How the Italian Grand Prix unfolded

It was the day that Ferrari ended their nine-year wait for an Italian Grand Prix win. And it was a day that, perhaps, marked a changing of the guard within the team. Charles Leclerc moved above Sebastian Vettel in the title standings, and it felt significant.

Thanks for your company and your comments today - it's been a blast. Singapore is next up, in two weeks. We'll see you then. In the meantime, let's leave the final word to today's winner...

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc just held on under intense pressure from both Mercedes drivers to win a nail-biting, incident-filled and controversial Italian Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old pushed the rules on driving conduct to hold off Lewis Hamilton through the middle of the race before Valtteri Bottas took up the challenge in the closing laps after a mistake from the world champion.

And there were fresh concerns surrounding Sebastian Vettel after yet another driving error in a long sequence dating back to the middle of last year.

Leclerc's victory was his second in a row, following his maiden win in Belgium a week ago, and Ferrari's first at their home race since Fernando Alonso triumphed in 2010.

Leclerc screamed with delight into his radio as he crossed the line, after a victory that further underlines his status as a major new force in F1.

The 1978 world champion Mario Andretti, who drove for Ferrari at the start of his career and at the end of the 1982 season, said: "Fab win for Charles Leclerc, under pressure all the way. Future world champion for sure."

Read the report.

EPACopyright: EPA

Andrew Benson's verdict is on the site now - a taster coming up...

Jean Alesi looked pretty happy to be waving home a Ferrari win earlier...

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

If Gazzetta dello Sport's editorial team are reading this (it seems unlikely - they have got a paper to get out, after all), here's a picture montage suggestion for you. Ferrari's celebration at Spa seven days ago, and at Monza today.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

It’s been a very happy day for Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto, who is already looking forward to picking up his copy of Gazzetta dello Sport in the morning.

“I can tell you what it feels like to be a Ferrari person,” Binotto tells Sky Sports. “It has been a great week for us in Spa. I am very happy for our fans.

“You feel the pressure as the boss. Charles is driving very well. We can see how he defended the position.

“We knew that the wear on the tyres would be critical. We believed the best way to protect was on the hard tyres. I think it was a brave decision but the right decision. I am very happy and very tired.

“Gazetta dello Sport will be all red on the front page tomorrow, I imagine.”

Charles Leclerc's win means that Lewis Hamilton remains tied with Michael Schumacher for the most victories at Monza.

Nelson Piquet is next with four - two at Brabham and two at Williams.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The last driver in Formula 1 to take his second career win during a double-header was Lewis Hamilton in his rookie year.

In 2007, Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix, and then the US Grand Prix seven days later.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Michael Davis: Strange world. “Dangerous driving” gets driver of the day award!! Unbelievable frankly.

Leclerc blotted his copybook with his move across on Hamilton at the Roggia chicane, and he was right on the edge at Curva Grande, but other than that this was a superlative defensive drive from a man emerging as a remarkable Formula 1 driver.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Charles Leclerc now has two F1 race wins for Ferrari - putting him level with Patrick Tambay (pictured), Wolfgang von Trips, Tony Brooks, Didier Peroni and the legendary Jose Froilan Gonzalez.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

This is a picture of a racing driver who has everything:

Trophy - check

Champagne - check

Blossoming career as the new darling of the Tifosi - check.

Do I really need to spell out who was driver of the day? Do I? Really? REALLY?

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Valtteri Bottas, speaking to Sky Sports: "I think our strategy was good today. We had a good opportunity towards the end. But when I got close, I struggled more in the corners. There was no real possibility today unless Leclerc made a big mistake. The problem for me was that on the braking, you lose a load from the front so it's easier to have lock-ups. When we had the DRS open, we had the same speed. Without DRS, there was no way to overtake. I think straight line speed in general is the weakness for us."

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, thinks there's a bit of a Generation Game going on, albeit one that offers no possibility of winning a teasmade by memorising a series of objects travelling along a conveyor belt.

Hamilton tells Sky Sports: "It was good fun. It doesn't really matter what I think (about Leclerc moving under braking). We have gone over and over and it's pointless talking about it.

"It seems like the new generation get away with a lot more in that area, in that space with how they manoeuvre their car with say, the more experience drivers - but it's good knowledge now I know... I look forward to the next one."

All together now: Life is the name of the game, and I wanna play the game with you...

BBCCopyright: BBC

Wolff, though, made sure to congratulate Leclerc on his victory, saying: "He drove a hard but brilliant race and Ferrari had the strongest package. We threw both of our guys at them and they won."

The Mercedes boss then joked: "If we had won the race, I think we would've had riots here!"

Toto Wolff, speaking to Sky Sports, thinks Charles Leclerc was fortunate to get away with the manner in which he fended off Hamilton on Lap 23, and for cutting through the chicane on Lap 35, among other things.

Asked if he would contest the decision not to penalise Leclerc for not leaving Hamilton enough room on track, Wolff says: "I have so many problems in my life to sort out, I don't want Michael Masi (the race director) as well. You could've given them both penalties.

"They won the race. They had the strongest car here... I thought Valtteri [Bottas] would've had a chance. It's so difficult to close in on the straight these two guys have non-verbal communication and I think Lewis knew Valtteri was coming with the tyres and gave it a final push.

"From the global perspective, it's great for Ferrari to win in Monza."

That final sentence had a bit of feeling behind it, Toto...

Mercedes' team hierarchy may themselves be swearing in several different languages after today's race. They are not entirely convinced that Charles Leclerc stuck within the rules to hold off Lewis Hamilton today. I shall let a miffed Toto Wolff explain - thankfully, without swearing in any language...

Sky Sports reporter Ted Kravitz is currently taking on the daunting task of wandering through the tifosi trying to conduct a vox pop with delighted fans - who may or may not be peppering their answers with Italian swears.

As everyone knows, the main fun of learning another language is to pick up all of its obscenities, so I hope Ted is enjoying his education.

This is how it feels to win an Italian Grand Prix at Monza as a Ferrari driver.

Looks pretty good, I reckon.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

ReutersCopyright: Reuters