Alonso's Monza Masterclass
September 10th 2007 08:22
McLaren shine on Ferrari's home soil
The Spaniard was peerless as he claimed his fourth grand prix win of the season, beating home teammate, Lewis Hamilton and hacking down his title lead to just three points in the process.
Ferrari, on the other hand had a torrid day in front of their fervent supporters, unusual for the Scuderia.
Felipe Massa retired early from suspension issues, while Kimi Raikkonen failed to match the pace of the McLarens, and could only manage a distant third place with his one-stop strategy.
The BMW pair of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica were fourth and fifth respectively. Heidfeld ran unopposed to take yet another fourth place finish, while Kubica recovered from a bungled pit stop to take fifth place back off Williams’ Nico Rosberg, who was again in top form.
Seventh went to Heikki Kovalainen, who led the Renault charge once again as his much more experienced teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella endured a frustrating run to 12th.
Jenson Button, who was enjoying racing a much-improved Honda this weekend, snapped up the final championship point.
Mark Webber was not far behind in his Red Bull and Honda’s Rubens Barrichello rounded out the top ten.
It was a fairly eventful race. Right off the line, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa were embroiled in a fierce duel that led to minor contact at the first chicane.
Hamilton, starting from the dirty side, pointed his car menacingly across the grid, declaring his intentions before the lights had even come on.
But, a sluggish start allowed Massa to outdrag the Brit into the first corner, forcing Hamilton to the outside.
Lewis kept his foot down, and came back aggressively at Massa, who held his line and bumped the McLaren ever-so-slightly.
The contact almost put the 22-year-old sideways, but a quick dive across the chicane saved Lewis from spinning, and losing his place.
The race was quickly interrupted by David Coulthard’s flying Red Bull, which suffered a failure and lunged itself into the barriers, prompting the safety car. The Scot walked away unhurt, but the race was not to resume for another four laps.
Shortly after the restart, the stewards soon announced they were investigating Hamilton’s corner cutting, but a quick review of the replays showed it was a racing incident, pure and simple.
It was all academic however, as Massa would soon peel into pitlane from third with a malfunctioning Ferrari.
The Brazilian’s dejection was clear to see as he stepped out of his car into the garage, the championship had just leap even further from him.
Back on track, Alonso and Hamilton were pulling away up front, while Raikkonen was being shadowed by Heidfeld, the man he passed off the line.
But Heidfeld was to be no threat to the Finn, who was running a short first stint on a one-stop strategy.
Raikkonen’s strategy came into play after the second round of stops, when Hamilton re-emerged from the pits behind the Ferrari.
However, Raikkonen’s time in P2 was short lived, when a determined Hamilton launched a surprise attack from some distance into the first corner. Wheels were locked, and tyres screamed in agony, but Hamilton somehow stayed in front.
Alonso pitted soon after, and regained the lead. It was no contest from there for the top four.
Alonso and Hamilton held station up front, Raikkonen mellowed his charge and sunk back into conservation mode, while Heidfeld did likewise in his lonely fourth place.
Robert Kubica provided the entertainment for the last part of the race. The Pole slid off his front jack during his first pitstop, which sent the BMW crew into a time-consuming panic.
Kubica was thrown backwards into the Rosberg/Button/Kovalainen battle that had raged all afternoon.
The 21-year-old fought his way past Kovalainen, and slipped past Rosberg in the dying laps, reclaiming fifth place.
Alonso’s win has breathed even more life into his title challenge, the Spaniard now lies only three points behind his teammate with four races left to run.
Kimi Raikkonen leads Ferrari’s WDC assault, but is 18 points behind, which is quite a mountain given McLaren’s bullet-proof reliability.
With their fourth one-two finish of 2007, McLaren tightened their grip on the constructors title, now 23 points clear of Ferrari.
The Silver Arrows are looking very likely to sweep both titles.
Unless of course, come Thursday, the FIA have something to say about it.
Race Result
01 F. Alonso McLaren 1:18:37.806
02 L. Hamilton McLaren 6.062
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 27.325
04 N. Heidfeld BMW 56.562
05 R. Kubica BMW 1:00.558
06 N. Rosberg Williams 1:05.810
07 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:06.751
08 J. Button Honda 1:12.168
09 M. Webber Red Bull 1:15.879
10 R. Barrichello Honda 1:16.958
11 J. Trulli Toyota 1:17.736
12 G. Fisichella Renault 1 laps
13 A. Wurz Williams 1 laps
14 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1 laps
15 R. Schumacher Toyota 1 laps
16 T. Sato Super Aguri 1 laps
17 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1 laps
18 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1 laps
19 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1 laps
20 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1 laps
Did not finish
21 F. Massa Ferrari 43 laps
22 D. Coulthard Red Bull 52 laps
Fastest Laps
01 Alonso McLaren 15 1:22.871
02 Hamilton McLaren 17 1:22.936
03 Räikkönen Ferrari 21 1:23.370
04 Heidfeld BMW 19 1:23.681
05 Kubica BMW 22 1:23.908
06 Massa Ferrari 8 1:23.971
07 Kovalainen Renault 53 1:24.226
08 Rosberg Williams 52 1:24.472
09 Button Honda 32 1:24.532
10 Trulli Toyota 49 1:24.622
11 Sato Super Aguri 49 1:24.669
12 Barrichello Honda 52 1:24.767
13 Webber Red Bull 46 1:24.824
14 Fisichella Renault 32 1:24.849
15 Schumacher Toyota 49 1:24.951
16 Wurz Williams 42 1:25.000
17 Davidson Super Aguri 46 1:25.116
18 Vettel STR 47 1:25.313
19 Liuzzi STR 45 1:25.373
20 Sutil Spyker 30 1:25.377
21 Yamamoto Spyker 34 1:25.478
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