Looking back at Italy

By Matt Jones
September 26 2006

Following an eventful Italian Grand Prix, at least off-track, regular RealHondaF1.com reader Matt Jones shares his thoughts on the race, and the controversy that surrounded it.

The final European race of the season was very much put on the back burner as the time had come for Michael Schumacher to decide whether he would be retiring next season or not. With Ferrari signing Kimi Raikkonen next season the prospect of arguably the two best race drivers going wheel to wheel in the same car was an extremely good thought.

An announcement that was overshadowed by the whole goings on of the weekend was that MidlandF1 had been sold to Dutch car manufacturers Spyker. As soon as MidlandF1 had joined the paddock rumours had started to circulate about them selling up.

With the news that Fernando Alonso would be starting from tenth on the grid, as a penalty for ‘blocking’ Felipe Massa, it was looking extremely likely that Schumacher would deal a severe blow to Alonso’s lead in the driver championship. Alonso had impeded Massa marginally in his flying lap, if at all. The FIA appoints the same steward for each race weekend so as to ensure that if any rules are broken penalties are dealt with fairly and equally throughout the season. If the officiating at other races was as harsh as what was shown at Monza then penalties would be handed out to drivers left right and centre.

The BMW-Sauber team seemed to carry on their rich run of form, with a very solid third place on the grid for Nick Heidfeld, while Robert Kubica put the sister BMW into P6, very much putting themselves in a position to score some heavy points over championship rivals Toyota, who failed to qualify in the top ten.

As for Honda Racing F1, Jenson Button qualified on the third row of the grid in fifth, while Rubens Barrichello, with a very heavy fuel load, qualified P8. It was looking good for us to score some reasonably strong points. Unfortunately the win in Hungary now seems a life time ago as we continue back to our usual business of strong points or if we are lucky podium contenders.

On race day Alonso was very much on a damage limitation exercise as he was left to carve his way through the pack of cars at a circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult. Nonetheless in the early stages he kept his head and by lap two he was up to P6. A good start, but nothing compared to that of Robert Kubica, the rookie taking P3 off his team mate into turn one. Kubica would hold onto that position for most of the race and, at one stage during pit stops, he even led the race - a stunning display of speed and maturity from Kubica in only his third Formula One race.

First retirement of the race was nine laps in and, unsurprisingly, it was the Williams of Nico Rosberg, making it four consecutive retirements. As Williams’ torrid run of form continues, the team not scoring since Nurburgring, the future is looking increasingly uncertain. Despite having Toyota engines next season I cannot see a sudden turn around in Williams’ fortune without some major financial backing. Mark Webber managed to bring his car home, but it was all of 30 seconds outside the points and I’m sure now Mark is counting the days down until he gets to drive the Adrian Newey designed Red Bull car next season.

Ten laps from the end Alonso’s engine let go. After a tough race weekend it was disappointing to see. Worst of all for the Spaniard, Schumacher went on to win, taking 10 points out of Fernando’s championship lead. Not all was bad though - as Fernando’s engine let go, Felipe Massa was right behind him locking his wheels on the oil split, which resulted in him receiving a puncture and putting him out of the points. Karma brought on by what had happened the previous day in qualifying?

What was good to see was that Rookie Robert Kubica who had driven a fantastic race was handed third place due to this incident and it was well deserved too. A very good display and, once again, he has gone a long way to proving that dropping Jacques Villeneuve for himself was a good move by BMW. Kubica is now only one point behind the Canadian in the world drivers’ championship! Nick Heidfeld lost a lot of ground in the first lap and, although he did finish in the points, the team will be disappointed that he had not scored a very strong result.

Ferrari are looking like they could easily take both championships with a stronger overall driver line up and what seems to be a stronger package it looks like at the moment it is theirs to throw away. Ferrari were helped at Monza by an absolutely shocking and wrong decision by the stewards an opinion that has been echoed through the whole of the paddock. Another controversial title for Michael Schumacher if he wins it?

Renault looked strong under Alonso and probably could have been well in the mix with Kimi and Michael for the race win. Unfortunately the penalty ruined his weekend and now Alonso is going to have to go all out to try and regain some momentum in his bid to win the championship. Unfortunately it seems like the world constructors’ championship for the team has gone with Giancarlo Fisichella making no impression on the top three race places. The future is looking uncertain for Renault next season - with one driver who has proved he cannot fight for championships and a rookie driving the sister car they could be on for a very disappointing season.

McLaren are certainly knocking on the door for race wins and I wouldn’t be surprised if they stole one in the last few races, with Kimi Raikonnen almost matching Schumacher for most of the race. Pedro de la Rosa unfortunately retired early on with engine problems and perhaps still has a bit more to prove before McLaren will give him the race seat next season. As expected, Kimi is moving to Ferrari next season. I’m sure Ron Dennis isn’t too upset, as he does have Alonso arriving in the winter.

Honda were solid but unspectacular as usual. Rubens seemed to be closer to the pace of Jenson for once, which is nice to see. Unfortunately I thought Rubens would be a lot closer to Jenson this season - hopefully next season we will see them both fighting it out a little more often as we saw early on in the season at Bahrain.

Toyota seemed to struggle a lot. Trulli managed to steal some points thanks to a bit of fortune up ahead, but both cars lacked pace, with Ralf Schumacher only managing to finish ahead of the Super Aguri cars. It’s looking increasingly likely that BMW will finish ahead of them in the constructors championship. This season has been a disappointing one for both drivers and the team.

Red Bull Racing never threatened to score any points, and are probably working hard on next seasons chassis after a very disappointing season compared to last.

Scuderia Toro Rosso again didn’t really do much, the V10 powered cars very much just making up the numbers in the midfield and neither driver impressing this season, which makes it all the more shocking that the team feel no need to replace either of them. There are also questions over what engine they will be using next season.

Super Aguri were not really showing much with the chassis, or threatening anyone above the Midlands. Whether they will be able to compete any higher up the grid next season remains to be seen.

Midland were finally bought out, which isn’t a bad thing at all. Hopefully Spyker will plough some money into the team and bring an extra couple of cars up to the sharp end of the grid. Albers I think has done quite well in Formula one and it will be nice to see him given a half decent car to driver and show what he can do.

After a three week break, we are off to Asia for the Chinese Grand Prix. With very little in the championship battle its going to be hard fought until the end. Renault came back towards the end of the year last year to out pace the McLaren, so they might have something up their sleeve to steel back any advantage Ferrari have.

With Michael Schumacher retiring I have to admit I was left disappointed that we wouldn’t see him against Kimi Raikonnen next season, though I cannot say I was surprised by his decision. The only question that does currently remain is whether Schumacher will be retiring as a seven or eight times world champion. Either way it’s immaterial and does not change the fact that he is by far the most successful Formula one driver in the history of the sport.