2015 F1 Round 12 Italian Grand Prix Race – Hamilton wins at Monza, Massa on podium after Rosberg retires

Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on September 6, completing 53 laps in 1:18:00.688. Vettel finished second, 25.042 seconds behind, with Massa third.

Starting from the front row, Räikkönen failed to get away promptly and quickly dropped to the back. Vettel became Ferrari’s main contender for victory but could not match Hamilton’s race pace.

Hamilton controlled the race at the front and ultimately crossed the line about 25 seconds ahead of Vettel. Rosberg had passed both Williams cars during the pit-stop phase to run third, leaving two Mercedes and Vettel in the provisional podium positions.

With around two laps remaining, the rear of Rosberg’s car caught fire. He retired after completing 50 laps and was classified 17th. Massa moved back into third, with Bottas closing on his team-mate in the final laps.

Massa resisted Bottas to finish third, with just 0.361 seconds separating the two Williams cars at the line. Bottas was fourth, while Räikkönen recovered from his poor start to take fifth.

Pérez finished sixth and Hülkenberg seventh. Starting 19th, Ricciardo ran on medium tyres before switching to softs and passed Ericsson on the final lap to finish eighth. Ericsson was ninth and Kvyat tenth.

Grosjean and Maldonado were caught up in the first-corner confusion and both retired on the opening lap. Sainz was 11th, Verstappen 12th, Nasr 13th and Button 14th. Alonso retired after completing 47 laps.

After the race, Mercedes faced a stewards’ investigation into the starting tyre pressures on Hamilton’s car. The FIA ultimately decided to take no further action. Hamilton kept his victory and extended his championship lead.