On Saturday the Tifosi went mad as Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel locked out the front row in qualifying, leaving the Mercedes cars on the second.

 

The red cars started well and kept the first two places into the tricky first corner, but the perfect plan was destroyed into the Roggia turn as Vettel tried to resist to an attack by Hamilton, spun around and was forced to pit for a change of front wing and restart from the back: luckily for him, the race was neutralized by the safety car.

 

That left Raikkonen in the lead, with Hamilton very close: when the Safety Car dived into the pits, Hamilton was able to pass Raikkonen, but the Finn regained his position before the end of the lap.

 

Kimi kept Hamilton in check, but when the Mercedes mechanics faked a pit-stop, he lost a bit of his advantage as he immediately changed tyres, while Hamilton stayed on track, saving a fresher tyre set for the end of the race.

 

Another factor which played into Hamilton’s hands was his team asking Bottas over the radio to slow Raikkonen down. Bottas complied, keeping Raikkonen behind for several laps: during this period Kimi destroyed his tyres and when Hamilton closed on him, he wasn’t able to defend. Lewis passed him on the 45th lap into turn one with a clear move and drove away to a solitary win.

 

That left Raikkonen in second, while Bottas finished third after Verstappen was handed a penalty for pushing Valtteri off-track. Vettel was fourth and his gap in the standings to Hamilton soared to 30 points.

 

 

Numbers from the F.1 race

 

263,587 – Raikkonen recorded the fastest ever pole in Formula 1 history, lapping at 263,587 kph on Saturday. The previous record was set also in Monza, back in 2004, by Juan Pablo Montoya (262,242 kph).

 

1996 – Ferrari is the first team since 1996 which locks out the front row in Monza and doesn’t win the race. At the time the front row was locked by Williams and the race was won by Ferrari (Michael Schumacher). Since then, the front row here had been locked out six times, with the team at the front always winning.

 

220 – This was the 220th pole position for a Ferrari engine in F.1 history.

 

120 – Since the beginning of the 2007 season, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel won 120 races out of 222.

 

100 – Kimi Raikkonen recorded his 100th career podium in Monza.

 

80 – This was the 80th race in the lead for Kimi Raikkonen.

 

50 – This was the 50th straight race for Hamilton without retiring for race accidents, his last one being his contact with his team-mate Rosberg at the 2016 Spanish GP.

 

40 – Hamilton recorded his 40th career fastest lap.

 

38/10/16: At 38 years, 10 months and 16 days, Kimi Raikkonen became the 8th oldest polesitter in F.1 history. The record belongs to Nino Farina: 47 years, 2 months and 18 days in Argentina, 1954.

 

18 – After 18 years Ferrari locked out the front row in Monza. The previous time had been in 2000 (Schumacher-Barrichello).

 

18 – 18th career pole for Kimi Raikkonen, equalling Mario Andretti and René Arnoux at the 15th all-time spot.

 

15/2/4: Kimi Raikkonen is the new record holder for gap between poles in F.1 history: 15 years, 2 months and 4 days spanning from the 2003 European GP to the Italian one in 2018. The previous record of 15 years, 1 month and 20 days belonged to Rubens Barrichello (Belgium 1994-Brazil 2009).

 

8 – After 8 years of wait Ferrari was back on pole in Monza.

 

8 – Eight straight years without a Ferrari win in Monza: the longest drought in their history. Previous worst was seven years from 1989 to 1995.

 

7-7 – Both Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton recorded their 7th podium in Monza: now they are only one shy of the track record of Michael Schumacher.

 

5 – Lewis Hamilton won his 5th race in Monza, equalling the track record of Michael Schumacher.

 

5 – Hamilton is the first driver with 5 straight podiums in Monza.

 

5 – Mercedes extended their record streak of win in Monza to a fifth straight year.

 

1-1-1 – This was the first Italian GP in the Turbo/Hybrid era without Mercedes leading from lights to flag, taking pole position, starting from the front row.

 

0-14 – Despite leading the Italian GP on 14 occasions, the Finn drivers never won the Monza race.