Atlas F1 Magazine: Italian GP Facts, Stats and Memoirs

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Italian Facts, Stats and Memoirs

By Marcel Schot, Netherlands
Atlas F1 Magazine Writer

Which team is the most successful in Monza's history? When was the last time Ferrari hasn't been on the podium at their home Grand Prix? Why was last year's race Juan Pablo Montoya's only win? Marcel Schot brings these answers and more, in the Italy edition of 'Facts & Stats'

After driving in Michael Schumacher's back garden, we're now off to Ferrari's own park: Autodromo di Monza. And the stats do show that this is the Scuderia's home ground. With 13 victories the team has won as many Italian Grands Prix as McLaren and Williams together, and with 16 pole positions they have scored more than twice the number of Lotus, who are in second. However, it's podium finishes where the domination really shows: 50 for Ferrari against 18 each for McLaren and Williams, who are tied for second. Only three times since 1988 there was no Ferrari driver on the podium.

Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi in 1995 The last time no Ferrari finished on the podium in Monza was back in 1997. For the team, that was one of the worst races in the Schumacher era. The German qualified only ninth, one spot ahead of teammate Eddie Irvine. While Irvine complained of massive understeer, Schumacher was convinced that the tyres didn't work with the high track temperatures. For the race, sixth and eight was the best the team could do. And, it was the only time in the last twenty years that Ferrari scored less than two points at Monza with two cars finishing.

Two years before, both cars retired from podium positions. Gerhard Berger retired when a camera dropped off his teammate's car and tore open the Austrian's sidepod. For his teammate Jean Alesi the retirement came eight laps from the end while he was in the lead. This marked the second consecutive Italian Grand Prix where the French Ferrari driver retired from the lead.

Despite Ferrari's dominance in the races, their qualifying performance at Monza has not exactly been top class in recent years. Since 1995, the team put only four cars on the front row - out of a possible 14.

            front   Poles
            rows
Williams    6       3
Ferrari     4       2
Benetton    2       1
McLaren     1       1
Jordan      1       0

Last season saw the first and thus far only victory for Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya. The Colombian has already claimed nine Pole Positions and eleven podium finishes in the 31 races he has started until now, but he hasn't capitalized on his poles very often, or was rued with mechanical bad luck: of the nine races, four ended with an engine failure. Overall Montoya had six engine failures ending his race in the last two seasons. That number is equaled by Giancarlo Fisichella, Jacques Villeneuve and surpassed by Jarno Trulli, who had seven.

Montoya on the podium, 2001 Before the British Grand Prix we looked at the predictions for the 2002 final standings based on the 2001 season and the current season up until that point. Back then it showed Ferrari on the pace to score 194 points, just five short of McLaren's 1988 single season record. Now, with three races to go, the same formula puts Ferrari's number of points at the season's end on 204. This prediction suggests the team would score 31 points in three races, while 23 will break the McLaren record.

Of course, McLaren achieved their record in 16 races instead of 17, so in terms of points per race the Maranello team would need another 39 points to beat the 1988 record. That looks difficult to reach, but not impossible. The 13 points per race, which would accumulate to 39 points, have been scored in eight of the 14 races this season. Even so, for the purists Ferrari have already missed the chance to break the 1988 record: McLaren scored 199 points in an era where wins were awarded with 9 points, compared to 10 today.

Despite the 52 Grands Prix hosted at Monza, there has never been a driver who won more than three times. Nelson Piquet won the Italian Grand Prix four times, but one of those was the only Italian Grand Prix that wasn't driven on Monza. In 1980, the Brazilian won the race at the Imola circuit, which was later used for the San Marino Grand Prix.

Besides Piquet, there are five more drivers who have won three times at Monza: Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Ronnie Peterson, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher. Yes, indeed, there's yet another record to be broken by the World Champion. If his pattern of Monza wins continues, this year will be his: the German's previous wins on the Italian circuit came in 1996, 1998 and 2000.

Past Performance in Italy by Current Drivers

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Average
Qualifying
Position

Qual Race Qual Race Qual Race Qual Race Qual Race Qual Race

M.Schumacher 3 1 9 6 1 1 - - 1 1 3 4 3.400

Barrichello 10 5 11 13 13 10 7 4 2 R 2 2 7.500

Coulthard 5 R 4 M 3 5 5 M 5 R 6 M 4.666

Raikkonen - - - - - - - - - - 9 7 9.000

R.Schumacher - - 8 R 6 3 5 2 7 3 4 3 6.000

Montoya - - - - - - - - - 1 1 1.000

Heidfeld - - - - - - - - 20 R 8 11 14.000

Massa - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Fisichella - - 3 4 11 8 17 R 9 11 14 10 10.800

Sato - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Villeneuve 2 7 4 5 2 R 11 8 4 M 15 6 6.333

Panis 11 R - - 10 11 9 M - - 17 9 11.750

Trulli - - 16 10 10 13 12 M 6 R 5 R 9.800

Button - - - - - - - - 12 R 11 M 11.500

Irvine 7 R 10 8 5 2 8 6 14 R 13 M 9.600

de la Rosa - - - - - - 21 R 10 M 10 5 13.666

Yoong - - - - - - - - - - 22 R 22

Webber - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Salo 17 M 19 M 16 M 6 3 15 7 - - 14.600

McNish - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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