Lewis Hamilton cut Nico Rosberg’s lead in the title race to 22 points after producing an impressive come from behind win at the Italian Grand Prix.

The 2008 world champion was forced to work hard for his second Monza victory and his sixth win of the season after a poor start saw him surrender his pole position advantage.

Hamilton quickly recovered to second having dropped to fourth at the start while his Mercedes team-mate Rosberg led up until after the round of pit stops.

However, a mistake from Rosberg at the opening chicane handed Hamilton the lead which he converted into victory.

Rosberg came home in second ahead of Williams’ Felipe Massa, who recorded his first podium of the season.

Valtteri Bottas was fourth ahead of a hard charging Daniel Ricciardo, who surged up to fifth with a string of smooth overtaking moves in the latter stages.

Hamilton failed to convert his pole position into the lead at the first corner as a software glitch saw him make a slow getaway.

Rosberg took advantage by surging into the lead while McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen slotted into second ahead of Williams‘ Massa and a recovering Hamilton.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel jumped from eighth to fifth in front of Jenson Button.

However, in the other direction Bottas dropped from third to 11th position. Ricciardo also made a poor start as he dropped back into the midfield from ninth on the grid.

Rosberg soon began to scamper away at the front as Magnussen started to hold up Massa and Hamilton.

On lap five the order changed as Massa slipped by Magnussen for second at the second chicane. Hamilton capitalised on an out of position McLaren to move into third.

A determined Hamilton keen to make up ground then slipped underneath Massa with an expertly judged move at the first chicane just a lap after Rosberg made a slight mistake at the same corner, which cut his lead to two seconds.

Behind, Bottas stepped up his recovery from a bad start by moving into sixth after moves on Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Button.

At the front, the battle soon turned into a two horse race between Hamilton and Rosberg with the latter closing the gap to his team-mate to 1.1s.

Rosberg eventually pitted on lap 24 for his one and only stop with Hamilton following suit a lap later.

Although Hamilton’s stop was marginally quicker, he came out behind his team-mate.

Meanwhile, behind Massa reclaimed third after the round of pit stops ahead of Vettel, who made the most of an early stop to move into fourth ahead of Magnussen and Bottas.

On lap 29 the lead changed hands as Rosberg made a mistake at the first chicane by running on for the second time in the race. Hamilton swept through into the lead having ignored calls from the team to preserve his tyres.

The Italian were soon left deflated as Alonso was forced into a rare retirement when his Ferrari was hit by a mechanical problem.

Bottas continued to push with the Finn grabbing fifth from Magnussen, who was given a five second penalty for forcing the Williams off track.

However, Hamilton made no such mistakes in the lead as he cruised home to take the chequered flag from Rosberg and Massa.

Bottas climbed to fourth while Ricciardo produced a scintillating run to finish fifth which included a slick pass on team-mate Vettel. The Australian made the most of a long first stint and fresher rubber for the final laps.

Sergio Perez finished in seventh ahead of Button, Raikkonen and Magnussen, who completed the top 10.

Italian Grand Prix Results

Championship Standings