Ralf Schumacher’s race was to last only a handful of laps before the mighty BMW engine blew up in spectacular fashion. And Montoya was soon to fall prey to the Ferrari hunters. First Barrichello pulls a move on the Colombian and streaks off into the lead of the race and Montoya is now really feeling the pressure as Schumacher fills his mirrors. And once more he is over the chicanes as he struggles to cope with the pressure from behind, bits of his car come off and Schumacher wastes no time in passing the Williams on the pit straight and setting off on the hunt of Barrichello.

Rubens is on a 2 stop race compared with Michael’s 1 stop and Barrichello is to hand the German the race lead when he makes his first stop on lap 19 but he is fast enough to re-join the race in second place ahead of Montoya. Schumacher was to hold the race lead until his scheduled stop handing the lead back to Barrichello and now the battle is once again between the Ferrari drivers. Another blow up for McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen ends his weekend and with Coulthard already losing a front wing and being lapped by the Ferrari’s it is a miserable weekend for Ron and his team.

Barrichello is pushing all the way as he aims to make up a big enough gap over Michel to take the race win on his aggressive 2 stop strategy. Williams are out of the race as Montoya suffers some sort of suspension failure and cruises into the pits to retire from the race taking all pressure off the leading Ferrari’s. His mistakes earlier in the race could possibly be to blame for his retirement. End of lap 37 and the race is about to be decided as Barrichello comes in for his second and final stop. Another great stop for the Brazilian and he comes out of the pits just in front of Michael, but Michael was very lenient on the Brazilian when he could have made a move he gave him the time to make sure no incident happened, great team spirit shown once again. It’s a Ferrari domination once again.

The remaining laps would see the Ferrari’s cruise to the finish, so much so that the red cars allowed those behind to unlap themselves as they brought the cars home. Both F2002’s crossed the line almost wheel to wheel and then the party kicked off. It must have been one of the longest ever victory laps as Rubens and Michael toured round wheel to wheel lapping up all the love from the Tifosi. And what a scene on the new podium as the fans swarmed below and they were given a taste of victory champagne. Eddie Irvine made is a special podium with his amazing third place for Jaguar. A great victory for Ferrari and a special weekend in Monza and more points towards a new record.

Full Times

1. BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1h16'19"982 240.709 Km/h
2. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari + 0'02"255 240.590 Km/h
3. IRVINE Jaguar Cosworth + 0'52"579 237.977 Km/h
4. TRULLI Renault + 0'58"219 237.687 Km/h
5. BUTTON Renault + 1'07"770 237.199 Km/h
6. PANIS BAR Honda + 1'08"491 237.162 Km/h
7. COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes + 1'09"047 237.134 Km/h
8. FISICHELLA Jordan Honda + 1'10"891 237.040 Km/h
9. VILLENEUVE BAR Honda + 1'21"068 236.522 Km/h
10. HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas + 1'22"046 236.473 Km/h
11. SALO Toyota 1 lap(s)
12. SATO Jordan Honda 1 lap(s)
13. YOONG Minardi Asiatech 6 lap(s)
14. MONTOYA Williams BMW 20 lap(s)
15. RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes 24 lap(s)
16. WEBBER Minardi Asiatech 33 lap(s)
17. MASSA Sauber Petronas 37 lap(s)
18. DE LA ROSA Jaguar Cosworth 38 lap(s)
19. MCNISH Toyota 40 lap(s)
20. R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 49 lap(s)