Mercedes continue their dominance in Ferrari’s backyard

2017 Italian Grand Prix stats and facts

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Lewis Hamilton dominated the Italian Grand Prix weekend, taking his 59th career victory and 69th pole position. The latter, of course, is a new all-time record for any driver in the history of Formula One.

Hamilton’s victory means he is alone at the top of the points standing for the first time since this point last season. However Sebastian Vettel is only three points behind with up to 175 still available.

2017 Italian Grand Prix in pictures
As has been the case since the V6 hybrid turbo era began, Mercedes were untouchable at Monza. No other team has led a lap at this track since 2014, and Mercedes finished first and second for the third time in four years. At the chequered flag the closest non-Mercedes was 36 seconds behind.

The only session not headed by a Mercedes was final practice, where just seven drivers set times in extremely wet conditions.

Just how wet was it? Felipe Massa set the quickest time with a 1’40.660, which was the slowest session-topping lap seen at Monza since Jacques Laffite took pole for the 1976 race with a lap of 1’41.35. This was the first year after the addition of the chicane before Lesmo.

Hamilton’s pole was his eighth this year, meaning he needs just one more from the remaining seven races to win the pole position trophy again. It was also his sixth in the Italian Grand Prix which is a new record, one more than Ayrton Senna and Juan Manuel Fangio. This was Hamilton’s fourth win in the Italian Grand Prix, meaning he can equal Michael Schumacher’s record of five next year.

The exact order of the grid was a matter of considerable confusion owing to the large number of penalties imposed. Nine drivers shared a total of 150 places of grid penalties. This is the second-highest number of penalties seen at a race: at Monza two years ago 168 places of grid penalties were applied.

The penalties cost Red Bull what would have been their strongest starting positions of the year with second and third for Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. Lance Stroll inherited Verstappen’s place on the front row and broke his record for being the youngest driver to start there by 23 days.

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Second place on the grid for Stroll was a huge improvement on his average starting position of 14.8 prior to Monza. He lowered the record for youngest front row starter to 18 years and 314 days.

Esteban Ocon also achieved his best starting position to date with third. Inevitably he and Stroll slipped back in the race, which allowed Vettel to finish on the podium for the tenth time this year.

They were also demoted by Daniel Ricciardo who made up 12 places from his starting position to finish fourth. This is the third-highest climb by a driver this year, all of which have been achieved by Red Bull’s racers. Ricciardo made up 14 places from the start at Silverstone and Verstappen gained 13 at Shanghai. Hamilton, in contrast, finished where he started for the fourth race in a row.

Ricciardo also set the fastest lap of the race. This is the ninth of his career, putting him level with Denny Hulme, Ronnie Peterson and Jacques Villeneuve.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Italian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

2017 Italian Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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60 comments on “Mercedes continue their dominance in Ferrari’s backyard”

  1. Mercedes become the first constructor to win 4 consecutive Italian Grand Prix, having already set or extended records for most consecutive wins in China (4), Russia (4), Austria (4) and Britain (5) this season.

  2. Hamilton now sits at a 29.35% win rate, only 0.2% behind Schumacher, meaning he would leap-frog the German with victory in Singapore. This would put him 6th on the all-time list, albeit behind drivers who had far fewer races than the Brit.

    1. Having set the record for most pole positions at the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton becomes only the second driver to have 6 or more pole positions at 4 different Grand Prix (Australia (6), China(6), Canada (6), Italy (6)). Schumacher is the only other driver to achieve this feat (Japan (8), Spain (7), Hungary (7) and Canada (6).

      1. Another Schumacher record that Hamilton is close to breaking is pole-to-win conversion. Hamilton has converted 38 pole positions to victories, with Schumacher only two ahead on 40. With 8 poles from 13 this year, it’s a strong possibility that this record will get broken.

      2. @ninjenius
        Hamilton can quite easily beat this next year – he is currently on 5 poles at Silverstone and Hungary.

      3. You missed one, he has joined Senna has the only 2 men to secure 4 straight poles at Monza. Senna did it from 88-92.

    2. The problem with that stat is it can ebb & flow – if Hamilton passed Schumacher then had 4-5 off races, he’d drop back behind.

      MSC did himself no favours there during his mediocre comeback run.

