2016 Italian Grand Prix
The 2016 Italian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio Heineken d'Italia 2016) was a Formula One motor race held on 4 September 2016 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy. It was the fourteenth round of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship, and marked the 86th running of the Italian Grand Prix and the 81st time the race was held at Monza. Mercedes driver and winner of the previous year's race, Lewis Hamilton, entered the race leading the World Drivers' Championship by nine points ahead of teammate Nico  Rosberg. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes held a lead of 181 points. Red Bull Racing was placed second and Ferrari third. Background. Tyres. Pirelli provided the teams with medium, soft and supersoft tyres. Pirelli anticipated that the difference between the different compounds would be less than one second per lap, with the differences between soft and supersoft to be around 0.7 of a second, and the difference between soft and medium about 0.9 seconds. Race. Lewis Hamilton started poorly and was overtaken by his teammate Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen, Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo. Rosberg went into  a comfortable lead with Hamilton slowly recovering, firstly picking off Ricciardo then Bottas shortly afterwards. Hamilton didn't have the pace or tyres to catch his teammate Rosberg who went on to win the race. Sebastian Vettel finished third ahead of his Ferrari teammate Räikkönen. Ricciardo took 5th ahead of Bottas.