Hamilton leads F1 Championship after winning Italian GP

British Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, a three-time Formula One world champion, climbed to the top spot of the F1 World Championship driver standings after winning the Italian Grand Prix here on Sunday.

Hamilton, who secured the pole position for the Gran Premio Heineken d'Italia 2017 in a rain-plagued qualifying session on Saturday at Monza, came in first after completing the 53-lap race in one hour, 15 minutes and 32.3 seconds, reports Efe.

Earlier, the Briton broke German Michael Schumacher's career pole record by achieving his 69th pole on Saturday after tying with the Ferrari legend last week in Belgium.

Hamilton clinched his sixth win of this season in Italy and the 59th in his overall career as he finished ahead of his Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Ferrari's German driver Sebastian Vettel, the incumbent World Championship leader, came in third and lost his spot at the top of the standings.

Red Bull's Australian Daniel Ricciardo came in fourth, while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished fifth.

After this victory, Hamilton tops the World Championship standings with 238 points, three points ahead of Vettel, while Bottas is third with 197 points.

--IANS

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