      1. no favours lol . all the other top drivers arnt doing themselves any favours by not being in the top team and Senna didn’t do himself any favours, should have been more careful he would have unbeatable records.

      2. @optimaximal This is true, but the main reason I highlighted it is because would be the first time in Hamilton’s career that this would happen, regardless of whether he falls behind MSC again. I like these kinds of success rate % stats because they can change back and forth. It’s just a shame that there are some drivers with such low numbers of GP entries that skew the stats.

      3. @optimaximal I’ve never been a fan of percentage stats. I always felt the one stat Schumacher should’ve rightfully improved during his comeback was 69 pole positions. It’s sad that if that if it weren’t for that 5-place grid penalty, Hamilton would have only just matched it today.

        1. @strontium this was mentioned last week – people forget that Hamilton lost a pole position in similar circumstances at Spain 2012 – if you give Schumacher his pole back for Monaco, Hamilton should rightfully get his back too and so Hamilton would still be ahead.

    3. @ninjenius: to be fair to schumacher, his win rate is something like 36%, he only decreased that with his come back, it was a 2nd stint, wasn’t at the same level of his first stint, never had a car as bad as the mercedes 2010-2012 in his first stint, except maybe his only 1 race in jordan 1991, and he was above 40! Comparing hamilton at this age and who only had decent, good or great cars at present vs schumacher including 2nd stint is unfair, I’d like to see how hamilton fares at 40+, but I bet he’ll be gone already by then.

  3. The last time a Ferrari driver arrived at Monza leading the championship, he also finished 3rd. And Hamilton also won that race.

  4. No other team has led a lap at this track since 2014

    Speaks volumes about the dominance of that engine.

    1. Except it doesn’t though does it? If the engine was truly that dominant Ferrari wouldn’t have breezed past Ocon and Stroll on Sunday.

      1. Heh, the Ferrari didn’t breeze past either. Both Seb and Kimi struggled and had to work for it on a track that has one of the best opportunities for a slipstream and overtake…

        1. From Vettel getting passed Kimi and Bottas getting passed Stroll (leaving Stroll as the car in front of Vettel) it took Vettel only 4 laps to catch Stroll, overtake him and then catch and overtake Ocon too. 4 laps in a badly set up car to overtake both Ocon and Stroll. So 6 minutes of the race. That is neither struggling nor working hard and neither overtake was even remotely on the limit. Like I said he breezed passed. Merc definitely have the best engine but the difference between it’s, Ferrari’s and Renault’s isn’t as big as some people would like to claim.

          1. Indeed, especially mercedes and ferrari are fairly close, renault still has to work a lot, but as verstappen showed, it’s still far better than honda and likely closer to ferrari than honda is to renault.

    2. It does speak volumes about the car but not necessarily the driver. Most would just say thank you to the engineers and the opportunity to be there but Hamilton has to : ” i guess mercedes power is stronger than Ferrari power:” I’m glad at least he’s dropped the facade of his false modesty. Bold for a man that decides to slam on his brake when ever the mood strikes

      1. ” i guess mercedes power is stronger than Ferrari power:” I’m glad at least he’s dropped the facade of his false modesty

        How is saying that showing Hamilton as not modest? It isn’t like he claims he made the engine is it?

        “Bold for a man that decides to slam on his brake when ever the mood strikes”

        I think that comment says more about you than Hamilton lol

        1. @david burto clutching on straws and very bitter :)

  5. Vettel and Hamilton continue their streaks of 18 consecutive points finishes. Hamilton will match his personal best of 19 with a points finish in Singapore, whilst Vettel will need points finishes in the next three Grand Prix to match his best of 21. Both would need to finish in the points from now until round 2 of the 2018 season to match the record of 27 set by Raikkonen.

  6. Here’s a bonus stat from Carlos Sainz Jnr: “I broke a statistic that I liked this year: I can’t say that I’ve finished in the points every time I’ve finished a race any more.”

  7. This is the first time this season that Vettel or Hamilton have finished 3rd in a race.

    1. This is interesting, says a lot about hamilton’s highs and lows and vettel’s not settling for 2nd when he can, even less 3rd.

  8. This was Nico Hülkenburg’s 128 GP start, and with a P13 at Monza he now has the most career starts without a podium. His best result is 4th.
    At this moment he and Adrian Sutil are both the holders of this stat. Nico will most likely surpass Adrian at the next race in Singapore.

