The Italian Grand Prix is seen as one of the classics of the racing season, the Monza circuit hosting competitive racing since 1922. Obviously since then the circuit has seen many changes, with the new 3.6 mile circuit now running around the famous curved banking from yesteryear. The circuit is one of the fastest on the F1 calendar with an average speed of 160mph, and Michael Schumacher holds the record for the most victories with five.
Fernando Alonso will start from pole position for today s 2007 Grand Premio d Italia. The McLarens locked out the front row as the Ferraris struggled on their home turf with Felipe Massa starting from third and Kimi Raikkonen behind Nick Heidfeld in fifth. Kimi Raikkonen races today with a sore neck after a massive accident during practice yesterday, losing control of his car under braking to the Curva del Vialone at well over 200mph.
Track conditions for the race include a track temperature of 36 degrees, air temperature of 28 degrees and clear skies.
Alonso is slow away on the installation lap, Massa momentarily passing the McLaren driver. Kimi Raikkonen appears to be on soft tyres to maximise his advantage away from the line, in an attempt to pass the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld ahead of him down to Turn One, Rettifilo. Hamilton points his car toward Alonso on the grid.
Lap 1 Hamilton has to defend his position, getting his position back from Massa over the grass at Turn Two, making brief contact with the Ferrari Stewards investigating. Raikkonen gains a position and gets behind his team-mate Massa. Alonso made a great start, as did David Coulthard, up five places to fifteenth on the first lap.
Lap 2 David Coulthard crashes his car heavily through the Curva Grande, his car appeared to lose front bodywork before the incident. He is able to exits the car unaided, despite the severity of the crash. Vettel pits and rejoins last.
Lap 3 Safety car deployed, but behind the first four leaders. The car attempts to catch the leaders who have slowed, getting tail happy through Turn Two of the first chicane.
Lap 5 Alonso backs up the pack for the restart.
Lap 6 Hamilton attempts to pass his team-mate down to Turn One, but thinks better of it. Ralf Schumacher appears to be struggling through the longer fast corners. Davidson passes Fisichella for fourteenth in his Super Aguri.
Lap 10 Massa makes an unscheduled stop, the car resting for 11.4 seconds. Massa rejoins but slowly makes his way back around, and into retirement. Likely a mechanical failure toward the rear of the Ferrari.
Lap 14 Raikkonen trails the McLarens by nine seconds, with Heidfeld two seconds further behind.
Lap 17 Hamilton has taken half a second away from Alonso in the past two laps. Hamilton pits from second, locking his brakes as he enters the pit for the first of two pit stops for the afternoon car stopped for 8.3 seconds, 19 laps worth of fuel.
Lap 18 Alonso does not stop, showing just how competitive his pole position was over the rest of the field.
Lap 19 Alonso pits, stopping for 9.1 seconds. Alonso rejoins ahead of Hamilton with a comfortable lead.
Lap 20 Jenson loses his place to Rosberg after a ding-dong battle through the first sector of the lap. Heidfeld pits.
Lap 21 Raikkonen leads the Italian Grand Prix, and now lighter, pulls away from the McLarens.
Lap 23 Kubica pits from second, the mechanics struggle to remove the front jack, ruining his pit stop.
Lap 24 Kimi Raikkonen pits and rejoins back in third position.
Lap 31 Rosberg pits from fifth, rejoining in ninth after making his sole pit stop of the race.
Lap 32 Vettel and Schumacher pit. The gap between Raikkonen and Hamilton is eighteen seconds, with the McLarens having to pit once more. Hamilton leads Alonso by four seconds. Heidfeld, Button and Webber complete the top six with the latter two having yet to make a stop for fuel and tyres.
Lap 33 Button pits from fifth.
Lap 34 Webber pits from fifth, as does Ruben Barrichello.
Lap 39 Nick Heidfeld pits from fourth. Hamilton trails Alonso by six seconds, but twenty-five ahead of Raikkonen.
Lap 40 Hamilton pits, stopping for six seconds. Raikkonen takes second position away from the Brit.
Lap 42 Hamilton closes in on Raikkonen and passes him down to Turn One.
Lap 43 Alonso pits and rejoins in the lead.
Lap 46 Kubica passes Rosberg and begins to close down his team-mate Heidfeld in fourth.
Lap 50 Raikkonen slows to some two seconds off the pace, possibly told to preserve the engine for the next race at Spa, or protect the car in light of Massa s retirement earlier in the race.
Final lap Fernando Alonso win the 2007 Italian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton finishes second ahead Kimi Raikkonen. Heidfeld finishes fourth ahead of team-mate Kubica. Rosberg finishes sixth, Kovalainen seventh and Button completing the points paying positions.
Alonso now trails Hamilton by just three points in the Drivers World Championship with 89 points. Raikkonen leads team-mate Massa by five points after the Brazilian s DNF on 75 points.
