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THE DAVID COULTHARD MUSEUM

Italy

From as early on as Saturday morning it appeared that it just wasn’t going to go to plan for the Ferrari team on home soil. Kimi Raikkonen crashed heavily on the entrance to turn eight at over 160 mph. Apparently he went over a bump which sent the car the wrong way and head on into the barrier. However, nobody else before or after that accident had a problem with that ‘bump’. So perhaps that could have been a bit of a cover up for either a Ferrari failure or even an error of Kimi’s part. This theme ran right through to Saturday afternoon when throughout all three qualifying sessions neither Kimi nor team-mate Felipe Massa had any answer for the superior speed of the McLarens. The first session was not without incident with Sakon Yamamoto having an off, with his front wing being ripped off. He was followed by David Coulthard who thanks to yet another Red-Bull gearbox failure was forced into a spin and 20th place. The seemingly resurgent Ralf Schumacher was another big name casualty as he could only muster 18th. In the second session Giancarlo Fisichella could only manage 15th place after he was supposedly held up by the Honda driver Rubens Barrichello who was recovering to the track after a little excursion. When it came down to the crunch in the final qualifying session Ferrari where nowhere to be seen with Massa half a second of the front pair and Raikkonen was even demoted to fifth by the ever-impressive Nick Heidfeld. Hamilton got closer to Alonso than he had been during the session but still could not quite pip his team-mate to top spot with Fernando edging the Brit out by about five hundredths of a second.
By Sunday all eyes were on the front two and what they were going to do going into the tricky first chicane. At the end of the formation lap when all the cars took their positions for the start of the race it appeared that Lewis’ intentions were very clear with his car angled ever so slightly to his left seemingly ready to attack Alonso. However, when the red lights faded for the start Hamilton’s pointed car was not an attacking tactic but a defensive one as the Ferrari of Felipe Massa went right up the inside of the Brit and seemingly took second place. However, Hamilton as we know is not one to hold back at starts and was determined not to let Massa get the better of him. He stuck to his guns and just about got his car ahead of Massa’s before the turn-in for the corner. Perhaps if he had not quite got his whole car through and passed then he may have faced the wrath of the stewards after having to take avoiding action over the green run off area. The usual hustle and bustle ensued in the midfield and at the back. All the cars have a concertina affect and tend to bunch up going into that tight first corner. The drivers with the best and worst starts was in fact one man, David Coulthard. After making five places up at the start he had been caught out by the early braking of Giancarlo Fisichella at turn one and broke his front wing. However, going into the very quick Parabolica corner DC’s front wing crumbled under the car and sent his car careering off into the barrier and ruining the ING advertising hoarding. This smash was enough to warrant a Safety Car period.

Suring the SC period drivers could regroup after a fairly hectic opening lap. Behind his team-mate and the McLarens Raikkonen was able to sneak past the BMW of Robert Kubica into fourth place with Heikki Kovaleinen and Nico Rosberg following them in seventh and eighth respectively. Following them was the surprisingly quick Jenson Button who for only the second time this season had managed to get his Honda in to the top ten shoot-out. He had gained one place thanks to the awful start of Jarno Trulli in the Toyota who dropped from ninth to thirteenth in one lap. Sebastian Vettel was very lucky as he got out of he pits after some front wing work after an incident at the first corner just before the SC was deployed, if not he may have had to complete a few laps with no front wing. The Safety Car returned to the pits on lap six but only three laps later Ferrari was struck by yet more bad luck when Felipe Massa completed an unscheduled pit-stop. Only two laps later the Ferrari driver began to cruise round the circuit and only just made it back into the Ferrari garage. Only ten laps in and the Tifosi and Twynosi were distraught.
Throughout the opening stint of the race most of the entertainment came from Rosberg and Button battling for the final teo points positions. After Button passed Rosberg early on the German was swarming all over the back of the Brit for about ten laps when Rosberg tried to make his move going into the first corner. Button was having none of it, however and successfully defended his position. Only a few corners later Rosberg finally made it stick and secured seventh place. There was also some action within the first round of pit-stops themselves. When the BMW of Robert Kubica tried to pit his car. there was a problem with the front jack as it actually slid underneath the front wing leaving the car horrendously imbalanced. The car managed to be raised at the front, however, due to this the car could not be raised sufficiently at the back and made it all the more difficult to remove the rear wheels. When you think just how precise the specifications these cars and built to and all the corporate bucks that get poured into them then that makes it all the odder to see the front jack-man having to literally yank the jack out from underneath the car. All this trouble cost Robert about ten seconds and he dropped down to eighth.

No such problems for Alonso and Hamilton out in front. Routine stops for the McLaren drivers, it was the pit-stop of Kimi Raikkonen they had to be concerned with. What may have started out as a long two-stop strategy may have been altered with the deployment of the Safety Car. After pitting for a very long 10.6 seconds and taking on the harder option tyre after his first stint it all but confirmed that he was running on a one-stop strategy. As a pit stop in Monza lasts about 30 seconds Raikkonen had to stay within half a minute of the McLarens before their second stop. In the middle stint Hamilton himself was beginning to look a bit ragged on the track losing ground to Alonso. So when it came to the second stop Hamilton had a cushion of just over 30 seconds on Raikkonen. However, this would not be enough as he would leave the pit-lane two second behind the Ferrari. It looked at this point as though Ferrari would be able to salvage something from their disastrous weekend. Sadly for the Italians Hamilton was on much fresher tyres and started to catch Raikkonen at a half second a lap. Raikkonen was very quickly caught by the flying Brit and in a very brave move up the inside of the first corner shocked Kimi who had no choice but to yield.
A dominant display from Alonso and Hamilton secured the McLaren drivers dominance at the top of the table. However, the battle between each other has intensified. With only four rounds of this championship left to go there is only three points between the two, we’re set for an incredibly exciting climax to the championship. Raikkonen could only salvage third place, with an incredibly strong finish for the BMW Saubers with fourth from Nick Heidfeld and a strong recovery from Robert Kubica in fifth. Heikki Kovaleinen recorded his fifth points finish in a row in sixth and another strong finish for Nico Rosberg in seventh. Jenson Button managed to pick up his (and Honda’s) second point. A dire contrast to last year when they were scoring multiple points finishes and podiums. Even though this was a good race for the McLaren the result of Thursdays court appeal perhaps holds more weight. Sadly for McLaren who had a sizable lead over Ferrari can no longer win the Constructors Championship and is immediately given to Ferrari, details to follow