MONZA, Italy (CMC) — Lewis Hamilton overcame a nightmare start to win the Italian Grand Prix here yesterday and reignite his floundering title chances in the Formula One drivers championship.

The Brit started on pole but found himself down to fourth early when the launch sequence on the opening lap failed. However, he overcame that blip to take the chequered flag in a time of one hour, 19:10.236 minutes.

Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, who led the race until a mistake on the 29th lap, finished second while Felipe Massa of Williams was third.

“Big congratulations to the team for our performance this weekend. We said we wanted a one-two and we got it today; this result is important for everyone,” said Hamilton, whose paternal grandparents hail from Grenada.

“It was a difficult race for me, though. The launch sequence didn’t engage properly for the formation lap and then again for the start. I tried to pull away as fast as possible, basically I just floored it and hoped for the best.”

After falling behind McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen and Massa, Hamilton did well to recover. He passed Magnussen on lap five and then produced a brilliant manoeuvre to overtake Massa five laps later.

He then went in pursuit of Rosberg, gradually eating into the German’s lead to reduce the gap to 0.7 seconds on lap 28.

Rosberg then made a bad error, running off after braking late on the first chicane and allowing Hamilton through to take the lead and go on to win the contest.

The victory was Hamilton’s second at Monza and sixth of the season and it cut Rosberg’s lead at the top of the standings to 22 points.

“When I closed up to Nico, I didn’t want to hold back as the car felt good and I knew from experience that the only chance would be at the start of the stint when the tyres were fresh so I went for it,” Hamilton explained.

“I’m really pleased with the win, it feels like I have some momentum back as we go into the final races.”