Monza, Italian GP

[Iliana]

from f1racing.net

Apart from its awe-inspiring top speeds, the track at Monza is best known for its racing tradition. Nowhere else has staged more Formula One Grands Prix than the Royal Park. 2005 will be the 55th Formula One race to be held at Monza. Only one Italian Grand Prix has been held elsewhere, at Imola in 1980.

The town of Monza has approximately 120,000 inhabitants and is located in the province of Milan. The race track has undergone numerous modifications over its long history. The remains of the steeply banked circuit bear silent witness to its early days.

Rubens Barrichello won last year's race for Ferrari ahead of team mate Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button.

Juan Pablo Montoya celebrated his first Formula One win at the Italian track when he was driving for Williams in 2001.

Past winners:

2004: Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari

2003: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari

2002: Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari

2001: Juan Pablo Montoya, BMW.Williams

2000: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari

1999: Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jordan

1998: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari

1997: David Coulthard, McLaren Mercedes

1996: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari

1995: Johny Herbert, Benetton Renault

1994: Damon Hill, Williams Renault

1993: Damon Hill, Williams Renault

1992: Ayrton Senna, McLaren Honda

1991: Nigel Mansell, Wiliams

1990: Ayrton Senna, McLaren Honda

Official Monza Circuit Site

[Panathinaikos_Trifilli]

JP seals it:

Montoya swept into the lead from the start, leaving Fernando Alonso to chase him all the way home. But if the first two positions were relatively settled so early, others were not. Jenson Button and Takuma Sato were split by Jarno Trulli on the opening lap, but Sato soon deposed the Italian with a bold move on the outside line going into Parabolica before it was over. Neither BAR was scheduled for glory, however. It soon transpired that their qualifying speed had been down to low fuel loads; Button soon lost touch with the leaders and would eventually have to be satisfied with eighth place and the final point. Sato lost time when his refuelling rig short-changed him in his first stop, and after an extra remedial visit to the pits, never made it up en route to an eventual 16th.

Nor did fortune smile on Trulli, though he would finish fifth ahead of Toyota team mate Ralf Schumacher, whose long first stint helped move him up the finishing order.

Ahead of all of them, Giancarlo Fisichella and Kimi Raikkonen took third and fourth places. The Italian had another of his fast yet unobtrusive races to help Renault to garner another 14 crucial points in their fight against McLaren in the constructors’ stakes. With McLaren taking 15 the scores are now poised at 144 to 136. Behind Fisichella, Raikkonen came thrusting through to finish only five seconds adrift after an afternoon in which almost everything that could have gone wrong, did.

First of all he got trapped behind Jacques Villeneuve’s Sauber for the first 14 laps, before making his first pit stop on lap 25, by when he had risen (during other drivers’ stops) to second place behind his team mate in a stint which saw a rare wheel-to-wheel battle with title rival Alonso. The Spaniard had emerged immediately in front of the McLaren after his earlier first stop. Raikkonen got past him once, but cut the first chicane in doing so and was obliged to let the Renault back past. By the second chicane, however, Raikkonen had muscled through again.

His first stop dropped him to fifth, but three laps later he was in again. The left rear tyre showed signs of stress in the area of its outer tread, so a new tyre was fitted and off he went again. Unbeknown to anyone outside the team, he had qualified with a very high fuel load, and now he did not need to stop again, but his chances had already been stymied. That unscheduled stop put him back behind Villeneuve, where he had started, but when the French-Canadian was unfairly and incorrectly shown blue flags he had no choice but to let the McLaren through. Thereafter Raikkonen charged back into contention to pass Trulli for fourth place by the 43rd of the 53 laps. But then he spun on his own in the second chicane on lap 45, and had to repass the Toyota two laps later. That killed his chances of challenging Fisichella, but it was a fabulous performance.

Meanwhile, in the closing stages Alonso began hacking in to Montoya’s 11.2s advantage. By lap 49 it was clear that the Colombian’s left rear Michelin was showing the same signs that Raikkonen’s had. McLaren readied for a pit stop, but that would surely have handed victory to Renault. So, just as they did in Nurburgring, they gambled. And this time a very bold ploy paid off. Montoya had only two and a half seconds in hand as he crossed the line, but that was a crucial victory that was richly deserved.

For Ferrari it was a highly disappointing afternoon, with low performance despite low fuel loads. Rubens Barrichello had team mate Michael Schumacher tucked up all afternoon, until he too had to have a new left rear tyre, his a Bridgestone of course, after a puncture 42 laps in. Schumacher was challenging Button for the final point, but then went off in the Lesmos near the finish and dropped behind Felipe Massa’s well-driven Sauber and ultimately finished only 10th. Ferrari, and Schumacher, are now completely out of the title hunt.

Barrichello finished 12th behind Villeneuve, while Christian Klien came through for 13th ahead of Mark Webber. The Australian got delayed after the inevitable incident in the first corner, but took 14th after an excellent scrap with Klien’s Red Bull team mate David Coulthard. The Scot was also a first corner damage victim, after running into the rear of Fisichella and damaging his front wing, and finished 15th.

With Sato salvaging 16th, Tiago Monteiro recovered from delays avoiding the first corner incident to take 17th in the debuting Jordan EJ15B, ahead of Robert Doornbos and Christijan Albers (who got a drive-through penalty for delaying Massa). Narain Karthikeyan, who suffered a puncture after being hit from behind by Albers at the start, completed the finishers with 20th place.

The race may not have been non-stop action, but the underlying stories ultimately lent it great drama. And his own strong drive earned Alonso eight points to Raikkonen’s five, thus stretching his drivers’ title advantage to 103 over the Finn’s 76. That means, if results go his way, the Spaniard could become Formula One racing’s youngest world champion at Spa next weekend.

1 10 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 53 1:14:28.659

2 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 53 +2.4 secs

3 6 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 53 +17.9 secs

4 9 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 53 +22.7 secs

5 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 53 +33.7 secs 6 17 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 53 +43.9 secs

7 8 Antonio Pizzonia Williams-BMW 53 +44.6 secs

8 3 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 53 +63.6 secs 9 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 53 +75.4 secs

10 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 53 +96.0 secs

11 11 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 52 +1 Lap

12 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 52 +1 Lap 13 15 Christian Klien Red Bull Racing 52 +1 Lap

14 7 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 52 +1 Lap

15 14 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 52 +1 Lap

16 4 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 52 +1 Lap

17 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 51 +2 Laps

18 20 Robert Doornbos Minardi-Cosworth 51 +2 Laps

19 21 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 51 +2 Laps

20 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 50 +3 Laps

[Iliana]

Raikkonen must be the most unlucky guy! first he had to change the engine and start 10 places back (AGAIN!) and then he had to pit extra for his rear tire....

Alonso is sooo damn lucky!

congrats to JPM!