Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix 2014: Results, Times for Practice and Qualifying

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg resume their battle for the Formula One world championship this weekend in Italy after the two Mercedes drivers clashed last time out in Belgium.

Rosberg has opened up a 29-point lead over the Brit after Hamilton was forced to retire at Spa while the German claimed second.

However, Rosberg has been sanctioned by his team for causing the collision with Hamilton that induced the Briton's problematic puncture in Belgium, and Mercedes sports boss Toto Wolff has made it clear that such an incident cannot happen again, per Andrew Benson on BBC Sport:

"

We would have to take decisions and take the consequences of having a different line-up. If we are not able to manage the two of them following the Mercedes-Benz spirit then we need to admit that.

"

But there is little doubt that the two Mercedes cars will likely be fighting it out again at Monza for top spot as they have done for much of the season so far.

Hamilton will be desperate to win in Italy and make up some ground on Rosberg with only six races remaining after this weekend.

The 2008 world champion has had more reliability issues than his teammate this season, which has seen Rosberg stretch his lead so much.

Despite Mercedes' dominance, which has been clear in just about every practice and qualifying session, it is actually Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo who comes into the race in winning form having claimed victory in the last two outings.

The Australian is out-performing his four-time world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel in all areas in his rookie season and sits 35 points back from second-placed Hamilton in the drivers' standings.

Fernando Alonso will likely be in the mix, as ever, as he continues to perform exceptionally well in a poor Ferrari this season.

Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas continued his fine form in the Williams with a third-place finish last time out and will be looking for a similar result in Italy.

However, there is no doubting the main story this weekend as Hamilton and Rosberg go head to head as the season nears the business end.

Qualifying: Scintillating Hamilton Takes Pole from Rosberg

Adam Pretty/Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton mastered the Monza circuit to take pole position for the Italian Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver was composed and collected throughout the qualifying sessions, posting a scintillating time of 1:24.109 to finish top of the pile and leave the rest of the field trailing.

Nico Rosberg will join the Brit on the front row of the grid, while Williams’ Valterri Bottas will begin the race in third place after another solid qualifying display. The Finn's teammate Felipe Massa will start in fourth position.

Trailing them will be the McLaren pair of Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button, who’ll begin in fifth and sixth respectively. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso will be leading the Ferrari charge on their home Grand Prix from seventh place.

A little further back in the field, Sebastian Vettel out-qualified teammate Daniel Ricciardo and the Red Bull pair will begin in eighth and ninth respectively. Force India’s Sergio Perez rounds off the top ten.

Glorious sunshine covered this wonderful, traditional circuit in northern Italy at the start of the day, but for Lotus, it may as well have been pouring it down. This track—which favours cars with rapid top speeds and that are strong under heavy braking—did little to accentuate the team’s skills.

Subsequently the duo of Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean were unable to make it out of the first qualifying phase. Those two ended up in 17th and 18th respectively and joining them in the drop zone were the Caterham pair of Kamui Kobayashi (19th) and Marcus Ericsson (22nd), and the Marussia duo of Jules Bianchi (20th) and Max Chilton (21st).

Hamilton topped the standings in Q1 after putting in a very swift first lap. But he was less pleased with his second effort, which he branded as “shocking” when in conversation with his race engineer, per BBC Sport. So with plenty in the tank and Rosberg not far back, there was much to suggest we were in for a thrilling climax to the qualifying session.

But first both drivers had to negotiate there way through the second qualifying session. And they did, as both of the Mercedes drivers qualified with ease. But a strong showing from both Bottas and Massa in Q2 suggested that Williams would also be in the mix come the end of Q3.

There was a big battle to make it through to the final session however and with all 16 cars involved as the chequered flag dropped, it was a frantic scrap to finish in the top ten places.

The Sauber duo of Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez were never really in contention to make it through, and they were 15th and 16th fastest respectively. Nico Hulkenberg was 14th in his Force India, and ahead of him was Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne; the Frenchman’s teammate Daniil Kvyat will begin in 11th, but a ten-place grid penalty will see him drop back to 21st.

But the big shock in Q2 will undoubtedly be the performance of Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn has failed to make it into the top ten shootout in three of his last four qualifying efforts and he made it four in five here.

Raikkonen posted the 12th fastest time of the session at Ferrari’s home Grand Prix, you suspect there will be plenty of questions to be answered for the former World Champion after this display in front of the Tifosi.

In Q3, Rosberg was the first of the big hitters to get out and post a flying lap, with Bottas just a few seconds behind him on track. A sharp final sector gave the German provisional pole in front of the Finn, while Massa couldn’t better either of the times posted by the aforementioned duo.

