McLaren 1-2 in front of Ferrari’s home crowd.

Monza is the fastest circuit on the F1 calendar today and is the only time the teams will run a low down force set up. With this circuit being a one off in terms of aerodynamics any team that got it right would have a huge advantage over the rest.

Once more however the off track political situation spy saga had taken a new twist. After a relatively quiet August with no new developments until a few days before the race. The FIA announced that Mclaren were to be called again before the FIA to explain new evidence. There had apparently been a tip off about emails between Mclaren test driver Pedro De La Rosa and Fernando Alonso, which allegedly contained information on the 2007 Ferrari. How much of this is true and if it has anything to do with the Stephney/Coughlan leaked documents will be sorted out on Thursday 13th September. This could mean Mclaren being thrown out of the World Championship.

In the week before at the circuit Mclaren had topped all 3 days testing an omen for the weekend? On Saturday in final practice those thoughts were put on hold when Kimi Raikkonen has a 200 mph smash approaching Ascari destroying his racecar. Luckily the Finn was able to walk away and carry on with the spare car for the weekend. It left the Finn on the back foot however losing more set up time after losing track time on Friday to technical problems.

Qualifying.

Q1 Red Bulls reliability woes continued a gearbox problem leaving Coulthard 20th on the grid. The Spykers with there all new B spec car were 21st and 22nd Yamamoto yet again behind Sutil. Liuzzi was beaten by his teammate Vettel who made his way to Q2. Ralf Schumacher was also knocked out as was Sato.

Q2 With Both Honda’s into the second knockout session it showed some progress but don’t mention Honda to Fisichella, The Renault driver had his lap wrecked when Barrichello came back on track in front of him after messing up his own lap, this left Fisichella 15th. Vettel was 16th Davidson was 14th then Wurz Barrichello and Webber in 11th.

Q3 The Honda of Jenson Button made it through to the top 10 Trulli again easily beating his teammate who as down in 18th. 8th was Rosberg in his Williams, Kovalainen was 7th then 6th the Bmw of Kubica stuck in 5th was Raikkonen who was beaten to 4th by Heidfeld. Massa 3rd Hamilton 2nd but Alonso had taken pole after being fastest in all 3 sessions. Mclaren looked dominant with Massa the fastest Ferrari half a second off the pole time.

The Race.

No problems for any teams overnight so all the cars took there places on the grid. At the start Alonso got a good start to keep his lead Massa out dragged Hamilton and was slightly ahead but Hamilton tried to pass going into the first chicane missing the apex cutting the chicane and bumping across but managing to take 2nd place back. The steward had taken note of this and would keep an eye on the brit. Raikkonen had got the better of Heidfeld moving up to 4th. Further back both Williams missed the chicane passing cars ahead of them but had to let them past again to avoid any penalties. David Coulthard had made 5 places from 20th on the grid but going into the Curva Grande his front wing failed after being damaged whilst trying to pass Fisichella sending him straight into the tyre barrier heavily bringing the safety car out. Coulthard walked away from the accident but it was a bad weekend for the Scot.

The safety car had a comical moment however when it missed the leaders coming in front of Heidfeld in 5th. Luckily the top 4 slowed down behind the safety car. The race got underway again on lap 7 with Mclaren dropping the Ferrari’s on lap 9 how ever Massa pitted feeling something was wrong with the back of the car. It turned out to be terminal as on the following lap Massa returned slowly to the pits to retire. The other Ferrari just had no answers to the speed of the Mclaren losing almost a second a lap to Alonso. Hamilton to had no answer to Alonso who was able to build his lead up, on lap 18 Hamilton pitted so Alonso had taken pole with a heavier car showing his level of dominance this weekend. The world champion pitted 2 laps later on a 2-stop strategy for both Mclaren drivers. Raikkonen stayed out 5 laps longer and was looking like he was on a 1-stop strategy.

