Hamilton ignored the radio order at Monza and won anyway

Pole, the 36th of his career, was the platform for Lewis Hamilton's win at Monza, even though his team had told him to stay at least 2.5 seconds behind his team-mate. Nico Rosberg finished second and Felipe Massa third, and Hamilton's sixth win of the season cut Rosberg's drivers lead to 22 points.

Monza was the 13th round of 19, and Mercedes was under pressure after a collision between its two drivers at the previous race in Belgium. Toto Wolff had threatened sanctions against one of them if it happened again, and Monza showed how far Hamilton was prepared to press his own race.

Who won the 2014 Italian Grand Prix?

Hamilton won the 53-lap race from pole, with Rosberg second and Massa third for Williams. It was Hamilton's sixth victory of 2014 and his 28th in Formula One. He took the lead on lap 29, when Rosberg ran off the circuit, and then held it to the flag.

There were three lead changes among two drivers in the race. Ricciardo stayed third in the drivers table, Valtteri Bottas climbed to fourth, and Fernando Alonso retired and fell to fifth. Mercedes increased its constructors lead over Red Bull to 182 points, and Williams overtook Ferrari for third in that table.

Hamilton was told to stay 2.5 seconds back, chose to ignore it and took the lead on lap 29 when Rosberg ran off the circuit.

What was the background to Monza?

Before the race Rosberg led the drivers table with 220 points, ahead of Hamilton in second and Ricciardo in third. Alonso was fourth on 121 points and Bottas fifth, 11 points further back. Mercedes led the constructors with 411 points, and Red Bull were second on 254.

The Belgian collision was the third such incident involving the Mercedes team in 2014, after the Monaco qualifying row. Wolff said that both men were obliged to serve the team's interests, and he warned that a repeat would bring sanctions. Hamilton said his aim at Monza was to win back some of the ground he had lost, and that he would not give up before the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Rosberg was focused on the seven remaining races and on taking the maximum points from them. He said the team was too, and that the work started with a top result at Monza.

The Parabolica corner had also changed. A large part of its gravel trap was replaced with asphalt, reportedly in preparation for a possible Superbike World Championship return in 2015 after organisers raised concerns about run-off areas. Fans criticised the change on social media, and some drivers felt it took something from the corner. Charlie Whiting defended the work as a safety measure, and Romain Grosjean argued it would help drivers find their limit more quickly.

How did the car line-up change for Monza?

There were eleven teams with two race drivers each and one driver change. Kobayashi replaced Andre Lotterer at Caterham, after Lotterer had driven in Belgium. Lotterer had planned to race at Monza, but he did not do so after Caterham's team principal, Colin Kolles, ran Roberto Merhi in the first practice session.

Charles Pic replaced Grosjean in the first practice session, the first time he had done so in 2014. Daniel Juncadella drove Perez's Force India for the first half-hour of the session, and Giedo van der Garde drove Sutil's Sauber.

How did practice and qualifying go at Monza?

Hamilton was fastest in the first practice session on Friday at 1:26.187, six-tenths of a second clear of Button in second. Several drivers went off the track while adjusting to the low-downforce set-up, and Ricciardo's session ended early with a suspected energy recovery system problem.

Rosberg set the fastest lap of the second session at 1:26.225, while Hamilton was 0.061 seconds behind after an hour of electrical repairs. The Lotus pair of Grosjean and Maldonado struggled to get heat into their tyres. In the third session on Saturday, Hamilton set the fastest lap of the weekend at 1:25.519, while Rosberg's gearbox problems forced him to end his short-run programme early.

Qualifying was in three parts of 18, 15 and 12 minutes, with the 107 per cent rule in force. Cars that reached the final session had to start the race on the tyre they had used in the second session, so the tyre choices were made early.

Hamilton was fastest in all three sessions to take his fifth pole of 2014 at 1:24.109. It was his first pole since the Spanish Grand Prix. Rosberg started alongside him, although an oversteer through the Ascari chicane kept him from taking pole himself.

Bottas and Massa were third and fourth, and McLaren's Magnussen and Button were fifth and sixth. Alonso was seventh after a slight improvement on his first lap, and Vettel was eighth. Ricciardo was ninth and Perez tenth. Kvyat dropped ten places for an overnight engine change, the sixth engine he had used that year, which promoted Raikkonen to eleventh.