But Hamilton blitzed all three of his competitors for pole with his first run, posting a blistering time of 1:24.109, just shy of half-a-second quicker than Rosberg. Such was the majesty of Hamilton’s hot lap, there was talk about whether or not he’d even bother to do a second run. But after four poles in a row for Rosberg, the Brit was taking no chances and decided to go out for another try.

The German bettered his first effort, but he was still comfortably behind Hamilton be two tenths of a second, allowing the Brit to ease off on his lap and save tyres. Williams impressed once again, but they were unable to breach the Mercedes monopoly on the front row.

Hamilton will be delighted to snaffle pole position for this race, and he’s going to be extremely difficult to beat around the Italian circuit. That’s providing that he and his teammate can drive with the requisite courtesy, something that neither have really afforded each other in recent races.

The Brit has looked supreme over the past couple of days and a victory here would really heap the pressure on his teammate in the race for the world title. But you can bet all eyes will be on the Mercedes duo come that first corner on race day.

Click here for full qualifying results, courtesy of Formula1.com

P3: Hamilton Wins After Rosberg Can't Even Set Time

Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

The smile evident on Lewis Hamilton's face wasn't just about winning the third practice race at the 2014 Italian Grand Prix. Although he won't admit it, Hamilton likely allowed himself a grin at the expense of Mercedes teammate and fierce professional rival, Nico Rosberg.

The German was unable to even set a time after a faulty gearbox took him out of the race. That left the field clear for Hamilton and he took full advantage.

Here's the full breakdown of the third practice race. All position and time information via Formula1.com:

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:25.519
2	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:25.931
3	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:26.090
4	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:26.114
5	Jensen Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.242
6	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing Renault	1:26.290
7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:26.327
8	Daniil Kvyat	STR Renault	1:26.437
9	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing Renault	1:26.482
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:26.608
11	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.829
12	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:27.207
13	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:27.312
14	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:27.479
15	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:27.498
16	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1:28.025
17	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:28.137
18	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:28.265
19	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:28.459
20	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferari	1:28.579
21	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:29.251
	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	No Time

Hamilton was determined to make short time of the track. He needed better time after losing valuable seconds in the second practice race. Electrical issues ruined Hamilton's day then, but nothing could stop him here.

It was no surprise to see Williams-Mercedes cars take two spots in the top four. They had the pace to offer a credible challenge to the lead Mercedes engines.

Sky Sports F1 reporter James Galloway predicts it will be Williams cars and those of Ferrari who settle the spots behind Hamilton and Rosberg in the Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso certainly made a strong case for Ferrari after his second-placed finish and solid time here.

But the big story is the latest chapter in Hamilton's rivalry with Rosberg. The former has certainly built a commanding advantage after this race. It will be interesting to see if, for once, Hamilton can actually gain the upper hand over his ruthless teammate when the racing counts.

He'll be able to do that if Rosberg's car isn't fixed soon, per Galloway: 

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It meant the 29-point championship leader missed all of the session’s low-fuel qualifying simulations—which Hamilton, predictably, went on to dominate—and raises the potentially dramatic spectre of a five-place gearbox change penalty should Mercedes’ engineers not be able to resolve the glitch before qualifying.

"

That's a story to watch closely ahead of the qualifying races. For now though, Hamilton can enjoy his good fortune as he gets ready to seize the chance to earn pole position.

P2: Rosberg Takes Advantage as Hamilton Has Issues

Antonio Calanni/Associated Press

Championship leader Nico Rosberg headed his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton at the top of the time-sheets in Friday afternoon's second free practice session ahead of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

Hamilton went just 0.061 seconds slower than the German despite the Stevenage driver's fastest lap being set amid traffic.  

Hamilton only made it out onto the track with half an hour of the session to go after his car failed to start in the afternoon. Mercedes mechanics were forced to rectify some electrical issues with the Briton's car in order to get their man out onto the Monza tarmac, per Crash.net.

It is a less than ideal situation for the 2008 world champion ahead of Sunday's race as it limited his time out on track. Friday afternoon is usually the session in which the drivers get a proper feel for the circuit.

However, in his brief stint he did show very good pace, much like the morning session where he was fastest by over half a second.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished the session third-fastest with his teammate Fernando Alonso matching his morning's work by taking fourth spot.

