2014 Italian Grand Prix
The 2014 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 7 September at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Lombardy. It was the 13th round of the 2014 Formula One World Championship and the 65th Italian Grand Prix held as part of the series. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the 53-lap race from pole position. His teammate Nico Rosberg finished second and Williams driver Felipe Massa took third.
Hamilton claimed the 36th pole position of his career by recording the fastest lap in qualifying but a slow start dropped him behind Rosberg. He returned to second by lap ten and drew closer to teammate Rosberg. He was instructed by radio to remain at least 2 seconds behind Rosberg but opted to ignore the message and took the lead on lap 29 when Rosberg ran off the circuit. Hamilton maintained the lead for the rest of the race to achieve his sixth victory of the season and the 28th of his career. There were three lead changes among two different drivers during the course of the race.
The result saw Hamilton lower Rosberg's lead in the World Drivers' Championship to 22 points with Daniel Ricciardo remaining in third position. Valtteri Bottas moved to fourth position while Fernando Alonso did not finish the race and fell to fifth. Mercedes increased their lead in the World Constructors' Championship to 182 points over the second-placed Red Bull. Williams overtook Ferrari for third with six races left in the season.
Background
The 2014 Italian Grand Prix was the 13th of the 19 round 2014 Formula One World Championship, and the 65th running of the event as part of the series. It was held on 7 September at the 11-turn Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Lombardy. The drag reduction system had two activation zones for the race: one was on the straight between the second Lesmo corner and the Ascari chicane, and the second was on the straight linking Parabolica to the Rettifilo chicane. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the white-banded medium and orange-banded hard dry tyre compounds to the race.Before the race Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg led the World Drivers' Championship with 220 points, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton in second and Daniel Ricciardo in third. Fernando Alonso was fourth on 121 points and Valtteri Bottas was a further eleven points behind in fifth. Mercedes led the World Constructors' Championship with 411 points, and Red Bull were second on 254 points. Ferrari and Williams were third and fourth and McLaren fifth.
Following a collision between Hamilton and Rosberg on the second lap of the preceding, the third such incident surrounding the Mercedes team in 2014, which went back to qualifying for the when Rosberg was accused of spoiling Hamilton's lap, the Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff threatened sanctions against one driver if a similar situation happened again and insisted that both men were obliged to serve the team's interests. Hamilton said his objective at Monza was to regain some of the lost ground in the Drivers' Championship and would not give up until the season-closing round in Abu Dhabi: "It's as big as it's been all season so I've got a lot of work ahead of me but anything can happen in this sport." Rosberg was aware of his situation in the title battle and was confident of achieving a strong result: "I'm focused on taking the maximum points possible in the remaining seven races and I know the team is too, starting with a top result this weekend."
File:Kamui Kobayashi 2010 Malaysia.jpg|thumb|upright|Kamui Kobayashi returned to Caterham after missing the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Parabolica corner was altered ahead of the race. A large portion of its gravel trap was replaced with asphalt, reportedly for a possible return of the Superbike World Championship in 2015 after series officials raised concerns about a lack of run-off areas on the circuit. The change was heavily criticised by the sport's fan base on social media and certain drivers who felt it removed part of the challenge from Parabolica. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile race director Charlie Whiting, defended the changes, saying drivers and the FIA asked for changes to be made for safety reasons but acknowledged that the corner might not provide as much of a challenge than before. Others joined in Whiting's defence, including Romain Grosjean, who believed the gravel trap's removal would allow drivers to find their limit quicker because of a lack of fear of a major accident.
A total of 11 teams each fielded two race drivers for the event with one driver change and four free practice participants. Having driven in one of the two Caterham cars in lieu of regular driver Kamui Kobayashi at the preceding Belgian Grand Prix, three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and 2011 Formula Nippon champion André Lotterer was replaced by Kobayashi. Lotterer planned to race at Monza but did not do so after Caterham team principal Colin Kolles ran Formula Renault 3.5 Series driver Roberto Merhi in the first practice session. He told the press that he needed the maximum amount of driving time because he was a rookie. Kobayashi said he was looking forward to testing an updated CT05 car and did not doubt the team's decision to change drivers. Lotus reserve driver Charles Pic replaced Grosjean for the first free practice session for the first time in 2014. Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters driver Daniel Juncadella used Pérez's Force India vehicle for the session's first half-hour, and Giedo van der Garde drove Adrian Sutil's Sauber car.
