Rubens Barrichello wins Italian Grand Prix

Ferrari celebrated their home grand prix at Monza today with a 1-2 for Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher.

Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello spearheaded a dream one-two for Ferrari in their home race as he powered to victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza today - but there was joy for Eddie Irvine as he finished third.

The 30-year-old triumphed by 0.2 seconds from world champion Michael Schumacher who still set another Formula One record as he took his season tally to 128 points, beating the mark of 123 he set last year.

Jarno Trulli finished fourth despite starting from the back of the grid after getting off late for the formation lap with outgoing team-mate Jenson Button fifth – his first point in four races.

Olivier Panis was sixth for British American Racing while David Coulthard took seventh having dropped to the back of the field when forced to make a first lap pit-stop for a new front wing. Toyota’s Allan McNish retired with a suspension problem.

But the day belonged to Irvine as he claimed his under-fire Jaguar Racing team’s first podium spot since he finished third behind the two Ferraris in Monaco last year.

The 36-year-old Northern Irishman was in the points for the second successive race as the Milton Keynes outfit have suddenly found a competitive edge after a nightmare season.

Irvine is refusing to reveal his future plans despite being linked with a return to Jordan at the end of this season but, if he is still searching for a drive, he chose the perfect time to prove his talent.

Barrichello’s third victory of the season – it was Ferrari‘s 13th in 15 races - and the fourth of his career virtually guarantees him second place in the drivers’ championship behind Schumacher.

The Sao Paulo-born driver leads Colombia’s Juan Pablo Montoya by 17 points with just the United States and Japanese Grands Prix left.

Pole winner Montoya retired with a suspension problem when lying third while his Williams-BMW team-mate Ralf Schumacher suffered a blown engine on lap five after he had snatched the lead on the opening lap.

The failure of the Williams duo to mount a sustained challenge left Ferrari to romp to their third successive one-two and their seventh of a crushingly dominant season.

Schumacher cut his deficit to Barrichello in the final laps but it appears the duo were told not to race again with the top two places secure.

Barrichello said after a podium ceremony with thousands of tifosi on the track: "I don't think we are ever going to experience anything like that again. As far as my eyes could see there were people, it was amazing.

“I saw Ralf slowing down a bit on so dived down the inside and managed to get the slipstream of Montoya so I had the perfect lap when I went from third to first.

“Today the two-stop strategy was the way to go. We can have a big party now.”

Schumacher, who was on a one-stop strategy, said: “This was the result we dreamed of. To look out from the podium and see so many people, it is an amazing emotion. They support us and hopefully we gave something back to them.

“It was clear that we were going to break the season’s points record. We can be happy with what we achieved this year.”

Irvine, who had started from his best grid placing of the campaign of fifth, said: “When I was at Ferrari it was podium, podium, podium so there is nothing like being away from it to appreciate it.

“It’s great, especially here in Italy. People ask me why I spend so muc time here but looking out there you can just see why.”