MOTORSPORT: Ricciardo magical at Monza

Lewis Hamilton dominated the Italian Grand Prix in his Mercedes and has taken the lead in Formula 1's drivers' world championship, but Daniel Ricciardo was equally the star of the weekend at Monza.

Carsales.com.au global ambassador Ricciardo came from 16th on the grid, after engine and gearbox penalties, to finish fourth, hounding Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to the chequered flag. The West Australian set the fastest lap in the fastest GP for more than a decade, with Hamilton winning at an average speed of 243.626 km/h.

Ricciardo's drive, which included the overtake of the year on Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, may have been the finest of his career – and what better place for a potential Ferrari driver in 2019 to do it than in Italy!

Viewers of the global telecast voted Ricciardo 'driver of the day'.

His brilliance cannot have gone unnoticed by the Ferrari chiefs, who will be looking for a replacement for Raikkonen at the end of next season. Forget the talk of that seat being occupied in 2019 by Charles Leclerc – this year's Formula 2 championship leader, from Monaco, and still six weeks shy of his 20th birthday. Ferrari will give Leclerc testing, probably place him with Sauber next year, but it doesn't install youngsters in its cars for GP races.

Ricciardo, with Italian heritage and an impeccable record from six seasons in F1, is the man made for the Italian stable.

Queenslander Matt Campbell won the Porsche Supercup race at Monza, but Anthony Martin, another West Australian, missed out on the million-dollar prize in America's Pro Mazda open-wheeler series.

'Almost a perfect day' for the Honey Badger
Daniel Ricciardo surely must now be favourite to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari in 2019, even if Sebastian Vettel is reluctant to have the Honey Badger as his teammate after being 'dusted' by him at Red Bull in 2014.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner likened Ricciardo's driving at Monza to that of Nigel Mansell, Britain's 1992 world champion renowned for his bravery and fearless overtaking – including against the greater and aggressive Ayrton Senna.

The Aussie's move on Raikkonen with 12 laps to go was incredible, coming from seemingly way too far behind the Ferrari to nip inside the Iceman as though he was asleep.

"A fantastic drive by Daniel today," Horner said.

"He's one of the best overtakers out there. His ability to brake late and still make the apex [of corners], it was Nigel Mansell-esque."

"After an imperfect start he fought all the way through the race and had good pace, good strategy and made some fantastic overtaking moves to finish within four seconds of Sebastian, just out of a podium place and fully deserved 'driver of the day'," Horner said.

Ricciardo was "very, very happy" with his work.

"I loved it out there today. It was good fun. You can almost call it a perfect day," he said.

"Two of my favourite races this year have been starting from the back. Silverstone [the British GP, in which he came from 19th to fifth] and this one.

"Some good overtakes in the race kept me excited."

Ricciardo said he had "put the blinkers on" for his daring move on Raikkonen.

He had started on the soft-compound Pirelli tyres, ran until the 37th lap (of 53) on them, then charged on the super-soft compound rubber in his later stint, slashing an 11.5-second deficit to Vettel.

"I had some real pace in the end," he said. "I could see Seb and the thought of a podium was tempting me, so I was obviously trying to catch him right up to the end.

"The boys [Red Bull crew] did the quickest pit stop and I also got the fastest lap, so that's very cool. We couldn't have done much more from where we started.

"Of course, I wanted to be up there on the podium as it looked unreal, but I believe it will come next year.

"Today has been a really good boost for everyone [in the Red Bull team] and we're looking ahead to Singapore [in a fortnight]."

Ricciardo's teammate Max Verstappen was in the wars early again at Monza, getting a puncture after contact with – or from – Felipe Massa's Williams, which dropped the teenager to last, but he too fought through the field to pick up the last championship point with 10th place.

Formula 1 Drivers' World Championship standings after 13 of 20 rounds – 1. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 238 points; 2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Ferrari) 235; 3. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Mercedes) 197; 4. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 144; 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari) 138; 6. Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Red Bull-Renault) 68; 7. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Force India-Mercedes) 58; 8. Esteban Ocon (France, Force India-Mercedes) 55; 9. Carlos Sainz Junior (Spain, Toro Rosso-Renault) 36; 10. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Renault) 34; 11. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Williams-Mercedes) 31; 12. Lance Stroll (Canada, Williams-Mercedes) 24; 13. Romain Grosjean (France, Haas-Ferrari) 24; 14. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark, Haas-Ferrari) 11; 15. Fernando Alonso (Spain, McLaren-Honda) 10; 16. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany, Sauber-Ferrari) 5; 17. Daniil Kvyat (Russia, Toro Rosso-Renault) 4; 18. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium, McLaren-Honda) 1.