    1. He’s one guy I’d love to see up there, I think if Renault can give him a good piece next year. The guy is a solid driver.

      1. I do find it funny that Stroll has managed a podium within 8 races and Hulkenburg has failed when he’s now had 128 races. Even Perez now has 7 and he’s done them all in midfield cars. And 3 or 4 of them were while Hulkenberg was his team mate I think. Surely he’s had a chance or two? How has Stroll managed so soon if we consider him to be not that good?

        I personally think Hulkenberg is a solid driver, but not as good as a lot seem to rate him.

  9. This race was like 1h 15 min 30 s or so. How does this rank among the shortest races in the past 30 years?

    1. Monza 2006

    2. @kerbbi, because there have been a lot of races over the years which have been terminated before they went to the full distance, there are quite a few races which were technically shorter.

      The shortest is the 1991 Australian GP, where they had to stop the race after less than 25 minutes due to heavy rain (in conditions so bad that Senna spent multiple laps furiously trying to signal to the stewards to stop the race, and Mansell called the race “a complete joke”).

      I think that the shortest race that went to its full length would be the 2003 Italian GP, which lasted 1h, 14mins and 19.8s. Overall, I think that the 2017 race was the 5th shortest full length race, all of which were at Monza (the order is 2003, 2005, 2006, 2004 and then 2017).

      1. *goes to google*

        This was McLaren’s seventh constructors championship, and their fourth and last championship won with engine partners Honda.

      2. Thanks! It felt really short and even though it was “only” the 5th shortest full length race, they were really close to the shortest, and I guess we might break this record next year, if there are no incidents during the race.

  10. Apart from Lewis Hamilton, is there any other driver with a 10+ years career who have won at least one race in every single season as an F1 driver?

    1. Is there any other driver who spent ten years with the same engine supplier? and engine supplier who is breaking all records too

      1. Michael Schumacher ……

    2. The more interesting stat is winning a race in every season the driver has been in a race winning car.

      Of the 4 WDCs currently on the grid Hamilton is the only driver to have that stat, Alonso, Raikkonen and Vettel have all failed to win races in seasons where they have driven race winning cars.

      Of the non-WDC race winning drivers Ricciardo can claim it, Verstappen and Massa can’t (though Verstappen could if he wins before the end of 2017)

      1. And of course the new for 2017 race winner Bottas can claim it too.

    3. @jcost, no Hamilton is the only one, then again he is the only one who had a car that could win in every season he’s raced. That being said it was close on a couple of occasions.

      1. It’s kind of a chicken and egg argument with Hamilton. Given he has won every season, ‘logically’ he’s had a car that could win every season, by which people deduce that he should have won every season, so he didn’t do anything that special.

        1. @david-br
          Apart from 2009, his teammate won a race every year too though.

        2. @david-br Although I absolutely agree there’s many thinking that way I don’t see it that way. Hamilton has always been good enough to lift the cars he’s had to wins. But I’m also fairly sure lesser drivers would’ve done almost the same with perhaps 2009 and 2013 as exception. As @kingshark mentions his teammates have also almost always won races which indicates the car could without Hamilton.

          I’m also quite skeptic of the impression the stat should carry. Take for example Vettel or Alonso, by starting with Sauber or Minardi they could never even attempt it. This stat is a big part thanks to his chance to start his first season at McLaren. And obviously Hamilton is good enough and big enough of a talent to win races every season if the car allows it.

          1. Yes but Vettel and Alonso both could attempt the stat of “won a race in every season hey had a race winning car”. Both fall short on that stat too (see above).

      2. @flatsix he did race winning cars, but not all of them were the class of the field. Winning a race in 2009 was not a small feat, IMHO.

    4. @jcost, while not exactly what you asked, schumacher won a race every year of his first stint, so from 1992 to 2006, in 1991 he only raced like 1\3 of a year and ofc when he came back in 2010-2012 he was over 40 years old and never had as bad a car as that for all his first stint except his very first race.

      The years he won at least a race, 1992-1993 he had a 3rd best car (benetton), 1994-1995 2nd best car (benetton), 1996 and 2005 3rd best car (ferrari), 1997-1999 2nd best car (ferrari), 2000 equally best car (ferrari), 2001, 2002, 2004 dominant car (ferrari), 2003 equally best car with williams and mclaren (ferrari) and 2006 equally best car.

