Daniel Ricciardo ate his Weetbix this morning, that’s for sure. The Aussie had a massive setback after starting 16th but has now slotted himself into the fourth position while hot on Sebastian Vettel’s tail for fourth. “That is sensational,” David Croft exclaimed as the Aussie expertly passed Kimi Raikkonen in the 41st lap. “This is a storming drive.” LEWIS Hamilton has overtaken Sebastian Vettel’s lead in the driver’s championship after claiming a breezy win at Monza. The Brit sat comfortably in first for the majority of the race and looked to be in peak form. Mercedes dominated in Italy this year with Vatteri Bottas claiming second ahead of Sebastian Vettel (third) and Daniel Ricciardo (fourth).
The ever-cheery Daniel Ricciardo was over the moon after finishing fourth at Monza. The Aussie made a stunning comeback after starting 16th with a penalty, narrowly missing out on a podium as he chased down Sebastian Vettel late in the race. The 28-year-old was bouncing up and down in a post-race interview with a female reporter and got a little too enthusiastic when he heard how excited the commentators were as he pulled off a number of overtakes. “Our commentators were getting really excited,” the Sky Sports reporter told Ricciardo before he jumped in. “Did they take their tops off?” he said. “Pop a few buttons?” The reporter was quick to dodge the awkward moment.
“Maybe, maybe, maybe,” she said before asking about his Kimi Raikkonen overtake.“I’ll give Kimi credit for racing clean and fair,” Ricciardo responded. “But I’d have done the move on anyone to be honest. I was aware the deeper I got towards the front the harder overtakes would be. I had blinkers on for the move and happy to pull it off.” Lewis Hamilton took the lead in 2017’s championship race against Sebastian Vettel with an unchallenged win at Monza. Mercedes had a stellar race with Valtteri Bottas finishing second. Sebastian Vettel finished third and Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth. Vettel complained about his engine in the final stages of the race after having Ricciardo dangerously close the gap before the finish line. “The last 15 or 20 laps, after I went off, something went wrong,” the German star said over the radio. “That’s why I was going up and down on the engine.”
Instead, Hamilton won virtually unchallenged from pole position, Mercedes teammate Valterri finished second, and Hamilton took the championship lead from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who placed third. “Some are more happy than others. … You might have to just punch through this,” former F1 driver Martin Bundle, who was handling the podium interviews, told Hamilton as the crowd made its feelings known loud and clear. “You know what?” Hamilton replied. “I love it here in Italy and I love the passion of the fans, particularly the Ferrari fans — they are fantastic. This energy is like nowhere else we get to see, apart from maybe Silverstone. So I respect it and I appreciate it.” It was the perfect response to calm the crowd down and crown a perfect weekend for Hamilton, who on Saturday eclipsed former Ferrari great Michael Schumacher’s record for Formula One pole positions, with his 69th.
