Lewis Hamilton continued his strong form post-summer break as he claimed his most convincing win of the year so far at the Italian Grand Prix, claiming the championship lead for the first time this season in doing so.

The Briton's dominant weekend in Ferrari's back yard wasn't the only story, however, as NINE drivers were hit with grid penalties and plenty of ups and downs throughout the 53 laps of Monza, but when the chequered flag fell, who were the winners and losers this year at the 'Temple of Speed'?

Biggest Winner:

Lewis Hamilton:

An easy choice, given how the triple world champion was pretty much untouchable all weekend. Hamilton did the hard work in qualifying as he claimed a historic pole in torrid conditions as his main rivals struggled.

That meant, on Sunday, it was all about taking his Mercedes home which he did by over half a minute from Sebastian Vettel in third, despite turning down the engine with some 30 laps to go.

Most importantly, Hamilton now has the high ground with the championship lead for the first time this season and also become the first back-to-back winner in 2017, for Vettel and Ferrari catching him will be a very difficult task.

Other Winners:

Daniel Ricciardo:

Once again, the Australian proved his incredible racing abilities both overtaking and maintaining an excellent pace as the Red Bull driver started 16th, but took his Red Bull to a well-deserved fourth making him the Driver of the Day.

At a time when his teammate is dominating the headlines for his bad luck and speculation over his future, this was another excellent reminder that Ricciardo also has all the skills to be a champion and his current contract does expire at the end of 2018.

Valtteri Bottas:

After a disappointing Belgian Grand Prix and a hard qualifying session, Bottas was able to bounce back and finish the race second behind his teammate. Bottas was able to make quick moves to get ahead of Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon, and from that moment on it was a calm, steady race towards a well-deserved podium.

Esteban Ocon:

From the early stages of this season, Ocon has shown his ever-improving skills, justifying Force India's decision to take him over Pascal Wehrlein in the Mercedes junior ranks

After the crazy race with his teammate in Belgium, the Frenchman bounced back, claiming his best ever grid position starting the race third after being fifth fastest in qualifying. Although his fight at the top did not last long, the 20-year-old finished as best of the rest in a battle with Lance Stroll which was another key result in the already somewhat one-sided fight with Williams for fourth in the Teams' Championship.

Biggest Loser:

Ferrari:

Although Sebastian Vettel was able to make it to the podium, the Italian team surely came to Monza with better hopes. The Scuderia struggled for pace in the wet qualifying and lacked pace in the race, lucky that Red Bull, who were quicker, fell down due to grid penalties.

To make matters worse, Kimi Raikkonen drove the kind of race that has many questioning why Ferrari retain him as he struggled to pass Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon, needing an alternative strategy to do so and then losing out to a recovering Ricciardo to only finish fifth.

The result also dropped important Constructors’ points as the on-form Mercedes grabbed an unanswered 1-2. Such results would have been less painful have they come at a different location and not ahead of the Tifosi.

Other Losers:

Max Verstappen:

Another blow for the youngster after he saw a great start undone by unnecessary contact with Felipe Massa on lap three. Verstappen had a wonderful qualifying session before dropping back to 13th due to grid penalties.

The Dutchman could well have challenged Vettel for third after making up five places to sit eighth at the end of lap one, but in his eagerness and perhaps showing inexperience, he tried an audacious move on the Williams into the first chicane picking up a puncture as the two cars touched dropping him to the back.

He was able to recover and get his Red Bull into the points finishing 10th but for sure that was not the result he hoped for and the best one he could achieve.

McLaren:

Another weekend and yet more grid penalties for the British team as both Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, who's good run to Q3 went up in smoke come race morning, fell back.

McLaren kept eyes on the race as their drivers made their way up the grid with Vandoorne making it into the points, however, that would not last with troubles hitting both cars and forcing them to retire at different stages in the race.

Jolyon Palmer:

Another disappointing weekend for the Briton as poor reliability and a growing spat with Alonso didn't help the under pressure Palmer. The Renault driver is not getting a chance to respond and prove his worth due to the problems and with the ever-increasing likelihood of losing his seat at the end of the year, he may never will.

The Italian Grand Prix (Gran Premio d'Italia) is one of the longest running events on the Formula One calendar. It was also one of the inaugural Formula One championship races in 1950, and has been held every year since then.

The only other championship race for which this is true is the British Grand Prix, and the only other inaugural F1 races that are still on the calendar are the Monaco Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix.

Every Formula One Italian Grand Prix since 1950 has been held at Monza except in 1980, when it was held at Imola.

