Fernando Alonso dominated the 53-lap Italian Grand Prix to take his first win at the classic Monza circuit. Starting from the pole position, Alonso made a great getaway and was never seriously threatened by team-mate Lewis Hamilton who would take the chequered flag six seconds behind. Alonso’s fine victory closes the championship gap to just three points…
While Alonso did not put a foot wrong, Hamilton made life harder for himself than it had to be on his second stint as he dropped back from Alonso and found himself behind Kimi Raikkonen after his second and final stop. An audacious pass for position ten laps from home into the first chicane regained Hamilton the runner-up position.
Kimi Raikkonen started fifth in his Ferrari and immediately got the jump on fourth placed Nick Heidfeld on the run down to the first turn at the start and tucked in behind team-mate Massa. Running a one stop strategy, Raikkonen was unable to keep pace with the front runners, but his fourth place on track became third when Massa peeled off into the pits on lap ten.
It was the end of the road for Massa who went back out only to return to the pit and retire the F2007 with a suspension issue. Raikkonen kept the pressure on and almost snatched second position from the two-stopping Hamilton were it now for a very late lunge from the rookie to regain second position.
t was a pretty typical race for Nick Heidfeld as he had the pace to pull away from those behind him in his BMW Sauber, but did not have the pace to do anything about those in front. Heidfeld finished in fourth position, half a minute behind Raikkonen.
Robert Kubica had to work harder for his position and took fifth over all just four second behind Heidfeld. A problem with the front jack in his first pit stop cost him ten seconds resulting in Kubica falling behind Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen. The BMW racer would battle back and close down a 20 second deficit to Heidfeld in the closing stages.
Nico Rosberg drove a good race again for Williams Toyota. The German racer lost out to Jenson Button early on and lost time behind the leading Honda. Once clear, Rosberg was able to pull clear to finish sixth, five seconds behind Kubica.
Heikki Kovalainen started seventh and finished in the same position in the leading Renault, losing one position in the race to Rosberg, while Jenson Button ran a very long first stint and brought the Honda home in eighth position for his second point of the season.
Mark Webber finished ninth in his Red Bull Renault. Team-mate David Coulthard had a short race as he suffered a heavy shunt on lap two that brought out the safety car for seven laps. Coulthard clipped the back of Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault at the first chicane and heading into the next turn – Curve Grande – the RB3 speared off the track as the front wing failed. Coulthard was unhurt.
It was another disappointing race for Jarno Trulli. Starting ninth the Italian veteran lost four positions on the opening lap and was never able to regain all of that ground. Trulli finished 11th, less than a second behind Barrichello.
Rubens Barrichello finished in 12th position, losing one position in the race to Mark Webber. Giancarlo Fisichella finished a lap down in 12th position in the second Renault. Alex Wurz was next up in the second Williams ahead of Anthony Davidson who battled hard early on with Fisichella.
Ralf Schumacher finished 15th in the second Toyota ahead of Takuma Sato in his Super Aguri Honda. The Toro Rosso duo of Tonio Liuzzi and Sebastian Vettel took 17th and 18th ahead of the Spyker pair of Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto.
The teams now pack up and head to the Ardennes to prepare for the Belgian Grand Prix next weekend. In between, we have the crucial World Motor Sport Council hearing on Thursday in Paris. There is plenty to play for…
Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International
1. F.Alonso
2. L.Hamilton
3. K.Raikkonen