2004 Italian Grand Prix Review
By Pablo Elizalde, Spain
Atlas F1 News Editor
For a moment it seemed that Ferrari's party at home was going to be spoiled, but an amazing comeback from both Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher saw the Italian squad continue with their dominant season in spectacular fashion. Atlas F1's Pablo Elizalde reviews the events and results from the Italian Grand Prix
Well, think again.
Sunday's Italian Grand Prix highlighted Ferrari's dominance of the sport in such a way that it is hard to assimilate there have been two races this year in which the Italian squad have not finished on top. The Monza display was not only a demonstration of speed from their cars, or ability from their drivers: it was a masterclass lesson on how to read a race, and how to bring it back to you when it all looks lost at the halfway point.
For a big part of the race, it looked as though Ferrari would suffer the ignominy of being beaten, and badly, at home, where the big celebrations for an almost flawless season were due to take place following an anticipated red party. "At the beginning of the race I thought maybe it would be our first race without scoring points. Then I thought one or two points and slowly the points were improving," said Jean Todt at the end of the day.
Both Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher had to overcome major difficulties to reverse their poor situation, the former having dropped back after choosing intermediate tyres to start the race, and the latter forced to charge back from the bottom of the field following a spin on the opening lap.
But their ability to lap consistently quicker than their rivals began to pay off slowly, and to everybody's surprise, the Ferrari pair were back on top after 43 laps of the race gone.
After that, there was little doubt that Barrichello would win and Schumacher would settle for second, despite giving the impression that he had enough speed to pass his teammate. After all, he had recovered over 30 seconds despite having to fight his way through the field. In a season of total dominance, a Schumacher victory after such a superb drive would have had a touch of epic grandeur.
As it was, Barrichello got a deserved first win of the season after his strongest weekend of the year and Ferrari had their party while the rest of the field had to leave crestfallen and sighing in disbelief after it looked like the race was anyone's but Ferrari's.
BAR and Jenson Button got closest to beating Ferrari and taking their maiden Grand Prix win after a flawless performance. The Briton drove strongly and, aided by the competitive BAR-Honda package, led the race for some time before he had to concede to Ferrari's drivers in the final stages of the race.
"I didn't think the Ferrari's would be so strong towards the end of the race but their pace was unbelievable - untouchable," reflected Button at the race. "I thought we had the chance to win, but those two were just too quick," added the Briton, whose team, despite no win, found consolation in the fact the they managed to jump ahead of Renault in the standings.
The French squad endured another miserable day as they continued with their downward trend. Fernando Alonso was the strongest of the Renault pair all weekend and even looked set to fight for a podium place until he made a mistake and spun out of the race.
As for Jarno Trulli, the weekend was a non-event, at least in terms of racing, as his relationship with the team and Flavio Briatore continued to deteriorate. The Italian driver showed no pace at all during the race, except for the three final laps, when he suddenly managed to set a faster race lap than Alonso. If there was something to read into that, only Trulli knows, but what's for sure is that Renault face an uphill climb in their fight for second place in the Championship.
"When you are racing with only one driver it's hard to get any decent result," said Briatore after the race.
For a moment, Williams also looked like possible winners thanks to Juan Pablo Montoya's performance both in qualifying and during the early part of the race. The Williams, as usual, performed well on the long straights of Monza, until the Colombian began to suffer problems with his gearbox and dropped down the order to finish in a disappointing fifth place.
With Antonio Pizzonia's seventh position, Williams managed to stretch their lead over McLaren to eight points, which will not be enough to face the final three races of the season with too much optimism. At least the team from Grove managed to actually increase their lead over the Mercedes-powered squad after it was back to reality for the Woking-based team following their Belgian Grand Prix win.
Like BAR, Renault and Williams, McLaren had only one driver, Kimi Raikkonen, really in contention during the race, and he too looked capable of fighting for the top. In the end, however, the Finn also succumbed to mechanical problems in what was an anti-climax for him following his dominant win at Spa just two weeks earlier.
"It was a race several people could have won and Kimi was one of them," said McLaren chief Ron Dennis. "However we were quickly out of contention after Kimi's engine suffered a water leak which ultimately damaged the engine."
The result may not have been surprising: a Ferrari on pole at Monza was something everyone expected even ahead of the weekend. But everybody was expecting a tight battle for pole, too, and that, however, did not happen. It seemed that fuel levels had all to do with the lack of fight for the top spot after Rubens Barrichello went over half a second faster than anyone else.
The Brazilian's time of 1:20.089 - Formula One's quickest ever pole position - was more surprising considering the remaining nine drivers in the top ten were covered by the same gap Barrichello had to second-placed Juan Pablo Montoya. As usual, only Sunday's race would help get a clear picture of the real situation.
The Grid
1. Rubens Barrichello
2. Juan Pablo Montoya
3. Michael Schumacher
4. Fernando Alonso
5. Takuma Sato
6. Jenson Button
7. Kimi Raikkonen
8. Antonio Pizzonia
9. Jarno Trulli
10. David Coulthard
11. Ricardo Zonta
12. Mark Webber
13. Olivier Panis
14. Christian Klien
15. Giancarlo Fisichella
16. Felipe Massa
17. Nick Heidfeld
18. Giorgio Pantano
19. Zsolt Baumgartner
20. Gianmaria Bruni
The Race
Sunday finally saw the rain that had been forecast for both Friday and Saturday, and although it stopped some time before the start of the race, it was enough to drive the teams crazy when it came to deciding what tyre to use for the conditions. Come the start, the track was not wet enough for full wets, but not dry enough for everybody to start on dry-weather tyres.
