The Italian Grand Prix.AH! What a Great well earned Victory for Ferrari. What an awesome race, I was on the edge throughout. I think my couch would have some choice words to say to me if it could talk.
It had been raining all morning at Monza and the track was partially still wet. As the race started, I noticed almost everyone was running Dry tyres. Now, that was a suprise since dry tyres will be a very slick drive. I expected everyone to run Wet or Intermediate. Coulthard was running Wet (Right after the parade lap, he pitted for Dry though) and Barrichello Intermediate, can't remember if anyone else was. At the beginning, it looked like everyone's gamble was wrong since Barrichello zoommed away with the Intermediate tyres and all the other drivers were having trouble with the wet road. Schumacher even SPINNED out right in the second chicane, losing his front running position and rejoined the race in P15 (OH GOD! NO!!!!). I spoke too soon though since only after 4 laps, you see Barrichello's lead diminishing and Alonso catching up. Man, he had an 8 second lead up till now. So an early pit stop for him to change back to Dry tyres. Remember this is the 5th lap in a 53 lap race. Schumacher is 14th and Barrichello is 9th after the pit. Oh DAMMIT! not looking good for Ferrari.
In the lead now is Alonso with Button right behind and Montoya 3rd. The race went pretty much static then for the three leaders, Alonso pulling away abit and pitting at lap 10. This gives Button P1. He actually retains the lead all the way to lap 33 (Remember what I said last time about Button. This guy is really good and with a better car, my bet for new Champion). Pretty much run of the mill at the front of the pack with Montoya and Alonso trying to take out Button. After 30+ laps, only 3 retirements.
Lap 1, Panis. I cant really remember, The first lap beside Schumacher there were a few spins too, I guess he spinned out to the gravel or something.
Lap 13, Raikkonen had enginge trouble (again) and retired. I told you, unless he can constantly show performance like in Belgium. He's a one hit wonder. McLaren need to really polish up their car.
Lap 31, Bruni's car caught fire during refueling. I think the car was alright as the mechanics were giving a go ahead. But Bruni must have inhaled smoke or extinguisher powder and had to retire.
But the back is where the action is. Schumacher trying to catch up the best he can and constantly setting best lap and best sector times. This is where the race gets interesting. Barrichello took and retained a 4th position from about lap 16 all the way to 29 when he pitted again. A very short pitstop which saw him losing only 2 positions and rejoins Behind Schumacher. Yes, thats right. By that time, Good Ol Shumi has fought all the way back to 5th Spot.
Lap 30. P1- Button, P2- Alonso, P3- Montoya, P4- Sato, P5- Schumi, P6-Barrichello.
Lap 33. Alonso, Montoya and Sato Pit together. They also come back out in the same sequence. SO, that means Schumi and Barrichello are now in 2nd and 3rd spot. Button pits at lap 34 and Shumi is now race leader and for the next two laps he sets fastest Lap and fastest Sector times again. Whoop! Did I say this was exciting or what.
Lap 37, Schumi pits. He rejoins the race at P5 right behind Sato, but Immediately overtakes him through the first chicane. So we now have Schumi at 4th. Barrichello has been given a big chance and now has the lead. Only around 3 seconds seperate the 2-5th place and that's where the action is at the moment.
Lap 41, OOH! Alonso spins out at the second chicane. His back tyres are in the gravel and his car cannot move. The track maintenance guys are at the scene and we can see Alonso motioning for them to give his car a little push as he still can rejoin the race. But we see the guy keep shaking his hands. Alonso gets out of the car and storms away. We actually see him kicking the gravel in fustration. Now this is perfectly understandable. It's seemed more to me that the "Italian" crew were just a tad unhelpful there. Tough. I feel really bad for Alonso. He had such a great race. This gives Schumi 3rd place while Button takes 2nd.
We see Barrichello setting fastest lap now and he is trying to create a gap for his last pitstop.. Aaand he Makes it. Lap 42, he pits with a 22 second lead and comes out back in P1. At the very same time Schumi overtakes Button in the first chicane. Ladies and Gentlemen, LAP 43. Ferrari 1-2. Only 10 more laps to go. WHooo Hooo!
Everyone is pushing hard. Now THIS is Racing. After overtaking Button in the 1st chicane, Schumi ran wide in the 2nd chicane and had his rear left eat into the gravel. My heart kinda lurched, I thought NO! Not Now! NO!. Luckily he steadied the car and apparently no major damage. He didn't lose the position too.
Now this is where it gets interesting. 9 more laps. Ferrari 1-2, but Barrichello is in the lead with around 3 secs. What I got was a great race to the finish with Schumi pushing Barrichello hard closing the gap to less than a second. Here is the dillema. Should Schumi fight to the end, overtake Barrichello and take the win or let his teammate take the victory? Ferrari has already secured the Constructors title. Schumi has already won the Drivers title. It's not about points anymore, just pure racing. There were back-markers by the last 2 laps which slowed down the pace, but I don't think Schumi would have rained on his teamamtes parade. It would also be very un-sportsmanship. He did however pushed Barrichello all the way to the end making him "earn" the victory. This was why it was so great to watch.
Regardless of Schumacher or even Barrichello's skill. How Ferrari manages to plan effective strategies is amazing. To have two different strategies for both cars and the need to adapt both in a race to suit the particular driver AND give him an advantage is just.. well... amazing . When a race is stagnant, it's usually the pit stop strategies that make the difference. Ferrari not only pulled 1, but 2 hat tricks this race from a disastrous start. AMEN!
To top off my night. I played a few rounds of CS with my friend. So happens our server was on cs_italy. Now what are the odds of that. We had a good game too, played through 2 maps and practically owned. Now I'm old, I don't play competitive much anymore and pub servers are just filled with kids. To actually play a 2v2, 2v3 tactical games was so refreshing. To be called a Cheater by 3 different people in 1 hour was icing on my already good night.