The Spaniard is enduring a frustrating season but is eager to perform this weekend in front of Ferrari's home crowd, per Andrew Benson on BBC Sport:

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Definitely we must try and have our best race of the year in front of the home crowd. We know what a great experience it is to stand on the podium at Monza, seeing the straight packed with people. I've been lucky enough in these last four years with Ferrari to get to the podium four times and it would be fantastic to make it five.

"

McLaren had another positive session after a successful morning, with Jenson Button finishing in sixth and teammate Kevin Magnussen in eighth.

Daniel Ricciardo had an improved afternoon after an engine failure disrupted his first practice session, the winner of the past two races sitting in 10th spot at the end of the day.

Having both finished outside the top 10 earlier in the day, the two Williams drivers, Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, improved in second practice, going fifth-fastest and ninth-fastest respectively.

Bottas has finished on the podium in four of the last five races, per BBC Sport, and showed good consistent pace over a number of laps on Friday afternoon, suggesting he should be in the mix once again come Sunday.

With one more free practice to come on Saturday morning ahead of a crucial qualifying session in the afternoon, Mercedes looks to be, once again, the manufacturer to beat.

If Hamilton cannot head his teammate at the end of Sunday's race, Rosberg will be looking more and more the likely champion for 2014. 

Full practice results via Formula1.com:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time/Retired	Gap	Laps
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:26.225		41
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:26.286	0.061	16
3	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:26.331	0.106	31
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:26.565	0.340	26
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:26.758	0.533	34
6	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.762	0.537	34
7	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:26.762	0.537	27
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.881	0.656	44
9	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:26.935	0.710	33
10	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:26.992	0.767	37
11	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:27.079	0.854	42
12	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:27.227	1.002	39
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:27.476	1.251	37
14	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:27.840	1.615	33
15	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:27.929	1.704	33
16	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:28.029	1.804	35
17	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1:28.659	2.434	34
18	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:28.700	2.475	42
19	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1:28.786	2.561	29
20	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:29.085	2.860	29
21	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:29.178	2.953	32
22	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:29.275	3.050	37

P1: Hamilton Fastest as Button Splits Mercedes

Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton claimed top spot in the first practice session in Monza on Friday as McLaren’s Jenson Button split the two Mercedes in second with Nico Rosberg going third-fastest.

Hamilton is looking to make up significant ground on his teammate this weekend as he currently sits 29 points back from Rosberg in the drivers’ standings.

He will be highly satisfied with his morning’s work ahead of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix as he went over half a second faster than his former teammate and compatriot Button, and eight-tenths quicker than Rosberg.

Button showed good pace around a track where he has claimed three second-place finishes but never won, while his teammate Kevin Magnussen was fifth-fastest, marking a strong session for McLaren.

The ever consistent Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest in the Ferrari while reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel finished in sixth spot.

Vettel’s Red Bull teammate and race-winner last time out Daniel Ricciardo had an engine failure during the session and could only finish in 16th spot.

The Australian’s engine had been set to be replaced at the end of the day but the switch will now be made before the second practice session on Friday afternoon.

It took over an hour for Force India’s Sergio Perez to finally get a time on the board—after reserve driver Dani Juncadella took a spin during a half-hour stint at the beginning of the session—and he went eight fastest overall.

Hamilton will be aiming to keep his form from the first session on Friday afternoon as he prepares to take a tilt at pole position in Saturday’s qualifying.

If the Briton can claim first place on the grid for Sunday’s race he will increase his chances of beating his teammate and cutting down the significant gap which opened up after Hamilton’s retirement at Belgium last time out.

Full practice results via Formula1.com:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time/Retired	Gap	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:26.187		25
2	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.810	0.623	27
3	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:26.995	0.808	26
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:27.169	0.982	23
5	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:27.228	1.041	30
6	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:27.271	1.084	27
7	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:27.493	1.306	27
8	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:27.687	1.500	13
9	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:27.741	1.554	33
10	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:28.112	1.925	23
11	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:28.114	1.927	21
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:28.148	1.961	20
13	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:28.150	1.963	21
14	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:28.300	2.113	30
15	36	Giedo van der Garde	Sauber-Ferrari	1:28.429	2.242	19
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:28.487	2.300	12
17	34	Daniel Juncadella	Force India-Mercedes	1:29.192	3.005	10
18	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:29.512	3.325	24
19	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1:30.017	3.830	25
20	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1:30.081	3.894	27
21	30	Charles Pic	Lotus-Renault	1:30.125	3.938	23
22	45	Roberto Merhi	Caterham-Renault	1:30.704	4.517	29
23	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:30.948	4.761	16