2014 Italian Grand Prix: Top 5 Drivers

If you were Lewis Hamilton, you would have definitely wanted a better start to the race expecially after the incidents in the last race at Belgium with team-mate and leader of the Driver's Championship. But it took some effort on part of the British driver to get his composure back after starting from pole, but pushed to fourth going into the first corner. Hamilton's resurgent charge to catch his team-mate Rosberg put the German driver under pressure and eventually handed Hamilton the race win.

Here are the top drivers from the 2014 Italian GP

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton starting from pole needed a good start to strengthen his postion in front leading upto the first corner, but it turned otherwise as the British driver struggled to get going. He was quickly left behind by his team-mate, a flying Felipe Massa and quite remarkably by Kevin Magnussen in the Mclaren. But given his battle with his team-mate Hamilton after few exchanges of radio messages with the pit-crew, and as determined as ever turbo-charged his Silver Arrows quite literally to see off Magnussen and Massa with precisioned and timed moves.

Hamilton was able to close the gap to Rosberg to within a couple of seconds after the first-round of pit-stops and eventually forced Rosberg into a mistake at the first corner. Rosberg missed the corner at Turn 1 and went staright into the side-road handing over the lead to his rival. There was no looking back from then for Hamilton and despite his team giving him a caution on the tyre-degradation and fuel management, he pulled away from the rest of the pack and more importantly from his team-mate to take the top spot with a 4- seconds lead.

Daniel Ricciardo

The fighting Aussie showed his brilliance and earned a sweet revenge over his team-mate Sebastian Vettel once again to take 5th place after starting 9th on the grid. After being caught up in traffic and falling outside the top-10, Ricciardo found himself benefitting from a late pit-stop strategy to overtake the cars in-front. Ricciardo made some clean moves to come back through the field,after being tied up closely in battle with Alonso,Button, Perez and Magnussen, and impress the crowd and commentators alike.

But the move of the day was obviously when he passed his team-mate brilliantly showing nerves of steel. Vettel struggled from tyre degradation due to the length of his stint and Ricciardo with a comparitively fresher set of tyres charged ahead in dying stages of the race.

Felipe Massa

The old war horse (as he may be called due to his vast experience in Formula One) finally got his dues as he finished third to take his first podium of the year and racing for Williams. The Brazilian driver kept his calm overtaking Kevin Magnussen in the Mclaren and despite being overtaken by Hamilton he was able to establish his position at the top eventually earning him a hard-earned podium in third place. To say the least experience does count in Formula One sooner or later. The Brazilian got a roaring reception from the crowd as they chanted his name in the post-race ceremony.

Sergio Perez

Sahara Force India got back into reckoning through Sergio Perez who showed how well he could race under pressure with some brilliant overtaking as well as defending. He was tied up in a four way battle with Alonso, Button and Magnussen. But as Alonso went out, the battle resumed between him and the two Mclaren's and the three were within a couple of seconds apart.

Given the Constructor's postion at stake for both teams all three drivers gave it their best. But Checo proved his worth hanging on to his postion ahead of Button and eventually finished seventh as Magnussen got pushed down the order due to a penalty. Perez raced his former team-mate wheel-to-wheel before finally overtaking him and managing to keep him behind the Force India for a considerable part of the race.

Valterri Bottas

The new flying Finn had an unforgettable and tardy start to the race as he fell to 11th in the intial stages of the race after starting 3rd on the grid. But once the Williams was able to burn some rubber and get the correct temperatures, Bottas was unstoppable. He was able to move ahead of the two Ferrari's (of Raikkonen and Alonso) before taking on the trio of Perez, Button and Magnussen (who forced the Williams driver off the track and earned himself a 5 second penalty in return). He passed the trio before taking on a struggling Vettel in the Red-Bull.

He passed the Former Champion after a few laps and finally held on to his positon. A good race finish ensured that he moved ahead of Fernando Alonso into third place in the Driver's tally.

With just races to go and 175 points to be earned, the Championship battle is beginning to get intense and highly competitive. Next-up is Singapore GP on 21st September.

Edited by Staff Editor