During this time Button and Rosberg were side by side in a great battle with the two drivers swapping places for the first half of the lap Rosberg eventually winning the battle. Kubica pitted 2 laps after his teammate but had a disaster with his stop. He stopped in his box in a slightly off angle and the car was therefore not on the jack properly. The car then slid off the front jack and the team could not change the front wheels the mechanics having to lift the car by the front wing, not ideal. This dropped Kubica into the mid pack with a lot of work to do. Back up at the front Alonso had got his lead up to over 4 seconds from Hamilton. Raikkonen on a heavy car was dropping away nowhere near the pace of the Mclarens. Hamilton made his 2nd stop on lap 40 worried about his tyres going off. He rejoined in 3rd 1.5 seconds behind Raikkonen. This was bad news for Hamilton as this would see his championship lead down to 1 point from Alonso if he was to stay in third. Alonso made his stop and came out still in the lead. Hamilton had already passed Raikkonen however at the first chicane coming from a fair distance back both drivers locked up but Raikkonen had let the door open and Hamilton was through. With Alonso 7.5 seconds up the road the top 3 drivers all backed off to save there engines for next weekends race at spa the pace dropping at the front by 2 seconds a lap.

Kubica making his way back up the field passed Kovalainen in the pits doing two extra laps on low fuel then easily passed Rosberg at the first chicane two laps later. The Bmw driver easily driving around the Williams. Rosberg managed to stay in 6th holding off Kovalainen in what was a disappointing weekend for Renault Fisichella finishing a distant 12th after being passed by the Super Aguri of Davidson early in the race and spending a lot of time stuck behind the brit. All this was of little worry to Alonso who had taken the pole, fastest lap and win with Hamilton 2nd from Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Kubica, Rosberg, Kovalainen and a second point of the season for Button in 8th.

Race Bits

• Ferrari blows it in there own back yard.
  It was already apparent that Ferrari could make no more mistakes this season and after the 1-2 at turkey a lonely and off the pace 3rd for Raikkonen and a dnf for Massa wrecked the teams title chances. A disappointed Massa faced up to reality, “Impossible no, but for sure not easy," Ferrari also dropped 23 points behind Mclaren in the constructor championship.



• Not a good race if you wanted to keep your job guys...
  Fisichella, Schumacher and Wurz 3 drivers that currently are fighting to keep there seat with there respective teams for 2008. Bad news for them is that they were also all beaten by there team mates. Whilst Rosberg and Kovalainen scored points Wurz and Fisichella finished outside the top in 11th and 13th. Trulli also finished in 11th out the points but he was able to get into the top 10 shoot out while Ralf stayed firmly towards the back of the field. All 3 drivers will have to up there game if they are to be still driving in 2008.
  
  
• Spyker now the richest team on the grid?
  Whilst the struggling Spyker team finally managed to get there b-Spec car on the grid it didn’t get them any further up the grid. The cars were 21st and 22nd on the grid in qualifying and finished last of the finishers in 19th and 20th. But things may be on the up with Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya putting an 80 million euro bid to but the team. The deal should be sorted in the next few weeks and Mallya hopes to put “Team India” on the grid as soon as possible.



• Ron Dennis has last laugh for now.
  An emotional Ron Dennis was happier that his team had functioned perfectly under all the stress of the spy saga and the fact that the Italian authorities notified the team they were now under investigation. Dennis said, “It's (been) a very trying weekend. We've tried to maintain our motivation and dignity in challenging circumstances,” “Perhaps the emphasis is best placed on the performance of our team under a lot of pressure.”




• The title is close. Not to mention confusing.
  The drivers title is getting close between the top two now separated by 3 points with Ferrari slipping away. The only problem is come next weekend it is not known if Mclaren will even be in the championship. The FIA hearing on Wednesday to hear new evidence could change the whole out look on the title. Watch this space.

Next weekend will see the return of Spa Francorchamps a real drivers circuit with the daunting Eau Rouge corner. The Bus stop chicane has also been re-profiled again and some of the drivers have been vocal about the new pit lane entry and its chances of causing an accident. The biggest question will be will Mclaren even be at the circuit? And what state will the championship be in. All will be answered on Thursday.

Move of the race: Hamiltons move was brave but the side by side action between Button and Rosberg gets my vote on this one.

Champ of the race: Easy, Alonso was unbeatable all weekend: Pole, fastest lap, and win.

Chump of the race: Ralf Schumacher, qualifies down the field and does nothing all race. Ralf mate your brother announced his retirement at this race last year maybe you should do likewise?