Kimi Raikkonen won a wheel-banging contest and got ahead exiting the first chicane. But Bottas, who had disappointed in wet qualifying, wasn't behind his countryman for long and took his revenge with an impressive move at the Parabolica.

Mercedes cruised it from there and, although the mathematics look increasingly likely to ensure Bottas plays a supporting role to Hamilton's title bid against Vettel, the Finn is a valuable and dependable asset in Mercedes' armoury.
Rating out of ten: 8.5

Off the top of the championship for the first time all season, Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari have plenty to ponder as the European season closes. Vettel had declared Mercedes the favourites for Monza but he surely wasn't expecting Ferrari to be given such a humbling at home.

"It was clear they were quicker than us today," accepted Vettel after he finished half a lap behind the cruising Silver Arrows. He had ground to make up at the start after a wretched wet qualifying but when Vettel moved into third place on lap eight he was nine seconds behind race leader Hamilton. By the time of the chequered flag 45 laps later and that gap was out to 36 seconds - an average time loss of 0.8s per lap. And in relatively clean air.

Yes, some of that time was lost when Vettel missed the chicane, but this was an alarming weekend for Ferrari and their title aspirations. Singapore should be a different story, but the wider momentum is now surely with the reigning champions.
Rating out of ten: 7

Is there a better driver than Daniel Ricciardo on a Sunday at the moment? Hamilton may have something to say about that, but it was another sublime drive from the Australian as he climbed from 16th on the grid to fourth.

Had it not been for Red Bull's grid penalties, Ricciardo would surely have been celebrating his seventh podium finish of the season. But starting so low down allowed him to show that he is one of the best overtakers in the business. Ricciardo pulled off two stunning moves as he worked his way through the field, first feinting and diving past Sergio Perez at the second chicane before arguably the pass of the day on Kimi Raikkonen sealed fourth place.

"It wasn't even an overtaking opportunity," Sky F1's Martin Brundle said in commentary. "A lunge with a capital L. Spectacular. One for the CV." Ricciardo was also closing by a second a lap on championship leader Vettel as he hunted the final podium spot, but ultimately ran out of laps.

The 28-year-old increasingly looks the complete package and will be in high demand next season in the final year of his Red Bull contract.
Rating out of ten: 10

It was obviously more of a Ferrari problem than a Kimi Raikkonen problem at Monza, but the Finn will still be disappointed with his performance at one of the few F1 tracks he has never won at.

Raikkonen lined up ahead of his team-mate on the grid and a superb start saw him move past Bottas, but his compatriot stormed back through. And soon, he was moving aside to let Vettel push on for a podium, too.

What followed was a frustrating afternoon behind a Force India and a Williams, with Raikkonen both struggling to match Mercedes power on the straights and be aggressive enough with his passing manoeuvres.

Eventually he made one stick on Ocon through the first chicane, but Raikkonen got a taste of his own medicine soon after as Ricciardo made the former world champion look rather flat-footed. Put simply, Raikkonen was paying for not overtaking Ocon and Stroll earlier in the race.

"I was lacking the grip and, really, the pace to do anything," said Raikkonen, who is still confident of a much stronger showing in Singapore. After falling further behind Ricciardo in the standings, he needs it.
Rating out of ten: 6

It is a sign of Esteban Ocon's increasing confidence that he was ruing a missed podium rather than appreciating sixth place after one of the most impressive weekends of his young F1 career.

"I'm still hungry for it," said the Frenchman about a top-three finish, though he did admit he maximised his Force India's performance on Sunday.

Ocon, along with Stroll, shone in Saturday's showers to start the race in third and duly took second place off the Williams with a flying getaway and bold move into the first chicane, before holding off at least one Ferrari for much of the early running.

Raikkonen did, however, have too much pace on Lap 25 - but Ocon still held both Williams at bay to comfortably finish 'best of the rest' at Monza, and earned praise from Mercedes chief Toto Wolff in the process.

What's more, he is now just three points behind Force India team-mate Sergio Perez in the Drivers' Championship.
Rating out of ten: 9

Sunday may not have delivered the result Lance Stroll hoped for, but it was an impressive weekend for the 18-year-old in which he became F1's youngest-ever front-row starter, and answered any remaining questions about his ability.

The Canadian displayed his skills in the wet to great effect in Qualifying but he lost out at the start as Hamilton's slightly sluggish start forced him to back off and cede second place to Ocon.

His race was then compromised by an uncharacteristically slow pit stop by Williams, while one of his few errors of the weekend in pursuit of Ocon caused a flat spot which forced him into defence rather than attack.

Nevertheless, it was an overall solid drive from Stroll and his second best result in F1. "Every opportunity that I have to be in positions that I was today is strategy that I'll learn," he told Sky F1. "I feel like I'm getting better and better."
Rating out of ten: 8.5

An afternoon where Felipe Massa mixed F1 driving with bumper cars as the Brazilian made contact with drivers on three separate occasions. First he touched Sergio Perez on the opening lap before handing Max Verstappen a puncture on lap three while contact with team-mate Lance Stroll in the closing stages could have ended in tears.

Fortunately for the 36-year-old, he escaped serious damage on each occasion and secured his fourth consecutive top 10 finish and a crucial double-points finish for Williams in their battle to finish fifth in the Constructors' Championship.
Rating out of ten: 7.5

After Sergio Perez started the weekend fending off a barrage of questions about his relationship with Esteban Ocon, he will have been relieved to have finished it with a drama-free race and a couple of points. But there are signs that his younger Force India team-mate is starting to crank up the pressure, outshining the Mexican in recent races.