In the end, of the Bridgestone runners, only Barrichello, Massa, and Bruni went for intermediates, while the only Michelin-shod car without "slicks" was Coulthard's McLaren. The Scot's decision proved a mistake, and already before the end of the parade lap he had decided to come into the pits to switch tyres, and race strategy.
When the start was given, Barrichello had no problems staying in the lead, while the fast starting Alonso flew from fourth to second place by the end of the straight. Montoya was third on the side, with Schumacher in fourth until he cut across the chicane and lost a place to Raikkonen.
If the first chicane was pretty much trouble-free, the same could not be said about the second one, which was quite a mess after Schumacher made contact with Button and spun. Pizzonia and Panis also touched, the Frenchman ending in the gravel and out of the race, and the Brazilian spinning into the gravel before continuing at the back of the field. Schumacher rejoined the race in 15th place.
By the end of the lap Barrichello, aided by his tyres, was nearly seven seconds ahead of Alonso but the track was obviously drying up too quickly for the Ferrari driver to take advantage of his gamble. Further behind, Button was the man on the move, first passing Raikkonen and then putting Montoya under pressure. When the Williams driver jumped the first chicane, Button move to third place and set his sights on Alonso.
Barrichello increased his lead to over eight seconds by the end of the second lap, but that was as far as he would go, as in the following two laps, Alonso closed the gap and passed the Brazilian just before Barrichello headed for the pits on lap five. The Brazilian returned to the race in ninth position and with Schumacher down in 11th place things were looking rather dim for Ferrari.
So Alonso led from Button, with a healthy lead of over seven seconds by lap eight. Montoya followed the BAR driver closely and Raikkonen was close behind the Colombian, with a big gap to Sato, who was unable to keep up with the leading pack.
Just as Button began to close in on Alonso, the Spaniard made his first scheduled stop for fuel on lap 10 while further back Schumacher continued with his recovery and moved to ninth position by overtaking teammate Barrichello. Button managed to open a small gap to Montoya, with Raikkonen already over four seconds adrift but comfortably in front of Sato, who was chased, though over 12 seconds behind, by Webber and Alonso.
Raikkonen's race, however, came to an end on lap 13 after yet another mechanical problem. Button pitted from the lead on lap 14, but the Briton managed to return ahead of Alonso and Montoya, with Barrichello, still to make his second stop, in fourth place. Teammate Schumacher had climbed back to seventh but looked well out of contention, nearly 30 seconds behind Button.
Following the action-packed start of the race, the order remained unchanged for some laps, with Alonso and Montoya slowly closing the gap to Button as the race reached its halfway point. Barrichello pitted from fourth place on lap 29, allowing Sato and Schumacher to gain a position. There was more action in the pits as Bruni was refuelling, his car catching fire after the fuel hose was disconnected. Although the fire was quickly extinguished, the scare was monumental and Bruni had to retire.
The second round of pitstops for those on a two-stop strategy was kicked off by Alonso, Montoya and Sato on lap 33, thus allowing Schumacher to move into second place some 17 seconds behind Button. When the Briton pitted on the following lap, the Ferrari driver emerged in the lead ahead of Barrichello, with Button some 15 seconds adrift. But Schumacher was still to stop.
The German came in for service on lap 36, rejoining the race right behind Sato, who was passed by Schumacher just seconds later. With less than 20 laps to go, the World Champion was 19 seconds behind Barrichello, who was still to make his final pitstop, and just seven behind second-placed Button. Alonso followed in third while Montoya had disappeared from the leading pack as he struggled with gearbox problems.
Barrichello continued to push hard and stretched his lead over Button at a rate of over two seconds per lap as the Briton came under pressure from Alonso. That, however, did not last long as the Spaniard lost his car at the exit of the second chicane on lap 41, spinning into the gravel. Although his engine was still running, the track marshals refused to push him and the angry Spaniard had to retire.
"I guess if you don't drive a red car they just don't push you," said Alonso after the race.
Meanwhile, the red cars were looking more and more likely to complete an amazing fightback: Barrichello pitted for the final time with 11 laps to go, and it was pure joy for the tifosi as the Brazilian returned in the lead just when Schumacher passed Button on the straight to take second place.
After all the problems, the Ferrari duo were back on top and by then there was no stopping them.
Button could do nothing and had to settle for third place, with Sato completing a strong day for BAR with his fourth place. Montoya managed to make it to the end of the race in fifth, which was another disappointing result given the early promise. Still, with Pizzonia's seventh place Williams were better off than McLaren, who left Italy with just three points thanks to Coulthard's sixth, earned after an unusual one-stop strategy.
Although Schumacher looked quicker than Barrichello during the final laps, the German didn't attempt anything, and it was Barrichello for once who had his back covered by his teammate. For the Italian fans it seemed to matter little: after such an outstanding season, a Ferrari win at Monza was almost imperative.
"It was lacking one win at least for me," reflected Barrichello at the end of the weekend. "I was telling myself you deserve this, just push the throttle down, just go as fast as you can. So when I came out of the pits I had no-one in front and no-one behind that I could see.
"I asked 'which position am I in? which position am I in?' And they said 'P1'. And then I said something in Portuguese which I can't say here now but it was just a phenomenal feeling."
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