Italian Prix, Round 13 of the 2017 Formula 1 season

Circuit Name: Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Race Laps: 53

Circuit Length: 5.793 km (3.600 mi)

Race Length: 306.720 km (190.596 mi)

Number of corners: 11 (7 Right, 4 Left)

DRS Zone: Two Zones (zone 1 Between turn 7 and 8, Zone 2 Start/Finish Line Between Turn 11 and 1)

Circuit Direction: Clockwise

Pole Position 2016: Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes 1:21.135

Race lap record: 1:21.046 (BAR, 2004)

Absolute lap record: 1:19.525 (MOY, 1st Quali, 2004)

DRS zones: T7-8, T11-1

Number of corners: 11 (4 Left, 7 Right)

Distance from pole to T1 Apex: 638.1 m

Pole position side: Left

Pit Lane Length under Speed Limit Control: 418.8 m

Drive-through time at 80 km/h: 18.85 s

Lap time at full throttle: 70%

Lap distance at full throttle: 79%

Gear changes per lap: 36

Braking events (>2G): 6

Heavy braking events (<0.4s @ >4G): 3

Fuel consumption: Low

Maximum lateral G-force: 3.1G (T7)

Maximum speed: 355 km/h

Track evolution (P1 – Qualifying): Low

Key overtaking opportunities: T1, T3

Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Italian Grand Prix, where his Mercedes team-mate was forced to settle for second place.

Hamilton made a horror start at Monza and allowed Rosberg to take a lead he rarely looked like losing, leaving the Brit to take second on the podium, while Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel placed.

Vettel's Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen took fourth, while Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas placed fifth and sixth respectively.

Pirelli used compounds

Tyres that must be available (one of them to be used) at some point in the race:

One set of P Zero White Medium

One set of P Zero Yellow soft

Tyres assigned for Q3 in qualifying:                     

One set of P Zero Red Super-Soft

Teams/Drivers compounds choice

THE CIRCUIT FROM A TYRE POINT OF VIEW:

• Monza is characterised by long straights: in theory, this could mean a lower gap time gain compared to other tracks, due to the extra drag of this year’s high-downforce cars.
• Monza is about longitudinal forces, acceleration and braking, rather than lateral.
• There are also some big kerbs that test the tyre’s structure with heavy impacts.
• While there’s unlikely to be an increase in top speed in Curva Grande, entry speeds for Parabolica and Lesmo will be up to 30kph faster.
• Teams generally run very low downforce to maximise top speeds. This can make acceleration and braking tricky.
• A one-stop strategy won last year but two and three stop strategies were also seen.
• It’s a circuit that rewards power, so the focus will be primarily on engine performance.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING

“With the new generation of 2017 cars, we may see lower or similar top speeds to last year, but with more energy going through the tyres because of the extra downforce under the new regulations. This combination of speed and downforce defines the amount of work that the tyres have to do. The tyre choice has also been influenced by the risk of blistering at Monza, as there are plenty of braking areas in a straight line. This means that the cambered shoulder area of the tyre can easily overheat and so cause more blistering compared to other circuits. In the past Monza has given us many different types of weather, but following a very hot summer, it’s reasonable to expect more high temperatures over the weekend. How this influences tyre behaviour is likely to be a focus of free practice as the teams examine different potential strategies”.

Italian Grand Prix Winners 1950 – 2016

Multiple Winners (Drivers)

Multiple Winners (Constructors)

Numbers and Facts

Most wins (driver) 5, Michael Schumacher 1996 – 98 – 2000 – 03 – 06

Most wins (constructor) 18, Ferrari 1951 – 52 – 60 – 61 – 64 – 66 – 70 – 75 – 79 – 88 – 96 – 98 – 00 – 02 – 03 – 04 – 06 – 10

Wins from pole position 22, Most recent 2015 (Lewis Hamilton)

Lowest grid for past winner 11, Peter Gethin in 1971

Most recent 1-2 finish 2016, Mercedes (Nico Rosberg-Lewis Hamilton)

Most emphatic win (here) 1960 2m 27.6s Phil Hill-Richie Ginther (combined road and banked circuit used)

Closest winning margin 1971, 0.01s Peter Gethin-Ronnie Peterson

Rain-affected races 4, 1956 – 76 – 81 – 2008

Safety Car-affected races 4, 2000 – 07 – 08 – 11

Fastest race 2003, 1hr 14m 19.838 s (the shortened 1978 race was held in less time 1hr 07m 04.54s)

Slowest race (here) 1950 2hr 51m 17.4s

Most pole positions (driver) 5, Juan-Manuel Fangio, Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton

Most pole positions (constructor) 18, Ferrari (most recent 2010)

2016 Race Classification

Did you know?

