Jack Leslie F1: 2015 Italian Grand Prix In Pictures

The historic Monza circuit is one of the most picturesque on the F1 2015 calendar, producing stunning photography.

Lewis Hamilton registered his seventh win of the season, extending his advantage in the championship. Here is the race weekend in images.

All of the images featured in this piece are courtesy of Octane Photographic. See more of their work here.

Friday

Hamilton got his weekend off to a strong start by setting the pace in first practice at Monza.

Carlos Sainz Jr spun out of the session at Parabolica, with his beached Toro Rosso bringing out the red flag.

Sensors and flow-fiz paint made appearances in first practice as teams got to grips with their new Monza-spec aero packages.

Jolyon Palmer replaced Romain Grosjean at Lotus in FP1 and was 14th fastest.

It was a difficult Friday for McLaren, with Jenson Button managing only a handful of laps in FP2.

Hamilton remained quickest in second practice, dominating the first day of running in Italy.

Saturday

Overnight rain meant it was a damp start to FP3, but it soon dried out, with Hamilton quickest once again.

It was a tough session for Daniel Ricciardo and his running was cut short due to an engine issue.

Notice anything different? Max Verstappen had an engine change after FP3 and Toro Rosso got him out at the end of Q1 to complete sector times, but his engine cover flew off.

Button, Fernando Alonso, Will Stevens, Roberto Merhi and Verstappen were all eliminated in the first qualifying segment.

Pastor Maldonado was frustrated to just miss out on a spot in Q3. He was joined in the drop-zone by Felipe Nasr, Sainz Jr, Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo - who didn't complete a lap in Q2.

Sergio Perez enjoyed a strong qualifying session and was seventh in Q3, ahead of Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg and Marcus Ericsson - who picked up a grid penalty for blocking.

Hamilton stormed to pole position, with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel second and third, ahead of Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

Sunday

The fans were, as always at Monza, out in force, with the vast majority cheering on Ferrari at the team's home race.

The grid for the race was very different to the qualifying result thanks to 168 positions worth of penalties being handed out.

Off the line, Hamilton had a strong start, while Rosberg lost several positions and Raikkonen dropped right to the back of the field.

Hamilton quickly opened up a comfortable lead over Vettel, racing off into the distance.

Button enjoyed some brief battles early on after a great start, before dropping down the order.

Ricciardo was the man on the move for most of the race, moving up the field after his grid penalties.

Raikkonen made good progress and pulled off some great passes, as he recovered from his woeful start.

Rosberg retired with two laps to go after an engine failure, promoting Massa and Bottas to third and fourth.

Hamilton went on to win his third race at Monza, but the result was thrown into doubt after Mercedes was investigated for running its tyre pressures below the limit. The stewards eventually took no further action.

Vettel scored a popular podium for Ferrari on home soil, which went down well with the Tifosi.

Massa was third, just ahead of Bottas. Raikkonen recovered to fifth, finishing ahead of Perez, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Ericsson and Kvyat.

Monza has arguably the most famous and best podium in F1, with fans storming onto the pit straight to watch the drivers pick up their trophies.

8 September 2015

2015 Italian Grand Prix In Pictures

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