Italian Grand Prix: F1 – live!

Gosh that looked rough, but Leclerc, who clatters into tyres is ok and climbs out of the car.

Lap 25/53 That safety car changed everything, bunching up the field but excuse me while I interrupt myself!

Lap 24/53 The safety car goes, and things have changed.

1. Hamilton

2. Stroll

3. Gasly

4. Leclerc

5. Raikkonen

6. Giovinazzi

7. Sainz Jr

8. Norris

Lap 24/53 Stroll doesn’t pit, so he now sits second, while Gasly, who went in a while ago, is now third. He’ll be fancying this, while Sainz, who had to wait for his pit, is now eighth!

Lap 23/53 They reopen the pits and Sainz comes in, so Hamilton resumes the lead.

Lap 23/53 McLaren lead a race for the first time since Jenson Button led at Hungary in 2014. It looks like the pit lane was indeed closed when Hamilton and Giovinazzi went in; there’ll be a penalty of some sort…

Lap 22/53 They’ve closed the pit lane, on the basis that marshals are shoving Magnussen’s car off the grass verge. The question now is whether Hamilton was allowed to come in when he did – he and Giovinazzi are under investigation – or whether access had been restricted.

Lap 21/53 Hamilton uses the safety car to pit, putting on hards. He re-emerges just second, behind Sainz.

Lap 20/53 No sign of a virtual safety car … but here comes the actual safety car!

He’s on the grass verge; this might be a safety car situation.

Lap 19/53 Verstappen, in 7th, is now just 0.701s behind Bottas in 6th. He’ll fancy himself to resolve this one.

Lap 18/53 Leclerc, in 17th, pits and takes hards. Hamilton’s lead is now 12.319s. It’s a procession.

Lap 17/53 The battle for third has settled a bit; Norris is now 1.772s ahead of Perez, with the gap to Ricciardo 1.12s and the gap to Bottas 1.567s.

Lap 16/53 Hamilton’s lead is now up above 10 seconds. Once he came out of the first corner in front, the race was over, unless something mechanical went wrong.

Lap 15/53 The top 10 are all on softs, which looks a decent call. Sainz has never finished above third, so this is a huge chance for him to improve on that.

Lap 14/53 Hamilton now leads by 8.36s, and behind him, Sainz Jr leads Norris by 4.281s. The battle for third place is great news for the two drivers ahead of that.

Lap 13/53 Bottas’ car is quick on the straight, but this track doesn’t really offer much help in that aspect. It’ll take some high-class wriggling for him to redeem that dreadful start.

Lap 12/53 Norris, Perez, Ricciardo and Bottas are very close together, but no movement as yet. Norris is defending his third spot really well.

Lap 11/53 This looks a lot like it’s over. No one has anything for Hamilton, who leads by 6.639s now.

Lap 10/53 As Hamilton stacks up his lead, Perez has another go at Norris, but he’s not quite close enough.

Lap 9/53 Hamilton’s lead is nearly up to five seconds, which in second and third, Sainz and Norris look settled. But Perez is gaining on the latter, and it looks like a duel is imminent.

Lap 8/53 Albon has been given a five-second time penalty for failing to leave a car’s width to the edge of the track.

Lap 7/53 Verstappen, who also started badly, is having a go at Bottas, but can’t get close enough to deploy DRS.

He has a brake failure, and has no choice but to check out.

Lap 6/53 “Watching from my couch here in the States,” says Frank J. Lankey Jr. “Had no idea just how close Lewis was in wins to Michael. This is going to be a special day for Lewis, if the stars align. Looking forward to following along! Cheers!”

Lap 6/53 Hamilton leads by about 2.93s and is increasing the gap, while the gap from Sainz to Norris in third is just over 2s.

Lap 5/53 A little first-lap ruckus between Albon and Gasly has been “noticed”, but there’ll be no investigation.

Lap 4/53 Looking at the start again, Sainz got away beautifully and Bottas did not, reacting really slowly.

Lap 3/53 Our standings:

1. Hamilton

2. Sainz Jr

3. Norris

4. Perez

5. Ricciardo

6. Bottas

7. Verstappen

8. Stroll

The gap from first to second is about 1.8s.

Lap 2/53 Bottas thinks he’s got a slow puncture, but he’ll have known that the place to overtake on this circuit is into the first chicane. When that didn’t happen, did he lose the heid?

Lap 1/53 Away we go! Hamilton gets away well and Perez takes out Sainz … and Sainz sneaks by Bottas! He’s dropping down the field, and is down to sixth! What a dreadful start!

We’re looking at one-stop strategies today – the pitting takes too long on this circuit for anyone to want to do very much of it.

Our television experts reckon Hamilton is going to win, and that the only person who might stop him is Bottas. More news as I get it.

It looks a lovely day in Monza, as aspect it does not share with north London.

The drivers are knocking about their cars now. Not long to go.

Hamilton tells David Coulthard that his car is a “work of art”, and says he’s “humbled” thinking of all the work that’s gone into it.

Planes fly above, trailing the colours of the Italian flag. That too is one of the greats – the shades of red and green are seriously profound.

I believe it’s being played by various characters who shot to internet fame playing on their balconies during lockdown.

Ross Brawn says F1 will miss the Williams family, but the sale of the company shows the interest in the sport. He thinks spending limits and a more equitable prize fund will attract investors are we’re set for a “golden era”.

Talking of late-90s fashions, Jenson Button appears to be wearing a pair of what I believe were called “hipsters”, before people who were “hipsters” were a thing.

From the wires: Racing Point have dropped an appeal against their £361,000 fine and 15 docked points for copying Mercedes’ 2019 brake ducts.

Racing Point’s announcement ahead of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix leaves Ferrari as the only team continuing with action.
The matter will end up at the FIA’s International Court of Appeal if the Italian team, who are keen to seek further clarity over the FIA’s verdict and a stricter penalty, press ahead.

Racing Point, fourth in the constructors’ championship, are allowed to continue to use the offending brake ducts this season.

Anyone old enough to remember the Williams Clio of boyracer mid-to-late 90s fame?

Here’s a funny thing: sport is all about competition, about not knowing what’s going to happen … but very little excites us like a dominant champion who everyone expects to win all of the time. We want to experience greatness, to probe its boundaries, and we also want to see it fail, or to see how it lifts others to greater heights. It’s something.

Lewis Hamilton is getting to that level. He’s going to win another driver championship, his seventh, which will put him level with Michael Schumacher as the most successful racer of all-time, and then he’s going to win another and another and another. He will leave F1 very different to how he found it.

And he’s in pole position today, his Mercedes far too good for the rest. Stuff can always happen, but that’s what it’s going to take because given a fair wind, there’s nothing anyone can do to stop him.

Start: 2.10pm BST, 3.10pm local time