Perez struggled in Saturday's wet weather but bizarrely started the race 10th despite qualifying a place back and receiving a five-place grid penalty. He was always going to find it tough to catch his Force India team-mate, especially after picking up some damage at Turn Two, while a slow pitstop delayed his charge. Perez still caught the Williams on the final lap and would have expected to pass both if he had a few more laps, but has to make do with two points - which just about keep him seventh in the drivers' standings.
Rating out of ten: 7

On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Max Verstappen's luck shows no sign of changing. What should have been a front-row start ended up being 13th after penalties and being in the midfield put him in danger of contact.

And lo and behold, after a brilliant start which had moved him up to eighth, Verstappen saw his race compromised on lap three as a coming together with Massa left him with a puncture and at the back of the field.

The 19-year-old still had the chance to get his elbows out however, scything through the field and having forceful battles with both Haas drivers on his way to securing a point.

Verstappen was relieved to have at least avoided a seventh DNF but will hope things finally start to go his way in Singapore.
Rating out of ten: 8

So near yet so far for Kevin Magnussen as the Dane missed out on a points finish in the closing stages after spending much of the race in P10.

The Haas driver had done well to see off the initial threat of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniil Kvyat but ultimately did not have the pace to hold off Verstappen's charging Red Bull with seven laps remaining.

Magnussen felt Verstappen should have received a penalty after being forced off track by the Dutchman as he attempted to regain tenth, but ultimately admitted 11th was the most he could've hoped for.
Rating out of ten: 7

Daniil Kvyat's points drought continues after dropping from eighth to 12th on one of the toughest weekends of the season so far for Toro Rosso.

The Russian enjoyed an early battle with Nico Hulkenberg but then found himself holed up behind Kevin Magnussen and having to fend off Stoffel Vandoorne's McLaren, which Kvyat said was "alarming".

Singapore should suit Toro Rosso better and Kvyat will be looking to repeat his point-scoring finishes of the past two years.
Rating out of ten: 6.5

After winning the midfield battle at Spa, Renault weren't at the races on Monza's high-speed straights and Nico Hulkenberg's weekend duly never really got going. The RS17 wasn't especially quick in the dry or the wet and so the engine penalties which both Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer collected didn't materially affect their prospects, particularly when so many drivers were in the same boat. After qualifying 12th, Hulkenberg started 14th and picked up just one position in the race. It summed up a fairly uneventful weekend.
Rating out of ten: 6

A race finish had previously always equalled a points finish for Carlos Sainz in 2017, but that run came to an end at Monza on a weekend in which he said Toro Rosso's car was neither fast enough on the straights nor in the corners. Outqualified in the wet by team-mate Kvyat, Sainz's race yielded little joy and he came home ahead of only Grosjean and Wehrlein.
Rating out of ten: 6

You could argue that Romain Grosjean's race weekend was ended as early as Saturday in Italy, with the Haas driver's qualifying crash not only prompting an extended delay but also heavily compromising his race as he started dead last.

If his chances of points were slim at that stage they quickly switched to near impossible after he sustained front wing damage when tangling with Ricciardo's Red Bull, and Grosjean ended the race well off the pace in 15th.

Would he have had the pace for the top 10 without spinning out in Q1's heavy rain? Magnussen's performance suggests it was a possibility.
Rating out of ten: 5

A weekend Pascal Wehrlein will probably want to forget. Slowest of those to complete Q1, the young German then lost seven places on the opening lap and ultimately was last of the cars to finish.
Rating out of ten: 5

Did not finish

While his McLaren-Honda car has repeatedly let him down, fans of team radio have rarely been left short-changed by Fernando Alonso over the past few years and the Spaniard was at his angry best - or worst - at Monza with Jolyon Palmer this time in the firing line. Punchy? Undoubtedly. But ultimately inconsequential? Yes. That's because the substance of the Spaniard's weekend was that it delivered a ninth failure to finish from 12 appearances this season.

McLaren's gearbox was to blame this time in the race's closing laps, but the weekend was a write-off from the moment it was announced Honda would be introducing a new engine and taking another wave of engine penalties. Alonso will await the expected confirmation of McLaren's 2018 engine plans this week with interest.
Rating out of ten: 6

Stoffel Vandoorne's side of the McLaren garage usually seems a lot calmer, a bit more serene than his explosive team-mate's - but even the Belgian was reportedly "absolutely steaming" after another race retirement following a promising display.

"People at McLaren have never seen him so cross," reported Sky F1's Ted Kravitz.

Vandoorne made it through to Q3 in qualifying and was due to start Sunday's race in eighth before a MGU-K issue was spotted and his whole Honda engine was replaced. It therefore would have been hugely frustrating for Vandoorne when he suffered a similar problem with his new power unit after just 34 laps, ending his afternoon.

"It's pretty difficult to draw positives from a weekend like this," he admitted.
Rating out of ten: 7.5

Marcus Ericsson found himself starting in the lofty heights of 11th but it proved to be another tough Sunday as Sauber's lack of performance was laid bare.

The Swede quickly found himself tumbling down the field and most of his action came from fighting team-mate Wehrlein.
Rating out of ten: 6

Yet another frustrating weekend for Jolyon Palmer in which he suffered another retirement due to unreliability and bore the brunt of Alonso's race-day anger.

The Briton once again exited Qualifying in Q1 before he renewed his battle with Alonso from Spa early on race day. But he received a five-second time penalty for failing to hand back position to the Spaniard after cutting the second chicane, something Alonso labelled "a joke", and his race was ended on lap 29 by a car problem.

"Karma" was Alonso's verdict, while Palmer was left hoping his first points will come at the Asian flyaways.
Rating out of ten: 5.5

Don't miss the F1 Report on Wednesday at 8.30pm on Sky F1 as former Ferrari engineer Pat Fry joins Marc Priestley and Natalie Pinkham to review the Italian GP.

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