Mercedes 1st and 2nd at the Italian Grand Prix
September 08 2014,
The 29-year-old won the 28th race of his career on Sunday at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. His teammate with Mercedes F1, Nico Rosberg, finished 2nd.
It’s the first time since the Austrian Grand Prix that Mercedes F1 finished first and second. Things could have ended very differently however, even as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg qualified first and second to start the race. Fans anticipated a heated confrontation between the two drivers as they entered the first corner, especially after the incident at the Belgium Grand Prix two weeks ago.
There, Rosberg crashed into Hamilton, forcing the British driver to forfeit the race. Nico Rosberg was apparently heavily fined by Mercedes after the incident, and tensions grew between Hamilton and Rosberg.
In Monza however, it was Hamilton that forced Rosberg into making a mistake, allowing the 2008 Formula 1 champion to retake the lead after he lost it early following a series of mistakes. Hamilton quickly fell from 1st to 4th at the onset of the race before catching up to Rosberg during the 29th lap where Hamilton showed more prowess navigating the chicanes. That allowed Hamilton to easily pass Rosberg and retake first place. He never looked back.
“Lewis was quick so I needed to up my pace and as a result I made a mistake. It was very bad and that lost me the lead in the end. It’s definitely very disappointing,” Nico Rosberg said after the race.
The Italian Grand Prix marks Lewis Hamilton’s 6th win of the year, but he still trails Nico Rosberg in the driver championship standings. Rosberg now leads Hamilton by 22 points with six races left in the season. Next up is the Singapore Grand Prix that gets underway on September 19th.
Mercedes-Benz has been involved with Formula 1 since 1954 where a legendary driver by the name Juan Manual Fangio finished first at the French Grand Prix before winning the driver’s championship in 1954 and 1955.
