With Kimi Raikkonen on pole and the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher second the teams would prepare for the start of the fifty three lap 2006 Italian Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber would start the race from twelfth and nineteenth grid positions. It would be interesting to see what race strategy the team will adopt for the race. Takuma Sato would start the race from the pit lane. The grid would move away on their parade lap and come back around and take up their grid positions.

the start of the race would see Kimi leading Heidfeld but Michael would take back this position. Kubica was in third followed by Massa. Heidfeld was struggling dropping to sixth behind fifth placed Button. Alonso would pass Heidfeld going into the chicane, but he would run across the chicane. Would this result in a penalty for the Spaniard. Lap two and Raikkonen was leading Michael Schumacher, Kubica, Massa, Button and Alonso. Heidfeld was now in seventh. Nico was in eleventh and Mark thirteenth. Lap three and Michael would set a fastest lap, 1m:23.399. Massa was challenging Kubica for third.

Lap four and Kimi's lead was out to 1.4 seconds over Michael. The next lap and Kimi would set a fastest lap, 1m:23.300. Alonso was closing in onto ffith placed Button. Replays would show one of the WilliamsF1 drivers running wide at the first chicane just after the start. Kubica was still be challenged by fourth placed Massa as Michael had just Kimi's lead down to 1.0 seconds after six laps. Nico was over 22 seconds behind the leaders after just seven laps. Heidfeld was in seventh followed by de la Rosa. Kimi would extend his lead over Michael by a
few tenths on lap eight. Third placed Kubica was now 9.0 seconds behind Michael.

Massa was pushing hard and would nearly lose his car under braking at Turn one. Nico would quickly drop down the order as he coasted slowly with another failure on his car. Mark was now in twelfth as a result of his team-mates retirement. Lap ten and Kimi would set a new fastest lap, 1m:23.167. His lead was now 1.4 seconds. Nico would get back to his pit and retire. Lap
eleven and another fastest lap from Kimi, 1m:22.980. Kubica was still holding off Massa. Alonso could not get past fifth placed Button. Nico's problem was a loss of drive, possibly a hydraulic problem.

Lap thirteen and Kimi would set another fastest lap, 1m:22.559, as his lead grew to now be 1.7 seconds over Michael. Mark was still in twelfth and running very much by himself. The first driver to pit would be de la Rosa stopping from eighth on lap fifteen. Kimi would pit the next lap indicating that he was on a very light fuel load. Michael was now leading from Kubica and Massa. Button was now in fourth and Alonso fifth. Raikkonen would come back out in seventh. But Michael would pit on lap eighteen stopping for 9.5 seconds. Kubica was now leading his first race in his very short Formula One career. Massa was now in second and Button third.

Mark was running in eleventh as Alonso still looked for a way past Button. Heidfeld was in fifth followed by Michael, Raikkonen, and Fisichella. Lap twenty and both Massa and Alonso would pit. Albers would pit from nineteenth. Button would pit on lap twenty one. Massa was now running in eighth and Alonso tenth. In ninth was Trulli. Kubica was still leading but this time it was from team-mate Heidfeld. Button was able to come out in front of Alonso but the Renault driver was able to get past Button. Heidfeld would pit on lap twenty two.

Kubica would pit on lap twenty three seeing Michael now leading from Raikkonen, Fisichella, and Barrichello. De la Rosa would run off the track and into the gravel to retire. Lap twenty three and Michael was leading by 2.3 seconds over Kimi. mark was still running in eleventh but had yet to make a stop. Kubica was now in fourth followed by Barrichello, Massa, Trulli,
Heidfeld, Alonso, Button, and Mark. Heidfeld would receive a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. Fisichella would pit on lap twenty seven. Mark was now in tenth and had still yet made his first pit stop. He must be on a one stop strategy.

Mark had now moved up to ninth as he set his personal best time, 1m:24.197, on lap twenty seven. Michael's lead was 2.8 seconds over Raikkonen. Kubica was in third followed by Barrichello. Massa would run wide at the Lesmo corner but was able to continue. Trulli would pit from seventh on lap thirty. He would be joined by thirteenth placed Scott Speed. The next lap and fifth placed Barrichello would pit. Mark would join him in what should be his only stop. On lap thirty one the order was Michael from Raikkonen, Kubica, Massa, Alonso, Button,
Fisichella, and Heidfeld in eighth.

Mark was now down in thirteenth. After running wide at the first chicane Michael would see his lead drop to now be 2.3 seconds but his title rival Alonso was 28.7 seconds behind him. Heidfeld would pass Fisichella at the second chicane. Lap thirty seven and Kimi had closed in onto Michael slightly with the gap now 2.5 seconds. Both Massa and Alonso were closing in onto third placed Kubica. Mark was still running in eleventh. of the leaders the first to stop would be Raikkonen coming in on lap thirty nine. Kimi would come back out still in second. Michael would pit the next lap. His stop would see him come back out in front of Kimi. Massa would pit from fifth on lap forty.

Michael's lead was now 3.7 seconds on lap forty. Heidfeld would pit from sixth on lap forty one. Alonso was just 0.3 behind Kubica. Kubica was just 0.9 behind Kimi Lap forty two and Kubica, Alonso and Button would all pit. As they came down the pit lane Alonso was just able to get in front of Kubica in a drag race out of the pit lane. So on lap forty two the order was Michael from Raikkonen, Alonso, Kubica, Massa, Fisichella, Button, and Barrichello in eighth. Michael's lead was out to 4.8 seconds and he was looking very much in control of the
race.

But it would all go wrong for Alonso when his engine would fail and he would be out of the race. Massa, who was following Alonso, would have to pit after suffering damage to his car. He would get new tyres as he had run wide at the chicane possibly on Alonso's oil. replays showed that he had locked up his right front tyre flat spotting it. With all this drama Michael would still lead from Kimi with his lead out to 7.7 seconds. Kubica was in third followed by Fisichella, Button, Barrichello, Trulli, and Heidfeld. mark was in tenth, and very unlikely to
see his position change before the end of the race.

With five laps remaining Kimi would ease his pace setting for second. Kubica was heading for his first podium finish after just three races. With two laps remaining Massa was right behind Heidfeld looking to take eighth place. For team-mate Michael he would start his final lap and would cross the line to secure his 90th victory. More importantly he would close the gap to Alonso in the championship by ten points. Raikkonen would finish second from Kubica,
Fisichella, Button, Barrichello, Trulli, and Heidfeld. mark would come home a distant tenth in a race that simply saw the FW28 lack the reliability and pace to bring home a reasonable result..