This year, the Italian Grand Prix was not as stimulating as I was expecting it to be. I don’t feel that any of the driver’s finished in unexpected positions, other than those who retired. Having said this, there is much praise that should be dished around all of the drivers as they performed some incredible overtaking and fair, rule abiding racing (for the most part). However, one person, I believe, performed incredibly. Although some may not agree, my Star driver of the Italian Grand Prix is Lewis Hamilton.
The first of many reasons for this is the huge lead that he had over the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton crossed the line an impressive 25 seconds before Vettel (2nd place). The chances are that this lead was pushed to be this big after Hamilton was instructed to push the car as it was ‘Hammer Time’. The team refused to offer Lewis an explanation, reassuring him they’d inform him as to why after he crossed the line. Lewis did as he was asked and pushed the car, taking risks where they were necessary.
It is thought that Hamilton was told to push (despite his already generous lead) in order to ensure that he would maintain his lead if he was to receive a penalty. The decision was made after Mercedes was informed that they were under investigation for racing the cars on tyres lower than the pressure minimum. Some fans are outraged that Hamilton will maintain his points after breaking a regulation that is enforced for a reason. Other fans think the FIA were right to leave the points in place as the tyre pressure was only 0.3psi below the minimum. This is not believed to be big enough to make a difference.
Aside from the race at hand, it cannot be denied that Hamilton has a talent. He regularly outperforms his teammate in both qualifying and races having out qualified Rosberg on 11 occasions and finished higher than him 9 times in races. With a 53 point lead over his teammate in the drivers’ standings.