      Hamilton in general had even better cars than these and if he continues to drive at a high level like he and schumacher did as long as they were at an age you can still be competitive in f1 (under 40) and have cars like these I don’t see him ever having a year without a win.

  11. circuit specifications no more, plus Mercedes use new up-date power-train

  12. Monza was boring . A throw back to 2014-16 where we all watched a Mercedes pull awayt and the race was over before it really began. Compare the 24 and 30 sec. gaps at Monza to the last lap drama at Watkins Glen .
    Is F1 better than Indycar ? Yes, but, was Watkins Glen a better and more exciting race than Monza ? Yes again!
    F1 made the decision to adopt the hybrid formula that Mercedes had taken a decade to develop . Was that fair to the other teams ? No but, that is typical F1 .The question now is what is to be done to stop the failing fan support ,the loss of venues ( Malaysia will soon exit because of lack of fan support and Silverstone said they need a new contract or can’t continue because of falling attendance ) and loss of teams : Haas said if the rules are not changed they cannot possibly win and will not stay on just to fill the field. Note that several teams DO need pay drivers ,is that not a symptom of illness in the sport ?
    F1 needs to look at what other major sports did when faced with falling popularity due to lack of team competition . What some did and very successfully was to adopt spending caps.
    The NFL ,the NBA and MLB all faced problem due to lack of parity but fixed the problem with spending caps either hard or soft .
    The issue is simple , F1 either continues to let Mercedes out spend and out man the competition and we have the 2014-16 follow the leader event that put so many of us to sleep or adapt and make the series competitive.
    A soft cap is perfect . Mercedes can fund its 1,500 Brackley facility but it must pay the other teams a proportion of what it spends ( estimates go as high as 2 billion per season )over a set amount ( say the average of what all F1 teams spend per season-I think about $200 mil.) and pay the others in proportion the the amount the other spent below that set amount . Some call this a luxury tax .
    If you are satisfied with watching a team have its cars 24 and 30 secs. ahead venues and teams leaving the circuit then you have different standards then I do. For me Watkins Glen was by far the superior race on Sunday and I never thought I would say that Monza played second to any race but, honestly -it did .
    To me and apparently others that shows that there IS a problem with F1 .
    I hope the powers that be are paying attention and not just patting Toto on the back .

    1. “Haas said if the rules are not changed they cannot possibly win and will not stay on just to fill the field”

      Did Gene Haas actually have delusions that his F1 team would ever be anything but a field filler? The more I hear and see of Gene the more I think he’s dumber than a box of rocks. And don’t give me the “if you’re so smart why aren’t you a billionaire” nonsense. I am worth plenty, eight figures, and I know a lot of multi millionaires and even billionaires (although fewer of those) that are dumb as a rock.

    2. F1 made the decision to adopt the hybrid formula that Mercedes had taken a decade to develop . Was that fair to the other teams ? No but, that is typical F1

      Renault insisted that small capacity turbo hybrids were introduced to F1 (otherwise it would leave the sport*) and the switch from the original spec 12k RPM v4’s that Renault proposed to the 15k v6’s we have were at the behest of Ferrari** and track owners***. But somehow Mercedes have been unfair to all the others? Sigh some people

      *”The debate was made more difficult because Renault made clear that it would consider quitting F1 unless the new rules were introduced”

      **”The switch to V6s was partly at the behest of Ferrari, who objected to the restriction to four cylinders”

      ***”The maximum rev limit of the engines will be increased to 15,000 from 12,000 to allay concerns about the spectacle. The decision to increase the rev limit was made after the FIA received a letter from some of the F1 tracks expressing their concerns”