DRIVERS

✪ Sebastian Vettel has still not won back-to-back Grand Prix since he won the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix. That race ended a 9-race run of victories that started in Belgium,

(BEL, ITA, SIN, KOR, JAP, IND, ABU, USA, BRA)

✪ Vettel needs to lead ‘only’ 59 more race laps to equal Ayrton Senna’s career total of 2,987. The all-time most F1 race laps led is 5,111 by Michael Schumacher

✪ Vettel and Lewis Hamilton are the only drivers to have finished in the points in all races so far this season

✪ Hamilton is just 1 pole position from beating Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 68 F1 GP pole positions. Since he has been at Mercedes he has taken pole 42 times already, nearly 50% of all races he’s started for the team (42/ 87 = 48.3%).

✪ All of Hamilton’s 5 wins this season have come from a pole position start

✪ Hamilton has won (58) 29.0% of all GP he’s started (200) and is in the top 10 drivers races to win ratio of all-time. Here’s how he compares:- 1. Fangio 47.0%, 2. Ascari 40.6%, 3. Clark 34.7%, 4. M. Schumacher 29.7%, 5. Hamilton 29.0%, 6. Ja. Stewart 27.2%, 7. Prost 25.6%, 8. A. Senna 25.5%, 9. Vettel 24.2% (46/190) 10. Moss 24.2%

✪ Valtteri Bottas was 28 on Monday 28th August

✪ Kimi Raikkonen’s next win if ever it comes will be the 21st of his F1 career and will also be the most by a Finnish driver in F1. Currently he shares the record of 20 wins

by a Finn with Mika Hakkinen. Another career stat he shares is 37 F1 front row appearances with Fernando Alonso

✪ Raikkonen’s next front row will be the 39th of his F1 career and will equal Mika Hakkinen’s record for the most front row grid positions by a Finnish driver in F1

✪ The Spanish Grand Prix marked the first anniversary of Max Verstappen’s first Grand Prix win. He has until the Singapore Grand Prix in September to win a second while still a teenager. (20th birthday on September  0th 2017). He is of course, so far the only teenager in F1 history to win a F1 World Championship Grand Prix and could still become the only teenager to take pole position too for a F1 World Championship Grand Prix. Max and Ricardo Rodriguez who started the 1961 Italian Grand Prix from P2 in his Ferrari when aged 19 years and 208 days are the only teenage drivers to date to have started a Grand Prix from the front row (Max the youngest, at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix where he started P2 he was aged18 years and 333 days

✪ Sergio Perez needs just 1 more podium to become the Mexican driver with the most F1 podiums (currently = with Pedro Rodriguez on 7)

✪ Carlos Sainz will be 23 on Friday 1st September, Free Practice day

✪ Marcus Ericsson will be 27 on Saturday 2nd September, Qualifying day

CONSTRUCTORS

✪ Mercedes in Italy will be aiming to lockout the front row for the 50th time. The all-time record is 62 and is jointly held by McLaren and Williams. The lock-out if achieved would also mark the 150th and 151st F1 front row appearances by a driver racing for Mercedes-Benz

✪ Mercedes as a constructor has set 1 more race fastest lap in F1 World Championship GP (53) than Red Bull (52)

✪ Ferrari has still not scored consecutive pole positions since Fernando Alonso took pole for the Scuderia at the 2012 British and German Grand Prix and has still not scored a consecutive front row lock-out since Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa lock-out the front row for the 2006 US and French Grand Prix

✪ Ferrari last season was the only team to score championship points at all 21 events

✪ Red Bull has achieved a podium result for at least one of their drivers in 107 different F1 Grand Prix

✪ The current Williams team traces its origins back to 1977. The team began by running a March for Belgian Patrick Neve who sadly died earlier is year and later in 1978, became a constructor running a single FW06 car for Alan Jones. In 1979 the team expanded to 2 cars with Clay Regazzoni joining Jones. Regazzoni won Williams’s first Grand Prix, at Silversone in 1979 while Jones claimed Williams’s first driver’s and first constructor’s titles in 1980. Frank Williams had made his first forays into F1 in 1969, running a Brabham for Piers Courage. Campaigns with De Tomaso, private March’s, with his own cars and Heskeths latterly in conjunction with Canadian-Austrian entrepreneur Walter Wolf followed but it wasn’t until Williams teamed up with Head in 1977 and started all over again that Williams’s F1 fortunes really took off

