Italian GP: Great Races to the Finish

Atlas F1

Italian GP: Great Races to the Finish

by Marcel Schot, The Netherlands

Monza, one of the legendary tracks of Formula One, always had a special place in auto racing history. Together with Monza one almost automatically speaks out the name Ferrari. Bonded with its home track, the team of the prancing horse almost always sparked there, scoring almost three times more podium finishes than its nearest team rival McLaren.

Ferrari's Tifosi at MonzaSince the start of the Formula One World Championship in 1950, only once was the Italian Grand Prix not hosted at Monza. In 1980, the Imola track made its debut in Formula One. That race is remembered for Gilles Villeneuve's horrifying crash. In the fifth lap his right rear tyre exploded at Tosa, making the car uncontrollable, bouncing into the wall and spinning back onto the track right in front of the passing cars. Apart from a severe headache, caused by one of the Ferrari's front wheels which hit Gilles' helmet, the Canadian was unharmed.

However, not all accidents at the Italian Grand Prix ended as luckily as Villeneuve's, and three very talented drivers have died at Monza through the years. The first one, in 1961, was Wolfgang von Trips who crashed out at Parabolica after making contact with Jim Clark's Lotus. With the German Ferrari driver, more than ten spectators were killed. Phil Hill won the race and brought Ferrari the World Championship, but without any celebrations. Von Trips, the great favorite to become the first German World Champion, ended up only one point behind Hill.

It marked Hill's second victory in as many years and both victories had something of a shadow over them. In 1960, all British teams boycotted the race, because it was held at the combined road/banked course, which was deemed too dangerous by the Brits. With the Lotus, Cooper and BRM teams absent, Hill was able to give Ferrari their only win of the season in an era that was dominated by the boycotting teams.

Nine years later, the same corner killed another driver: Jochen Rindt died in a horrible crash during the Saturday qualifying session. While breaking into Parabolica, Rindt's Lotus suddenly turned left instead of right and dived into the barriers. The impact tore the front side off the car and the Austrian never really stood a chance. However, at the end of that season, Rindt's lead in the championship proved enough and he was crowned World Champion posthumously.

The last time a driver died at Monza was twenty years ago. In 1978, Ronnie Peterson died in a starting accident. Just like seventeen years before, the tragedy gave Peterson's Lotus team-mate Mario Andretti the title. The Swede died at the track he loved - just like Juan Manual Fangio, Stirling Moss and Alain Prost he won the Italian Grand Prix three times, only beaten by Nelson Piquet, who won there four times.

Piquet's second win in 1983 proved a turning point in the season. Before the race, the Brazilian Brabham driver was fourteen points short of the lead, but he started an impressive come-back at Monza, becoming World Champion eventually.

Nevertheless, apart from the sad dramatics of the deaths Monza has also seen exciting racing. 1953, for instance, saw one of the more dramatic finishes of Formula One: going into the last corner, Alberto Ascari was leading Giuseppe Farina and Fangio closely in his Ferrari. Ascari spun, Farina had to take the grass to avoid him and Maserati driver Fangio was the lucky third, coming out of the corner with a better momentum than Farina, beating the Ferrari driver to the finish by just over one second.

1969 definitely showed an extremely exciting battle for the win. In the end, just 0.2 seconds separated winner Jackie Stewart (Matra) from number four Bruce McLaren, with Lotus driver Jochen Rindt and Stewart's teammate Jean Pierre Beltoise squeezed in between them.

Two years later, this thriller of 1969 got an ever more thrilling sequel. This time, five drivers took the checkered flag within a second. Until this day, that race is still considered in the books as the race with the smallest winning margin. Peter Gethin reached the flag just inches before Ronnie Peterson's March, with the gap being 0.01 seconds. It was BRM's second to last win, with Francois Cevert (Tyrrell), Mike Hailwood (Surtees) and Gethin's fellow BRM driver Howden Ganley finishing within six tenths of a second behind the winner.

With an average speed of 242 kph in 1971, the organization decided the speed has become too high and modified the track in two places. Before the entrance to the Curva Grande the Rettifilio chicane was built and the Curva Ascari was remodeled to become the Variante Ascari. This gave the track the characteristics it has today, while the speed dropped almost 30 kph at first.

However, by 1986 the speed was back up to the 240s because of the turbo's. Teo Fabi took pole for Benetton-BMW in 248 kph in front of McLaren's Alain Prost. However, due to both drivers having trouble just before the start, the entire front row remained empty for the only time in Formula One.

One name seems less dominating at Monza then elsewhere: Ayrton Senna. Although the Brazilian won the race in 1990 and 1992 for McLaren, he seemed to be unluckier at Monza than anywhere else. In 1987 he was in the lead, but went wide in Parabolica, losing the win to countrymen and arch rival Nelson Piquet. The following year Senna made a rare mistake, hitting backmarker Jean Louis Schlesser (Williams), thus handing Gerhard Berger Ferrari's only win of the McLaren dominated season. 1989 saw Senna without luck for the third time consequently, when he blew his engine nine laps from the end, handing team-mate Prost the win. Eventually, Senna climbed on the podium every time he finished the race and scored five pole positions in nine tries.

In more recent days, Michael Schumacher brought Ferrari its first win in eight years in 1996. The year before his win, the German was involved in an accident which saw both him and his arch rival Damon Hill crashing out of the event, due to Taki 'the driving chicane' Inoue and his familiar way of driving. Hill misjudged Inoue while lapping him, missed his braking point and torpedoed Schumacher's Benetton. In what remained a faceless race, Schumacher's teammate Johnny Herbert got his second win of the season.

What happened last year:

  • Jean Alesi (Benetton) took pole in 1:22.990
  • Mika Hakkinen (McLaren) set the fastest race lap in 1:24.808. He finished the race, however, only 9th.
  • David Coulthard won due to a brilliant pit stop by the McLaren crew during which he passed Alesi
  • Both Tyrrells, Stewarts and Tarso Marques (Minardi) used a two stop strategy, all others were on a one stopper
  • Ralf Schumacher nearly had Johnny Herbert killed when he put his Jordan into the Sauber's side at the end of the start/finish straight going nearly 330 kph
  • In free practice, Ukyo Katayama's Minardi suffered from a suspension failure and crashed out in Parabolica at 310 kph. The Japanese driver remained luckily unhurt
  • Michael Schumacher qualified a disappointing 9th, and finished the race 6th

Atlas F1 1997 Italian Grand Prix Review

  1997 Race Results
1. David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1h 17:4.609s
2. Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault + 1.937s
3. H.H. Frentzen Williams-Renault + 4.343s
4. Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Peugeot + 5.871s
5. Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault + 6.416s
6. Michael Schumacher Ferrari + 11.481s

Pole position:Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:22.990s
Fastest lap (49):Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.808s


Marcel Schot© 1998 Atlas Formula One Journal.
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