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Engines were always going to be the dominant factor in deciding who would do well in the Italian Grand Prix, even though much of the talk in the build-up to the weekend (and after Lewis Hamilton claimed his seventh victory of the season) was of tyres and how they should be pressured.
We all know Formula 1 is an engine game right now. A game Mercedes is clearly winning. But perhaps not as easily as it once was. Conventional wisdom would suggest Monza's long straights and relative lack of turns compared to other circuits on the calendar would only strengthen Mercedes' hand, and further expose the difficulty Ferrari, Renault and Honda (particularly the last two) still face in trying to make a real race of the world championship.
At first glance, Lewis Hamilton's 25.042-second victory over Sebastian Vettel doesn't suggest Mercedes will have much to worry about any time soon, but the catastrophic fate of his team-mate Nico Rosberg could, perhaps, be a small signal that Mercedes is facing greater pressure from behind than at any other point since F1 adopted V6 hybrid engine technology.
