Montoya cruises to win in Italy

Juan Pablo Montoya cruised to his second victory of the season at the Italian Grand Prix – but the championship is on the brink of becoming a one-horse race following yet more bad luck to blight McLaren team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Sun, 04 Sep, 2005 - 15:37

Montoya led from start to finish for the sixth win of his 81-race career, but with championship leader Fernando Alonso taking second and Raikkonen fourth, the gap between the leading protagonists is 27 points with four races remaining.

Raikkonen’s run of misfortune began yesterday morning when he required a third engine change in six races prior to qualifying, resulting in another 10-place demotion down the grid.

That left the Finn starting from 11th as he produced a blistering qualifyin display that would have clinched pole position but for the latest problem – an inlet valve failing – on the Mercedes engine.

Then with Raikkonen running fifth just after the midway point of the 53-lap race at Monza, he sustained a puncture to his left-rear tyre, dropping him down the field again.

The fighting Raikkonen later suffered a minor spin that led to Jarno Trulli taking his fourth place, only to regain it soon after with a brilliant braking manoeuvre into the Parabolica.

No such problems for Montoya who could not have wished for a more perfect start as the pace and power of the McLaren was more than enough to hold off front-row partner Alonso heading into the first chicane.

The tight, twisting nature of those opening two corners has created a number of problems in the past, but on this occasion the leaders wormed their way through without alarm.

It was in mid-field and towards the rear where the only collisions occurred, with Red Bull Racing’s David Coulthard clipped by the Williams of Mark Webber, while Christijan Albers in the Minardi and Jordan’s Narain Karthikeyan also came together.

That resulted in all four pitting, but of little consequence to a front-running Montoya and Alonso who then proceeded over the following early laps to comfortably pull away from the rest of the field, at that stage led by Jenson Button.

A smaller-than-average crowd at the 3.6-mile circuit, with sections of the grandstand empty in places compared to its’ overcrowded nature in recent years at the height of Ferrari’s success, watched as the changing of the guard unfolded in front of them.

The first round of pit stops were a tactical battle, with the surprise the Ferraris of Schumacher and team-mate Rubens Barrichello were in so early on lap 13 and 14 respectively.

The question was whether Raikkonen, previously so quick in practice and qualifying – yet who was struggling to squeeze his way past the Sauber of 10th-placed Jacques Villeneuve early on – was on a one-stop strategy.

The answer came at the end of lap 25 as Raikkonen was last man in, yet despite an 11.5-second stop, the statistics showed he only took on enough fuel for 26 laps – two short of the finish.

When he re-emerged, the 25-year-old slotted into fifth place behind the Toyota of Trulli and ahead of Button, who was one of the losers in the opening pit-stop battle along with team-mate Takuma Sato, who clearly ran light in qualifying to get their high spots.

But then disaster struck again for Raikkonen with the puncture, and then the spin, leaving Montoya and Alonso to coast to first and second.

Alonso’s Renault team-mate claimed third for his first podium since the opening race in Australia, and behind Raikkonen came Trulli, the second Toyota of Ralf Schumacher, a fine drive from Antonio Pizzonia for seventh in the Williams, with Button eighth.

With Michael Schumacher down in 10th, it means his five-year reign as Formula One king is over as he trails Alonso by 48 points with only 40 up for grabs.

Montoya was happy enough with his second win at Monza, the scene of his first career victory in 2001.

“The first few laps I pushed hard, opened a gap which it became a case of maintaining, but then the car started to suffer from oversteer,” said Montoya.

“I could see the tyre breaking up and there was no grip, but we got to the end and this win is good for me for the championship.”

“I took the race quite easy,” said Alonso of a grand prix that will go down in history for one reason as it is the first since the Dutch Grand Prix of 1961 that there were no mechanical retirements.

“The team informed me of the tyre problem Juan Pablo was suffering and I tried to close, but it was too late.

“Second place is good and I’m on the podium again, so this is good for me for the championship.”

Final Race Positions (53 Laps):

1 Juan Montoya (Col) McLaren 01hr 14mins 28.659secs,

2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 01:14:31.138,

3 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 01:14:49.113,

4 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 01:15:11.888,

5 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 01:15:45.674,

6 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 01:16:28.969,

7 Antonio Pizzonia (Bra) Williams 01:17:13.612,

8 Jenson Button (Gbr) BAR 01:17:14.615,

9 Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber 01:17:15.630,