Raikkonen lacked grip and locked his right-front wheel on his first timed lap, and he later ran onto a run-off area. Vergne was twelfth and Hulkenberg thirteenth after traffic disrupted his preparation at Parabolica. Sutil progressed to the second session with balance changes, and Gutierrez followed him.

Maldonado failed to progress past the first session, and his team-mate Grosjean lost time after missing the first 13 minutes while Lotus repaired a fluid leak. Kobayashi slipstreamed Ericsson to pass Bianchi for 18th. Ericsson started 22nd after an engine problem in the third practice session left him short of running on the medium tyres.

Kobayashi was keen to test the updated CT05 and had no complaint about the team's switch of drivers for the race.

Raikkonen's first timed lap was ruined when cars leaving the pit lane reduced his visibility for the Rettifilo chicane. Button lost time through the Lesmo corners on his final timed lap, while Alonso said his pace came from recording similar lap times on four sets of tyres.

Rosberg had a repaired gearbox for qualifying and improved on his first timed lap. An oversteer through the Ascari chicane was what kept him from pole, and Vettel qualified above his team-mate Ricciardo for the fourth time in six races.

How did the race unfold at Monza?

The race started in dry, sunny weather, with the air at 25 degrees C and the track between 37 and 42 degrees C. A right-front wheel cooler on Hamilton's car came loose on the grid, so Mercedes pushed him to his slot after a reconnaissance lap, and an inspection found no problems with the car.

Teams had calculated that one stop would be about 12 seconds faster than two, a change from earlier years when softer tyres had been used. Ericsson had started from the pit lane after a penalty for driving too fast under double waved yellow flags in the third practice session. When the lights went out, an incorrect mode dropped Hamilton to fourth, and Rosberg led into the Rettifilo chicane.

Magnussen passed Massa on the outside for second, and Ricciardo was put wide at the Rettifilo chicane and dropped four places. Vettel moved to fifth by the end of the first lap. Massa tried to take second from Magnussen by braking later, but Magnussen went wide at Curva Grande and blocked the move. DRS was enabled on lap two, and Hamilton used it to attack Massa.

Massa slipstreamed Magnussen into the Variante della Roggia chicane to take second, and Hamilton then passed Magnussen for third. Hamilton went past Massa for second on the 10th lap at the Rettifilo chicane. Earlier, on lap seven, Rosberg had locked his tyres at 332 km/h (206 mph) and slalomed across an escape road to keep the lead.

Hamilton closed on Rosberg but needed several laps to pull clear of Massa. He did not attack his team-mate and stayed out of his slipstream, nursing his tyres and fuel. Bottas overtook Raikkonen for ninth on lap 13 and passed Perez on the outside for eighth on lap 14. He then went past Alonso on lap 16, Button on lap 18 and Magnussen for fourth on lap 21.

Chilton hit the second set of kerbs at the Variante della Roggia on lap six and was launched into the barrier, ending his race without a safety car. Massa stopped on lap 24 and rejoined fifth, and Hamilton received an engine mode instruction. Rosberg came into the pits from the lead on the following lap and handed the lead to Hamilton.

Peter Bonnington, Hamilton's race engineer, asked him to hold back at least 2.5 seconds and save his tyres for a later attack. Hamilton had learned earlier in the season that a pass was easiest when tyre grip was at its best, so he waited. He took his stop on the 26th lap and handed the lead back to Rosberg.

Hamilton then ignored the instruction. The lead passed to him on lap 29, after Rosberg went off line, and he kept it to the finish. Alonso retired from the race, which left Ferrari behind Williams in the constructors table.

Hulkenberg lost ninth to Raikkonen in the early laps, and Bottas could not find room at Parabolica to attempt a pass. By the end of the lap on which Chilton crashed, Rosberg led by almost four seconds and moved his brake bias towards the front of his car. Massa responded in kind, and the gap between the two front-runners held.

Race facts at a glance

What did the result mean for the championship?

Hamilton cut Rosberg's drivers lead to 22 points, with Ricciardo third and Bottas fourth. In the constructors table Mercedes stayed 182 points clear of Red Bull, and Williams passed Ferrari for third.

Six races remained after Monza. Hamilton had shown he would not wait for a team instruction if he believed he could win, and Rosberg now had to answer on track.