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Italy: Seeing Red
By Nick Sparkes
September 6 2005
It was hard to believe, but we were in Ferrari country. For the fifteenth round of the Formula One World Championship Toyota would visit Monza in Italy, a place blessed by anything red featuring a prancing horse. But this time the only red feature of the weekend would be by Toyota!

Monza Report  – Seeing Red

 

Toyota on the move

 

The Monza racetrack is steeped in history, not only one of the oldest, but one of the fastest racetracks the Formula One boys visit. Panasonic Toyota Racing headed to the antique fair which was Monza in hope of more points, or a podium if they got lucky. Practice was none other than a boring affair with all the teams having tested seven days prior to the weekend. But this didn’t stop Friday hotshot Ricardo Zonta set the fastest time during the second Practice session, the Brazilian putting in a quick lap to go top of the time sheets. Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher spent most of the day in an air-conditioned office, their normal duties shortened to preserve their tyres and engines.

 

Saturday was more proactive, with the main highlight being Jarno Trulli’s fifth place finish during the final session. Ralf Schumacher struggled with his TF105, not even featuring in the top ten. The normality of Toyota looked set to continue.

 

A solid performance by a solid team

 

Ralf Schumacher’s qualifying performance was nothing short of impressive, going out early with a car, which didn’t have the grip, or speed is nothing to write home about. But the German didn’t let this slow him down, putting in a solid performance to take ninth on the grid. Italy’s Jarno Trulli gave his home crowd something to clear about, driving the wheels of his Toyota to take fifth, behind an all BAR Honda second row. The two Japanese manufactures having been hotting during the last couple of races, with BAR seemingly building a much faster racecar than Toyota. Although race day would confirm any of this.

 

Another hot race welcomed Toyota, with Jarno Trulli putting in a forceful opening lap. The Italian jumping Takuma Sato into the first corner, before being re-passed at the end of the first lap. Ralf Schumacher would calmly move his way up the order, with both Toyota’s running reliably throughout the duration of the race. Jarno was overtaken by Giancarlo Fisichella during the pit stops, and gained and lost a further position when Kimi Raikkonen spun in the dying stages of the race, yet overtook him with a couple of laps in hand.

 

At the finish, Juan Pablo Montoya took his second McLaren victory after suffering from a deflating tyre in the final couple of laps, who was chased home by championship leader Fernando Alonso. Giancarlo Fisichella made his second podium visit this season with third, and this luckless Kimi Raikkonen fourth. Kimi lost ten places at the start due to an engine change, and fought his way up the field before suffering a puncture and a last minute spin. Both Toyotas came home fifth and sixth with Jarno Trulli leading home Ralf Schumacher.

 

Championship fight is all but over

 

Kimi Raikkonen had to win to keep his championship hopes alive, and after an engine change, his title looked to be in pieces. A race fought well by the flying Finn, but dogged by a tyre failure and a near race ending spin pretty much handed it to Fernando Alonso. Fernando only has to score four points in Spa to be crowned the 2005 Formula One World Champion. But in Monza, Kimi Raikkonen was my driver of the day; in fact he’s more like the driver of the season, luckless, yet quick in every shape. Mercedes have let him down, and Kimi shall take none of that blame.

 

Our biggest test yet!

 

Spa-Francorchamps will be Toyota’s biggest test. The circuit is known for its wacky results, who can forget Belgium 1998? For Toyota it’ll be a track where they lost fourth place with Ricardo Zonta 12 months ago, just a couple of laps from home. This time Toyota will be aiming for the podium, and hopefully a top three slot in the constructors.

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