Lewis makes one error, Nico makes two. Mercedes gets a 1-2.

In the 2014 Formula Mercedes Grand Prix of Italy,  the man who only made one mistake won.

In fact Hamilton fully deserved the win,  he was fastest in qualifying and, after a lousy start apparently due to a mysterious technical fault,  he first made a crucial early pass on Kevin Magnussen  to keep himself in contention and later a clean DRS pass on Massa to take second place and put himself back in the position to pressure Rosberg into a mistake or two.

Or did he?

Question were asked:  was this Rosberg's sanction for the collision at Spa?
Sounds crazy?    It is odd Rosberg, a driver who makes very few errors (and when he does gets accused of doing it intentionally)  would make two in the same race, the first when he was was under no particular pressure.

And why did Rosberg not even attempt to attack Lewis in the final part of the race and was content to stay four seconds back the whole time?   Rosberg historicallyhas always obeyed team orders.

Toto Wolff's smile when Lewis passed and Lauda later saying Rosberg had a "great race" did not help alleviate suspicions.

It all makes for amusing speculation because would Mercedes not  have chosen one of  a million other more practical and less obvious ways to get Lewis ahead, had that been the objective?

But conspiracies,  recently it was that the team was sabotaging Hamilton,  are part of what makes F1 fun.

In any case it's not just a one-two but a win win for Mercedes because  they need to hold on to Hamilton of course.   Of the two drivers, he's immensely the more marketable and charismatic, not to mention probably a bit faster.  Not someone you want to give away to a rival like say, Honda.

The win at Monza, after all the controversy since Spa, was just what the doctor ordered.

And this brings us to the psychological game.  Post race Lewis doubled down on Rosberg, effectively saying the German just cracked under his mighty pressure.   It will be interesting to see if that's so and if this was the turning point of the season.   Rosberg seemed to take the high road on the radio after the finish and,  even when boo'd on the podium, congratulated Hamilton.   I'm not sure his goose is as cooked as much as some commentators seem to feel it is.

Speaking of teammate wars, Vettel might have run out of excuses today at Monza, Ricciardo pretty much humiliated him with the dummy he sold him to pass.    Nobody would be surprised if Sebastian had dinner with Ron Dennis Sunday because Red Bull is many things but sentimental is not one of them,  they have Daniel and have  Daniil waiting. Marko is done with Seb.


And then there is Ferrari  (cue funeral dirge).

Alonso gets Ferrari's first mechanical at Monza of all places, on the front straight of all places.  Di Montezemolo rebuffs rumors of his impending departure proclaiming he will be the only one making such announcements  and that he has much more to do at the team only to be brutally slammed by Sergio Marchionne with the old "everyone is useful, nobody is indispensable".  

Ouch.

A great day for Massa.   Had Bottas gotten a proper start it might have been a different story but you can't not like the irony of Felipe standing on the podium at Monza facing the tifosi in his white Martini overalls.  Massa was a real pro when Lewis passed him on the outside of the chicane, leaving enough room to avoid contact.  A lesson in class.

Another one who tasted some sweet revenge was Sergio Perez who with Ricciardo, and Bottas  really put on the show at Monza.   Button must be livid.

Magnussen penalty: deserved.  the kid has a bit of a nasty habit of defending by walking people off the track and weaving.

Oh, and Maldonado did not crash!  Milagro!