Lewis Hamilton endured a torrid start to the Italian Grand Prix and was made to pay by Nico Rosberg, as the gap at the top of the championship was cut to just two points.

Rosberg capitalised on his Mercedes teammate's poor early showing to make it back-to-back victories, with Hamilton incredibly finding himself down in sixth place at the first corner.

It could have been much worse for the Englishman, who took full blame for the sticky start at Monza before recovering to finish ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in second place to keep a slender lead in the drivers' standings.

Rosberg's first victory in Italy was well earned, as he streaked away at the front to dominate proceedings and opened up a 15-second lead by lap 17.

Hamilton did narrow that margin at one point to nine seconds, yet there was to be no catching the German who has now further closed the gap on his teammate at the summit.

Jenson Button, who announced this week that he intends to take a break from the sport next year, put in a good showing at Monza to move two places up the grid to 14th - two places ahead of McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso.

1. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
3. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
5. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
6. Valtteri Bottas (Williams-Mercedes)
7. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
8. Sergio Perez (Force India)
9. Felipe Massa (Williams)
10. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
11. Romain Grosjean (Haas)
12. Jenson Button (McLaren)
13. Esteban Gutierrez (Haas)
14. Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
15. Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso)
16. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
17. Kevin Magnussen (Renault)
18. Esteban Ocon (Manor)
DNF Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
DNF Pascal Wehrlein (Manor)
DNF Jolyon Palmer (Renault)
DNF Felipe Nasr (Sauber)