Lewis Hamilton took a firmer grip on the world championship destiny with a stupendous drive that will be talked of – hissed about – at the home of Italian motorsport forever.

In front of the most sentimental Formula One crowd in the world, Hamilton put down his flag on the summit of grand prix greatness by passing Kimi Raikkonen eight laps from the end.

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Hamilton’s victory from third on the grid lifted him 30 points clear at the top of the drivers’ standings. Sebastian Vettel finished fourth, nowhere, undressed, stripped of a moral claim on a fifth title by the brilliance of a 33-year-old Briton who surpassed himself.

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All this, after Hamilton and Vettel crashed on the first lap.

The collision revealed Vettel’s brittle edges when he entangled with Hamilton at the fourth corner. The German hung on too grimly and damaged his front wing, going to the back of the field. He came back from 19th but so what!

Four-time champion Vettel was forced into the pits to change his front wing and had to find his way from the back of the field.