    3. well said sir
      F1 IS A MONEY MACHINE TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL !!! (just like the premier League) Money destroys sport and a fair game !!!
      F1 desperately needs to Level the playing Field. it is mostly (not always) booring at the front and unfortunately has been many times previously With mclaren, Williams and ferrari dominace at times . That is why it`s not the racing that is or was the most important for my interest in F1, but the fasination With the beautiful clean designed yet brutally DEMANDING and fast cars With wide tyres of the late 80s early 90s. If the New cars had not happened this year i would have droped F1 completely !!!. i what facinates me now is that we can have New lap and Q records. And the cars look like F1 sized cars again With the wide tyres and rear wing espesially , i mean just look at last years cars With that horrible rear wing and tyres, looks like a f3 car.. And what about THE DRIVERS ??, Hamilton is one of the very best but he must be thinking that maybe 10 guys in f1 would be just as dominant if they had my car. Is that a satisfying feeling ??? and Worth all that celebrating. Take last year With Rosberg and others before him , beating his team mate in a totally SUPERIOR CAR but he must have been thinking the same deep Down. Look to indycars thats were drivers can think i won so i am really the best. But in f1 Money talks, i mean 1500 People working for 2 cars COME ON. I would rather see F1 (and the premier League) IMPLODE and be started from scratch With some common sense, meaning noisy, fast and brutally demanding cars And much !! simpler cars and motors, I mean just look at that steering Wheel, It makes me sad. But hey lets see what mr Brawn can do, he is talking some sense.

      1. After reading all of the comments I wonder why so many thought previously that it was the token system which hampered the others from developing, and now it’s Mercedes spending. The fact of the matter is that after many years in the sport the best team has the best driver and that combination is proving a challenge to the others. Good luck with cost cutting now as it may further prevent teams like Ferrari and Redbull from mounting a challenge to the mighty Mercedes.

  13. Stroll and Ocon both started in the top 3 having never won a race before. This is the first time this happened since Spain 2012 when Maldonado was on pole and Grosjean was 3rd.

    The last time two drivers both started in the top 3 for the first time in their careers was 2008 Australia with Kubica 2nd and Kovalainen 3rd.

  14. @keithcollantine Does either Sauber hold the record now for the biggest upward swing between his Q-position, and his actual starting position – i.e. 11th or 12th – thanks to all the penalties of other drivers?

  15. Hamilton’s 6th pole at Monza – equals Melbourne, Montreal, and Shanghai.

    First time this season that Vettel has not started on the front 2 rows.

    Best start of the season for Kvyat, Wehrlein, Ericsson and Magnussen.

    First race this season with 18 classified finishers.

    Under the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system, Vettel would be 1 point ahead of Hamilton.

    Ricciardo’s fastest lap keeps alive Red Bull’s run of at least 1 fastest lap every year since 2009.

    First time since Lance Stroll’s birth that a Canadian has started on the front row. Previous front-row start for a Canadian was also at Monza (J Villeneuve in 1998).

    Thanks to statsf1.com, magnetimarelli.com, and formula1.com for some of these.

    1. Best start of the season for Kvyat, Wehrlein, Ericsson and Magnussen.

      In this context what is the definition of start? Because if it is grid position surely Ocon and Stroll should be there too?

    2. @paulgilb: stroll one is interesting, f1 was waiting for him to get another canadian in the front row!

      About the points system, I like the current one more, and not cause hamilton is slightly ahead, but because mechanical DNF are already way too punishing: look, driver A has a less reliable car and is faster than B.

      Race 1: AB, race 2: AB, race 3: AB, race 4: BC, A retired; under the current point system A has 75 points, B has 72, under the point system you said A has 30 points, B 32, and under the system before 2003, A has 30 points, B 24; absolutely reliability is deciding too much nowadays, and it did even more back with the 10 8 6 system.

      1. Ops, can’t edit any more, I meant CB in the 4th case, as to emphasize how many points B gets for being 2nd always.

  16. Bottas has taken 13 points from Hamilton this year (3 RUS, 2 MCO, 2 AZE, 3 AUT, 3 HUN)
    He has also taken 25 points from Vettel (7 RUS, 3 CAN, 3 AZE, 7 AUT, 2 GBR, 3 ITA) making total gain +12 to team-mate
    Raikkonen has taken 2 points from Vettel (2 GBR) and 8 from Hamilton (3 RUS, 2 MCO, 3 HUN) making total gain +6 to team mate.

  17. There is a video from AMG PETRONAS that talks about the parts after the race – they have 5,000 parts. 3,000 life parts (that accumulate mileage) and 2,000 non life parts.

    But the craziest part was the interview with Toto Wolff. 250 Hotel nights and 1,000 hours in planes per year… I’m still recovering after hearing that.

    All the people involved in F1 are champions and that applies to any team!!!

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