Fernando Alonso stamped his authority on McLaren-Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton with a dominant victory at Monza, cutting Hamilton’s championship lead to three points.
It was an important result for the double world champion and for the team after a stressful few days at the Italian Grand Prix. The on-going spy scandal is still taking proceeding in Formula One and we will discover the outcome of this season’s championship in a World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris on Thursday, September 13.
It is unclear what the verdict will be especially with new evidence coming into light (apparently McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa exchange some emails to race driver Alonso about top secret information on Ferrari). So for the next few days, the fight for this year’s titles could be decided in the courts than out on the race track…
Nevertheless, McLaren and Alonso should be pleased by Sunday’s race result. It was the Spaniard’s 19th career Grand Prix win and to take the chequered flag in front of the passionate Ferrari fans (tifosi) was a special feeling for the double world champion.
As for Lewis Hamilton, he still holds onto the drivers’ title lead over his team-mate by a small points margin. Finishing second was a good result for the British team but it could have been worst if Kimi Raikkonen finished in front of him. But Hamilton was in a racy mood and forced his way past the Ferrari driver with a spectacular overtaking manoeuvre into the first chicane on lap 43.
Raikkonen was caught by surprise as he just moved into second place thanks to Ferrari’s clever single pit-stop strategy to promote him a track position. Both cars locked their brakes into the first corner and it was lucky both drivers didn’t make any contact. A great pass by the Formula One rookie but Kimi should have defended more aggressively.
Nick Heidfeld continued his consistent points finishes with a fine fourth for BMW Sauber, finishing ahead of team-mate Robert Kubica. Nico Rosberg was sixth for Williams after fighting off a determined Jenson Button. The Honda seemed to be working much better in the low-downforce configuration at Monza and it was fascinating to see the duel between Rosberg and Button in the 53-lap race. In the end though, Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen finished between the pair.
There were two non-finishes in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix and one of them was a championship contender, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. The Brazilian had a frantic opening set of laps trying to pass Hamilton’s McLaren. But was forced to retire early with mechanical problems, hitting his title hopes and the team’s. The other driver to retire from the race was David Coulthard. The Red Bull driver suffered a front wing failure (as the result of damage after hitting Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault in the first chicane) and speared hard into the wall at the Curva Grande. The Scot escaped unhurt in the high speed accident.
So a perfect result for McLaren with first and second in Ferrari’s home race. This season’s Formula One World Championship is becoming tensed with four races remaining. But could politics rather than supreme driving talents of Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen and Massa decide the fate of the championship?
Italian Grand Prix result, Monza, 53 laps
1. ALONSO McLaren 1h18m37.806s
2. HAMILTON McLaren +6.0s
3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +27.3s
4. HEIDFELD BMW +56.5s
5. KUBICA BMW +1m00.5s
6. ROSBERG Williams +1m05.8s
7. KOVALAINEN Renault +1m06.7s
8. BUTTON Honda +1m12.1s
9. WEBBER Red Bull +1m15.9s
10. BARRICHELLO Honda +1m16.9s
11. TRULLI Toyota +1m17.7s
12. FISICHELLA Renault +1 lap
13. WURZ Williams +1 lap
14. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +1 lap
15. R SCHUMACHER Toyota +1 lap
16. SATO Super Aguri +1 lap
17. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +1 lap
18. VETTEL Toro Rosso +1 lap
19. SUTIL Spyker +1 lap
20. YAMAMOTO Spyker +1 lap
R. MASSA Ferrari +43 laps
R. COULTHARD Red Bull +52 laps
Fastest lap: ALONSO 1:22.871
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Snige66 says:
only managed to see the highlights last night. Not exactly the best race. ONly two notable passes and one was in the pits…..again. Lewis’s pass on kimi was outstanding though. Say what you want about the hype or him as a person, but Lewis as got some major talent, and drives F1 cars way beyond his experiance with them. BUt Alonso will still take the title. Which in one way I’m glad. God can you imagine the strop he’ll have!!!!
Sep 09, 2007, 11:41 am