Lewis Hamilton's Italian Grand Prix was supposed to be a springboard. Instead, it turned into a weekend that may well have ended his championship challenge.
A lap-one clash with teammate Charles Leclerc at the first chicane sent Hamilton tumbling from fourth on the grid to the lower reaches of the midfield, and from there, the damage was done.
Leclerc squeezed him wide, forcing the seven-time world champion off track and into the gravel. One lap later, Leclerc himself was out of the race after a high-speed crash at the Parabolica, leaving Hamilton as Ferrari's sole representative but already buried in the pack.
A questionable strategy call, in which Ferrari opted not to pit Hamilton under a mid-race Virtual Safety Car, compounded the misery.
He was left exposed on the straights, unable to match the straight-line speed of those around him, and eventually crossed the line in sixth, some 24 seconds behind race winner Kimi Antonelli.
"A bit devastating," Hamilton said afterwards. "Tough one to swallow. Lost a lot of points and ultimately couldn't keep a Mercedes engine behind. They were just out and out quicker."
The deficit to championship leader Antonelli now stands at 76 points with likely nine races remaining. Mathematically, it is still possible, but Hamilton himself appeared resigned to the reality of the situation.
"It's never over until it's over," he conceded. "I don't know how many points it is now, but I'm sure it's 60, 70... with the pace that they have, it's a very, very difficult amount to close out."
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Originally published by RacingNews365 —
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