Practice
Three practice sessions—two on Friday and a third on Saturday—were held before the Sunday race. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions lasted 90 minutes each; the third, one-hour session was held on Saturday morning. In the first session, which took place in dry and sunny weather, Hamilton was fastest with a time of 1 minute, 26.187 seconds, six-tenths of a second faster than Jenson Button in second, who was fastest until Hamilton's lap, and Rosberg third. Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen, Sergio Pérez, Daniil Kvyat and Nico Hülkenberg occupied position four to ten. During the session several drivers noted the hard compound tyres took longer than anticipated to reach their optimum working temperature, and some went off the track while acquainting themselves with a low-downforce set-up. Ricciardo had DRS trouble and his session ended early when he entered the pit lane with a suspected energy recovery system problem, and Magnussen had rear-braking issues.Rosberg set the fastest lap of the second session at 1 minute, 26.225 seconds; Hamilton was 0.061 seconds behind in second despite electrical repairs taking an hour in the garage, with Räikkönen third. His teammate Alonso was fourth-fastest, with Bottas fifth and Button sixth. Vettel, Magnussen, Massa and Ricciardo followed in the top ten. Multiple drivers went off the track during the session. The Lotus duo of Grosjean and Maldonado struggled to generate heat into their tyres and had further difficulty with braking stability and steering. In the third session, which was held in warmer and sunnier weather, Hamilton set the fastest lap of the weekend so far of 1 minute, 25.519 seconds, ahead of Alonso in second and the Williams duo of Bottas and third and fourth. Button, Vettel, Räikkonen, Kvyat, Ricciardo and Hülkenberg were in positions five to ten. Reoccurring gearbox problems forced Rosberg to abandon his short run programme early.
Qualifying
Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part ran for 18 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 17th or below. The 107% rule was in effect, requiring drivers to reach a time within 107 per cent of the quickest lap to qualify. The second session lasted 15 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 11th to 16th. The final part ran for 12 minutes and determined pole position to tenth. Cars that qualified for the final session had to start the race on the tyre they set their quickest lap times in the second session. Qualifying took place in warm weather. Hamilton was fastest in all three sessions to claim his fifth pole position of the season, the 36th of his career, and his first since the with a lap of 1 minute, 24.109 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Rosberg who had improved on his first timed lap, but an oversteer through the Ascari chicane prevented him from achieving pole position. The two Williams duo of Bottas and Massa were third and fourth; both drivers could not improve their fastest times on their second attempts. They were ahead of McLaren's Magnussen and Button in fifth and sixth; the latter lost time through the Lesmo corners on his final timed lap. Alonso was slightly slower than Vettel after his first lap, but he improved slightly for seventh. He attributed his pace to recording similar lap times on four sets of tyres. Vettel qualified higher than his teammate Ricciardo for the fourth time in the past six races to secure eighth. Ricciardo started ninth and Pérez tenth.Kvyat was the fastest driver not to qualify for the final session; he took a ten-place grid penalty for an overnight engine change, his sixth of the season. Hence, Räikkonen inherited 11th. Räikkonen lacked car grip and locked his front tyres, ending his first timed lap early because cars exiting the pit lane reduced his visibility for the Rettifilo chicane. After preparing for a second lap, he locked his right-front wheel and drove onto a run-off area. Jean-Éric Vergne was 12th with Hülkenberg 13th after traffic slowed his preparation for a lap at Parabolica and felt the car was loose. Sutil had problems driving but gradually improved his car's balance as he drove, and improved on his final lap to secure 14th, ahead of teammate Esteban Gutiérrez, who made a minor error on his final lap. Maldonado failed to advance beyond the first session; his teammate Grosjean did five laps after missing the first 13 minutes as Lotus repaired a fluid leak. Kobayashi slipstreamed his teammate Marcus Ericsson to pass Jules Bianchi for 18th, with Bianchi not improving because he slid sideways through the Ascari chicane and other drivers were faster on the medium compound tyres. His teammate Max Chilton qualified 20th and Ericsson took 22nd; the latter was hindered by a lack of running on the medium tyres following an engine problem in the third practice session.