✪ McLaren has not led a F1 race lap since Jenson Button led lap 14 of the Hungarian GP in 2014. The team has started 60 GP since

ITALIAN GRAND PRIX

✪ Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have both won the Italian Grand Prix 3 times. Only Michael Schumacher (5) and Nelson Piquet (4) have won more

✪ Pole for Lewis Hamilton would be his 6th at Monza and set a new all-time record for the event. Currently he shares the all-time Italian Grand Prix pole position record of 5 poles with Juan-Manuel Fangio and Ayrton Senna

✪ A front row grid for Lewis Hamilton would be his 8th in the event and would establish a new al-time record. Hamilton currently shares the record of 7 front row grid starts here with Juan-Manuel Fangio

✪ A front row for Ferrari would be their 50th (and 51st if they qualify 1-2) for the Italian Grand Prix. Their current total of 49 front rows is already an all-time record and is 25 more than the next-best, McLaren (24)

✪ Mercedes is aiming for a 4th Italian Grand Prix win in a row on Sunday. No constructor/ chassis manufacturer yet in the whole history of the event, including pre-war races has won more than 3 in-a-row (Lotus 1972, 1973 and 1974, Ferrari 2002, 2003 and 2004 and Mercedes 2014, 2015 and 2016)

Driver’s Championship standing

Constructor’s Championship standing

Driver’s penalty points:

It's safe to say the Italian Grand Prix didn't go to plan for Ferrari on Sunday, as Sebastian Vettel was left doing his best to keep the Tifosi happy on the podium after a disappointing home race for Ferrari, finishing over half a minute behind a dominant Mercedes team.

While the German remained upbeat, company President Sergio Marchionne didn't beat about the bush when reflecting on the Scuderia's performance at Monza.

"It was almost embarrassing to see the difference between Mercedes and Ferrari," he claimed to Sky Sports, "we could not do anything. We obviously did something wrong in the last seven days."

The reality is for the Italian team, however, that while their struggles at the Italian Grand Prix may only be a blip, they highlighted the exact reasons many felt they wouldn't be able to sustain a championship push this season and they are the main reasons that now must be addressed.

In the case of the first reason, it is already too late as Kimi Raikkonen was confirmed for another year two weeks ago, but on Sunday he produced the kind of performance that once again has many claiming his retention is simply part of keeping his teammate happy.

It's hard to know what changed Marchionne's mind so fast when he saw the Finn and Vettel standing on the podium in Hungary, but before that moment he was the one man inside who seemed to acknowledge that Kimi is now a weak link.

Yes, on his day the 2007 world champion can still be great, but against the young blood of today his lack of hunger shows and it showed big time as he was stuck behind the Williams of Lance Stroll and the Force India of Esteban Ocon, two guys that have a combined age just one year older than the 37-year-old and both Vettel and Valtteri Bottas had passed with ease. 

Raikkonen was then simply blown away by a recovering Daniel Ricciardo, as a Red Bull, that started 16th, flew past in an overtake at the first chicane that made you wonder if Kimi was paying attention.

This is the main problem with the No. 1, No. 2 driver system, which clearly exists even if Ferrari tell you otherwise! Without a No. 2 that is at least on a similar level, the chance for him to back up the lead driver in the championship fight by taking points of rivals is basically none and at Monza, and elsewhere, Bottas has done exactly that, helping Hamilton into the lead for the first time this season.

Each year we expect that Ferrari will get with it and realise that there is a number of drivers that would be better to not only back up Vettel but win races themselves and allow them to battle for the Constructors' crown, let's hope that year might just be 2018.

The other is car development, an area where it has been expected throughout the year that at some point Maranello wouldn't keep up with what comes out of Brackley.

It seemed that moment had come at Silverstone but results in Hungary and Spa suggested otherwise but then, though circuit specific, the SF70-H just simply wasn't suited to Monza.

The car didn't seem to be working the tyres enough to produce the optimum performance but more telling, the engine, which has been an underrated part of their success this year, simply didn't have the performance to keep up with Mercedes, even when the German manufacturer turned their unit down.

It was noticeable at Spa, as there wasn't enough power for Vettel to pass Hamilton after the Safety Car and then it was clear at Monza when Valtteri Bottas would breeze past Raikkonen on the opening lap. An update is expected for Singapore but that will come under new oil burn guidelines which could hamper Ferrari further.

It is true much of the gain in performance from development this year was going to come from aerodynamics and in that area, the car remains ahead but without the engine to match, Ferrari ends up like Red Bull, limited in their opportunities to finish ahead.

