Montoya strolls to victory

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

Juan Pablo Montoya has won his second race of the season rather easily after leading almost the complete race. Second place was for Fernando Alonso who does a very good job in the championship. Third is teammate Fisichella while Raikkonen secured 4th.

It was however not as easy as it appeared to be for the Columbian of McLaren. He reported increasing oversteer during the race and felt unconfident with his car. Even 4 laps from the end his left rear tyre was completely worn down but the team decided he was allowed to push all the way to the end to fend off a late challenge of Fernando Alonso.

Earlier in the race, and just after Raikkonen's first and only pitstop, the Finn suffered the same problem with his left rear tyre. He had to come in however as there was still half a race to go. Although the tyre switch was quickly made, Kimi lost 7 places and dropped back into 12th position, just behind Jacques Villeneuve.

The two had met before however as Jacques Villeneuve immediately passed Raikkonen during the start and held off the Finn until his first stop. In that start both Webber's and Coulthard's car got damaged because of collisions. Both men would be together for the whole race 14th and 15th respectively.

That first stint went rather quiet. Both Montoya and Alonso pulled away from a little peloton, led by Jenson Button including his teammate, two Ferraris, Jarno Trulli and in 8th position the Renault of Fisichella. The latter did the best job of all as he came in last and was in front of everyone of these guys after the stops.

Giancarlo could hold onto this place until the very end of the race, marking his first podium on Italian ground. The Roman needed to push up until the end of the race as Kimi Raikkonen came within 3 seconds of him. Kimi pushed however a little too hard and spun in 'Variante Della Roggia'. He overpowered a little bit and was even lucky to get on track again as his rear wheels got catched in the gravel trap. As a result he had to overtake Trulli once again and was unable to fight Fisichella for 3rd place.

Both Toyotas again brought in some solid points and they crossed the line in 5th and 6th place. Antonio Pizzonia took 2 points in an excellent race for him as he had not driven an F1 for months.

Jenson Buttons signed up for the last point at Monza while his teammate only managed to secure 16th place.

This race at Monza did not see any technical failures as everyone managed to finish the race. Christijan Albers has to stop 4 times but still finished in front of Karthikeyan.