Perez charges to victory at Monza

The T-Sport driver was still 11th at the end of the first lap, despite a first corner pile up taking out three cars and delaying half a dozen more.

Sebastian Hohenthal clouted the back of Atte Mustonen under braking for the first chicane and Max Chilton was also eliminated as several cars took to the grass and escape road in avoidance.

Perez charged through the pack, picking off car after car until he secured the lead with a brilliant pass around the outside of Sam Abay and Jaime Alguersuari at the second chicane.

He was briefly put under pressure by Esteban Guerrieri, who worked his way up to second and edged towards Perez, but it started to rain with five laps to go and the Mexican pulled clear.

"It was a fantastic, the best race I've ever done," said Perez. "I did everything right. I knew I had the speed to win but it was important to be intelligent and patient, and it went perfectly."

Guerrieri ran wide exiting the second Lesmo and found himself in the middle of the fight between Carlin Motorsport team-mates Brendon Hartley and Alguersuari, who were trading places on the long drags. Hartley erred on the side of caution when it became a three-way scrap, and decided to sit back and watch the other two fight it out as the track got more slippery.

Alguersuari passed Guerrieri on the outside at the second chicane, but had cut the corner in the process and gave the Argentinian the place back on the run the the first Lesmo.

But Alguersuari misjudged his braking as he ducked back onto the racing line and collected the back of Guerrieri, taking both off the road and clearing the way for Hartley to complete his climb from 13th to second.

"I've been too aggressive a few times this season and it hasn't worked out too well," said Hartley. "I was patient, especially when it started raining, because anything can happen at Monza.

"They were fighting closely and I could see what was going to happen. I could never have expected to be on the podium from 13th but it just shows what's possible if you have the speed and drive a sensible race."

Oliver Turvey also benefited and was next up in third, from ninth on the grid, ahead of a frantic battle between Walter Grubmuller, John Martin, Abay, and Marcus Ericsson, who carrying a damaged nosecone after some contact on the second lap.

Alguersuari survived the clash with Guerrieri to finish eighth, but was given a 25-second penalty that dropped him out of the points.

Pos Driver                Team          Car         Time
 1. Sergio Perez          T-Sport       D/H    31:17.244
 2. Brendon Hartley       Carlin        D/M       +4.238
 3. Oliver Turvey         Carlin        D/M       +6.220
 4. Walter Grubmuller     Hitech        D/M       +6.319
 5. John Martin           Double R      D/M       +6.454
 6. Sam Abay              Carlin        D/M       +7.427
 7. Marcus Ericsson       Fortec        D/M       +7.454
 8. Matteo Chinosi        Ombra (I)     D/H      +18.460
 9. Phillip Major         Fortec        D/M      +27.091
10. Hywel Lloyd           CF (N)        D/H      +33.637
11. Stefan Wilson         Fluid (N)     D/H      +34.352
12. Jaime Alguersuari     Carlin        D/M      +12.808
13. Viktor Jensen         Nexa          D/H      +39.500
14. Federico Leo          Ombra (I)     D/H      +39.868
15. Craig Reiff           Nexa (N)      D/H      +49.004
16. Esteban Guerrieri     Ultimate      M/M      +2 Laps

Not classified

    Driver                Team          Car         Laps
    Ricardo Teixeira      Ultimate      M/M          DSQ
    Andy Meyrick          Carlin (N)    D/H       6 laps
    Kristjan Einar        Carlin (N)    D/H       5 laps
    Salman Al-Khalifa     T-Sport (N)   D/H       3 laps
    Jay Bridger           Fluid (N)     D/H       2 laps
    Michael Devaney       Ultimate      M/M        1 lap
    Nick Tandy            JTR           M/M        1 lap
    Atte Mustonen         Double R      D/M        1 lap
    Max Chilton           Hitech        D/M        1 lap
    Sebastian Hohenthal   Fortec        D/M       0 laps
    Henry Arundel         Double R      D/M       0 laps
    Steven Guerrero       T-Sport (N)   D/H       0 laps


Fastest lap Guerrieri, 1:47.378 on lap 7

(D/M = Dallara Mercedes, D/H = Dallara Mugen-Honda, M/M = Mygale Mercedes)