Italian Grand Prix - Who was your driver of the day?

The Italian Grand Prix was far from the boring procession many had predicted it would be, there was a lot of racing throughout the field, with some intense battles and some sublime overtaking.

But who was your driver of the day in Monza?

Lewis Hamilton

Stunning lap in qualifying, well beyond what other teams had predicted for Mercedes, gave him pole. Lost the start due to a technical glitch and dropped to fourth. Fought his way back to second. After the pit stops he ignored his engineer’s advice to drop back 2 seconds behind Rosberg and instead attacked him, forcing a mistake from which he gained the lead. First time in his F1 career he has won six races in a season and surely there will be more.

Nico Rosberg

Great start from second on the grid gave him the lead for the first stint. Made a mistake on lap 9, missing his braking point at Turn 1. Got away with it and held the lead to the first stops, resisting Hamilton’s pressure. A second mistake on lap 29 gave Hamilton the lead and from there he held on to finish second.

Felipe Massa

Best result of the season for the tiny Brazilian and a result which takes Williams ahead of Ferrari into third in the constructors’ championship. Great start from fourth on the grid to third, then managed the tyres and had good pace all race to hold that position to the flag. Wasn’t particularly aggressive in defence when Hamilton came through, but no-one would begrudge him this fine result

Valterri Bottas

Another stunning drive from the Finn, who lost seven places at the start with a clutch issue. His fight back was one of the highlights of the race, with some sublime overtaking using the Williams’ straight line speed advantage. He used a lot of courage too; Magnussen gave him a hard time and was penalized for it, but Bottas kept all the pieces on his car and came back to finish fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo

Arguably one of his best ever F1 drives, although not a win this time. He started a disappointing 9th and lost places at the start, bogging down at the launch. But what a fightback! Some of the most exciting overtakes seen for years, selling a dummy a la Mansell to his own team mate Sebastian Vettel was a real highlight, to pick up fifth place as the German’s tyres faded.

Sergio Perez

Started 10th and finished 8th on the road, promoted to 7th with Magnssen’s penalty; that’s harder than it sounds in a Force India car which hasn’t really develop for months and some of his moves were very impressive. The battle with Button was hard fought with no quarter given, reminiscent of Bahrain 2013 when they were team mates. Beat Button to the flag for a strong result. Just one point now separates Force India and McLaren.

Who was your Driver of the Day in Italy?