The only benefit is the embarrassment of the Italian Grand Prix could just spark Ferrari into life, if they had gone home and won, potentially complacency would have set in. As it is, now the team should be angry and now desperate for revenge by winning the overall title.

And that does seem to be the case as you could sense a snarl from Marchionne as he concluded: "This is not Ferrari, we need to double our commitment.

"It's okay that the next circuits are more favourable, but it does not mean anything. We have to remove the smile from the face of these guys here, I'm flat out."

It will be fascinating to see if they can "remove the smile" over the final seven races.

Perhaps the most enjoyable 10 days of the Formula 1 season will conclude on Sunday as, fresh from the sights of cars flying around Spa-Francorchamps, they head to the 'Temple of Speed' at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.

Ahead of the race at F1's most historic venue, there's an extra buzz in the air as the Tifosi head to the Autodromo with genuine hopes that the wait to see a red car cross the finish line and take the chequered flag in victory can be over after seven years.

That's right, Fernando Alonso in 2010 was the last time Ferrari won their home Grand Prix but an impressive showing in Belgium last weekend has the Scuderia's large army of fans hopeful that Sebastian Vettel can get one over Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes this time.

The problem facing the fabled Maranello outfit is there's potentially less in their arsenal to fire at the Silver Arrows at Monza and Mercedes strengths will likely be even more on show on the fastest layout on the calendar.

At Spa, Ferrari had the tyres in their favour, the Ultrasoft has been a friend all season long and the concerns about degradation allowed their race pace to be stronger. This weekend, not only is the Supersoft the softest compound available but tyre wear is usually minimal due to the lack of high-speed corners.

That means Ferrari will have to depend on pure speed to beat Mercedes which is unlikely around a pure power circuit like Monza. The Brackley team also got a further boost this week when it was confirmed they would be allowed to use a higher oil burn rate in the engine they introduced at Spa which may not impact this race, unless Ferrari does bring an upgrade, but will do later in the year.

There is some hope from the advantage Ferrari has had both under braking and with traction in slow corners which will help through the chicanes, but will that be enough to keep up? We'll have to wait and see.

As for Mercedes, Hamilton heads to what will be enemy territory looking to take the lead in the Drivers' standings alone for the first time this year with a seven-point gap between himself and Vettel.

There is also now growing pressure within the team to back the Briton's title bid by implementing team orders but his teammate Valtteri Bottas remains adamant he can still be a championship contender. 

More broadly, many will be happy simply to be at Monza this year, following the three-year deal that was confirmed last year and the optimism of Liberty Media wanting to ensure the survival of embattled historic races like Italy.

Also, though it doesn't feel like three-and-a-half months since the cars lined up in Spain, Monza once again signals the end of the European season with the championship likely to head into the final flyaways even closer than it began.

Behind the top two, Red Bull is readying for could be their toughest weekend of the season as they face a large threat from an embattled Force India team and also from within as Max Verstappen becomes ever more disenchanted by a lack of reliability and performance.

What may help in the internal situation at Force India where Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon have to abide a new team policy on racing following the events in Belgium. Though efforts have been made to put their coming together behind them, don't be surprised if the new policy and their relationship is tested again in Italy.

One team heading to Monza desperate for a strong performance is Williams, Felipe Massa may have saved them with an eighth place at Spa but these are difficult times for the British team following a double Q1 elimination in qualifying.

If there's any circuit their car can shine on it's this one and with Mercedes power likely to dominate the midfield if they don't at least battle with Force India their slim hopes of fourth in the Constructors' Championship are done. 

Renault continued their recent rise at Spa with Nico Hulkenberg claiming top honours behind the top three teams. Jolyon Palmer also showed signs that he is prepared to fight for his seat next season before yet more bad luck interfered.

It is engine reliability, however, that continues to hold all three teams them back and at the hardest race of the year for power units, the French manufacturer faces a stern challenge.

Haas will look to use the Ferrari factor for a strong race at Monza and could well be in the fight with Renault and Williams for the final Q3 and points places. At F1's other Italian team, Toro Rosso, Carlos Sainz has the unenviable task of leading their charge at a circuit they claimed their only victory at nine years ago but will struggle for competitiveness this year.  

Their problem may not be as great as McLaren's, however, on a week where rumours of a split with Honda are growing and Fernando Alonso, already exacerbated from the miserable race at Spa, faces starting at the back of the grid with only the Sauber's to play with, as the Swiss team falls further and further back.

Plenty to watch out for and with rain forecast for Friday and possibly Saturday, a difficult weekend for the teams in terms of setup and other race preparation could await.