Schumacher gains 10 points in championship

For Michael Schumacher the Monza GP of 2006 was a highpoint in the 2006 campaign. While he drove a solid race and took the lead of Raikkonen during the pitstops, championship contender Alonso hit bad luck once more. For the first time this year, his engine gave up on him after again an incredible race of the Spaniard. At the time of abandoning he was third with only 9 laps to go. He misses out on the podium, where now Schumacher, Raikkonen and Kubica fill up the steps.

Despite some earlier weather reports claiming for a chance of rain, the Italian GP kicked off under sunny skies. Kimi Raikkonen kept his lead ahead of Schumacher. Robert Kubica in his BMW made a very good start and jumped to 3rd place, ahead of his teammate Heidfeld. The latter lost his place quickly to Felipe Massa. A bit further down the field, Alonso challenged forward and proved his potential if he would have been on 5th place. He moved through to 6 after having passed Heidfeld one lap later.

After 10 laps, Nico Rosberg is the first victim of this requiring race after again a hydraulic failure on his Williams Cosworth.

Until the beginning of the first pitstops that were started by De La Rosa in lap 14, Felipe Masse remains stuck behind Kubica and Alonso is having the exact same problem with Button. Kimi Raikkonen entered the pitlane one lap later and a further lap Schumacher rejoined his crew. Because of the pitstop of the two leaders, Robert Kubica is now leading a GP for the first time in his short career.

The next few laps sees many others enter the pitlane. Alonso was able to overtake Button during those stops but now saw Heidfeld join the track in front of him, risking to be stuck again. The German got fined with a drive through penalty because of speeding in the pitlane and left Alonso with a bit of clear track in front of him. As De La Rosa retires from the race at Ascari with a technical problem.

Several drivers are also set for a single stop race. The likes of Fisichella and both Toyotas believe it to be the best option, but it is Klien who has the longest first stint as he only pitted with 18 laps to go.

The final series of pitstops turned out excellent for the Spanish world champion as he overtook both Kubica and Massa. Alonso is therefore in third place but sees his engine blow up with only 9 laps to go. Massa braked too hard in the smoke and came back in to change his flatspotted right front tyre for safety reasons. Massa thereby drops out of the top 8 but does not solve the worries Renault might have for the rest of the season.

Michael Schumacher wins again at Monza after a bespoke race. Kimi Raikkonen is second and Robert Kubica third. As a result, Ferrari take over the constructors championship lead while Fernando Alonso is now only 2 points ahead of Alonso.