Results of the 2007 Italian F1 Grand Prix
The battle for the Driver’s Championship heated up at Monza when Fernando Alonso finished ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton for a McLaren one-two. The victory for the Spaniard reduces Hamilton’s lead to just three points, while the Ferrari drivers are now all but out of contention, with Massa retiring and Raikkonen finishing third to trail the points leader by 18 with only four races left this season.
Alonso’s experience gave him the edge over Hamilton as he lead from pole and drove a blistering race. The rookie Briton finished six seconds behind, and was lucky to snatch back second from Raikkonen after losing out to a typically well timed Ferrari pitstop. But the Finn, who had suffered a high-speed crash in qualifying, was unable to defend the position – later claiming he was suffering neck pains. Hamilton, with his trademark do-or-die racing, overtook him in the dying laps with an audacious move.
Once again there were no surprises as the two BMW-Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica finished fourth and fifth, and Nico Rosberg claimed another sixth for Williams ahead of Heikki Kovalainen’s Renault and a welcome eighth for Jenson Button in a Honda.
The biggest loser of the day was Brazilian Felipe Massa, winner in Turkey, who’s Ferrari suffered a rare mechanical failure early in the race and effectively ended his title chase. It also means that McLaren have extended their lead in the Constructors’ Title to 23 points.
The race itself had little excite or drama, other than David Coulthards’ high speed exit on lap 10 after losing part of his wings. The only other moment of suspense was the prospect of Ferrari snatching the lead on their unusual one pit stop strategy, but Alonso was simply too far ahead of Raikkonen.
The only change to the top end of the order in the Drivers’ Title is Massa’s slide to fourth, five points behind teammate Raikkonen. He in turn is a full 15 points behind Alonso and 18 adrift of Hamilton who leads with 92 points. Ferrari’s efforts in the Constructors’ Title also look depressing as they trail McLaren’s 166 points by 23, while BMW-Sauber are well entrenched in third on 86, double that of Renault.
Italian Grand Prix result after 53 laps of Monza circuit:
1. Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren-Mercedes 1hr 18min 37.806secs
2. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes +6.062 seconds
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari +27.325
4. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +56.562
5. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber +1:00.558
6. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota +1:05.810
7. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault +1:06.751
8. Jenson Button (GB) Honda +1:12.168
9. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault +1:15.879
10. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda +1:16.958
11. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota +1:17.736
12. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault one lap behind
13. Alexander Wurz (Aut) Williams-Toyota one lap
14. Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda one lap
15. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota one lap
16. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda one lap
17. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Ferrari one lap
18. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari one lap
19. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Spyker-Ferrari one lap
20. Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker-Ferrari one lap
R Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 10 laps completed
R David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault one lap