7 things you need to know after a scintillating Italian Grand Prix

Well, after a bore-fest at Spa last weekend, F1 reminded us all why we love it so much with a scintillating race at Monza.

There were crashes, passes, retirements and plenty of controversy, but in the end Lewis Hamilton denied the highly partisan home crowd a win for Ferrari.

Here’s how they finished, and everything you need to know from the Italian Grand Prix.

1. THAT first lap incident

Ferrari were 1-2 on the grid with Kimi Raikkonen on pole ahead of Sebastian Vettel, so plenty of people (me included) were wondering how and when the Scuderia would swap their two drivers around to give Vettel maximum points in his battle for the title with Lewis Hamilton.

But in the end that was a moot point as Hamilton got a run on Vettel heading into the second chicane on the very first lap. The Mercedes driver left Vettel just enough room, but he seemed to get some understeer and then hit Hamilton, spinning his own Ferrari around in the process which left him dead last.

Hamilton then scampered off after Kimi.

Vettel clearly thought it was a foul from Hamilton, but the stewards disagreed and branded it a racing incident. Sky pundit Nico Rosberg thought it was “110 per cent” Vettel’s fault.

The hordes of Ferrari fans were furious, but at least the other Ferrari was still in the lead…

2. Kimi vs Mercedes

With Vettel out of the picture on lap 1, Kimi’s legions of fans could finally see a win for their man at long, long last.

Hamilton thought otherwise and overtook after the safety car went in, but Kimi was looking punchy and took the lead right back a few corners later.

So it stayed until lap 21 when Kimi pitted and Hamilton stayed out, his engineer telling him it was “Hammer time”.

Mercedes then used Valtteri Bottas to back Kimi up into Hamilton’s clutches, and after he had pitted for fresh tyres himself, Hamilton caught and then passed Kimi with eight laps left.

Job done for Lewis, heartbreak for the Tifosi and for Kimi, who might have just seen his best chance of a final F1 victory come and go – and at Monza of all places.

3. “Vettel cracked under the pressure”

After his spin and early pitstop, Vettel had his work cut out for him but did fight his way back up to fourth in some decent damage limitation.

But he is now 30 points behind Hamilton in the title battle with seven races remaining. But it could have been so different, had he not made serious mistakes in Baku, France, Germany and today at Monza.

“Sebastian Vettel cracked under pressure, it has to be said,” said Damon Hill after the race.

Nico Rosberg agreed, adding: “You can’t beat Lewis by making mistakes like that.” And he knows...

4. Max throws his toys out of the pram

Running in third for much of the race, Max Verstappen was fighting hard for another podium finish, doing some excellent defensive driving to keep Bottas behind him.

But he went too far when defending into the first chicane, pushing Bottas wide and clipping wheels. He got a five second penalty for that and was livid when he found out.

“For what?!” He shouted down the radio, adding: “They’re doing a great job of killing racing.”

Knowing he had the penalty, he should have let Bottas through and concentrated on staying five seconds ahead of the chasing Vettel, but he kept on battling with Bottas.

“I know I’m losing time to Vettel but I really don’t care,” he told his engineer as he kept fighting.

A penalty might be hard to take, but fighting with the wrong car and losing a position just because you’re angry is the kind of thing Max needs to cut out of his game before he steps up to be one of the true top players in F1.

5. Renault woes for Danny Ricc

Lap 25 and Daniel Ricciardo – who started at the back of the grid after a penalty for changing his engine – pulled off to the side of the track with smoke pouring from the back of his car.

It was a fourth engine failure in six races for Dan, who will be driving not only a Renault engine next year, but a Renault chassis as well.

6. A point for Williams!

Light the beacons! Alert the town elders! Send horsemen to all four corners of the kingdom. Williams scored a point.

Yep, Lance Stroll managed to come home tenth (the same position he qualified in yesterday) to take a point for the long-suffering Grove squad, with Sergey Sirotkin just five seconds behind him in 11th.

The question is, will that be Stroll's last act as a Williams driver before he swaps over to Force India for Singapore?

7. Speaking of Singapore…

F1 heads to the night race in two weeks for what is usually a spectacular event.

Ferrari and Vettel, on the back foot massively after this race, do not have good memories of Singapore after the crash with Raikkonen at the start of last year’s Grand Prix.

Ferrari at Singapore last year... (Pic: Sutton)

Ferrari at Singapore last year... (Pic: Sutton)

Can they put that right this time?

The delicious situation we have as we head into the final third of the season is that Mercedes have more points, but Ferrari seem to have (just) the faster car.

Make sure you tune in for Singapore for the next twist in the story…