F1 Constructors' World Championship standings – 1. Mercedes 435 points; 2. Ferrari 373; 3. Red Bull-Renault 212; 4. Force India-Mercedes 113; 5. Williams-Mercedes 55; 6. Toro Rosso- Renault 40; 7. Haas-Ferrari 35; 8. Renault 34; 9. McLaren-Honda 11; 10. Sauber-Ferrari 5.

Hamilton keeps on making history
Lewis Hamilton's victory in Italy was his sixth of the season, his fourth at Monza, and third there in the past four years. Only Michael Schumacher has won more in F1 at the 'Temple of Speed' – five times.

On Saturday the Brit had moved ahead of the German great for the record number of pole positions – 69 – in a qualifying session long delayed by heavy rain. But his tally of 59 GP wins is still a long way behind Schumi's record 91.

Now leading Sebastian Vettel by three points in this year's drivers' championship, Hamilton is the first to score back-to-back victories this season. His teammate, Valtteri Bottas, finished second, within 4.5 seconds, to complete Mercedes' third one-two of the season, leaving Ferrari humbled for its 70th anniversary on its home ground.

Vettel, who went to Monza leading Hamilton by seven points, finished more than 36 seconds behind him, while fifth-placed Raikkonen crossed the line more than a minute after him. While Verstappen and Ricciardo had qualified second and third fastest, albeit much slower than Hamilton, Canadian Lance Stroll was elevated to the front row of the grid by the grid penalties on the Red Bull pair. However, Stroll wound up seventh in the race, behind impressive young Frenchman Esteban Ocon in a Force India-Mercedes, who had outqualified Bottas.

It was another weekend of woe for McLaren, with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne both retirements, and speculation of an announcement early this week that could see the second most successful team in F1 history "divorce" engine supplier Honda.

Second Porsche Supercup success for Campbell
Matt Campbell's Porsche Supercup victory at Monza was his second in that highly-competitive series this year. His earlier win, in his first full year in Europe, came at Austria's Red Bull Ring.

Starting from pole position at Monza, after the grid was determined on practice times because of the torrential rain, Campbell beat 30 rivals and is now third in the championship. He now partners Shane Van Gisbergen in a Holden Commodore in Australia's Supercar enduros over coming weeks, although he has one more Porsche Supercup race to go in Mexico next month.

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Martin has to settle for second
Anthony Martin lost out to Brazilian rival Victor Franzoni in the tussle for the big Pro Mazda scholarship to advance to Indy Lights in America. Franzoni won both the weekend's races at the final round at Watkins Glen in upstate New York.

Martin, 22, went there two points behind the Brazilian, but ended up 18 points behind after finishing third in the last race as Franzoni completed a clean sweep of the weekend's two sprints. While Martin won five of the championship's 12 races with Cape Motorsports, Franzoni won the other seven for Argentinian-owned Juncos Racing to claim the scholarship worth about $A1 million.

"I pushed 150 per cent out there with the championship on the line," Martin said. "It sucks to be the first loser, as I call it, but I gave it my all.

"I didn't leave anything out there. I'm very disappointed not to take the championship, but I had a great time this year."

Martin competed with the benefit of a scholarship he won for taking last year's US F2000 title – the first rung on Mazda's Road to Indy pathway.

Power's teammate and IndyCar leader in the wall
Chaos in IndyCar racing today as American Josef Newgarden's championship lead was slashed to three points over New Zealander Scott Dixon after the Penske driver crashed behind Australian team mate Will Power in the pit exit.

Newgarden locked his brakes avoiding Power and slid into the guardrail separating the pit exit from turn one of the famous road course. Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, also leaving the pits, had nowhere to go and hit Newgarden from behind. Newgarden sustained front wing and right rear tyre ramp damage and finished two laps off the pace.

Fellow American Alex Rossi took victory – his first other than in last year's Indianapolis 500. Power finished sixth and is fifth in the points, 68 behind Newgarden with only one race left at Sonoma in California in a fortnight.

Rallycross excellence but not for adopted Aussie
An inauspicious World Rallycross Championship debut for Perth-based Scotsman Alister McRae in France.

Swede Johan Kristoffersson, driving for Petter Solberg's Volkswagen team, made history as the first driver to win four consecutive rounds of the championship. It is also the Swede's eighth podium in a row – another World RX record.

French rally great Sebastien Loeb finished second at the Bretagne World RX of France in front of a home crowd of 75,000, while reigning World RX champion Mattias Ekstrom, another Swede, rounded out the podium.