If you haven't subscribed to my RSS feed yet, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feedhere. Thanks for visiting!
Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello led home a deserved Brawn 1-2 at Monza this afternoon, taking full advantage of a one-stop strategy to leapfrog pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton. The Briton had been set to take a comfortable third place but crashed on the final lap after pushing too hard for second.
At the start, top-three starters Hamilton, Sutil and Räikkönen all had reasonable starts, with Räikkönen getting the best getaway only to have his chance of taking the lead scuppered by being pushed onto the grass by Hamilton. Behind, Heikki Kovalainen lost three places on the opening lap, as Barrichello, Button and Liuzzi all found their way by.
Hamilton was the first of the two-stoppers to pit as planned on lap 15, four laps earlier than then rival Räikkönen. Nevertheless, Lewis was able to keep ahead of the Finn, but a sterner challenge was coming from even further behind from the one-stopping Brawns.
Despite opening a gap of 17 seconds to Barrichello before his first stop, the superb end-of-run pace of the Brawns proved to be a bridge too far for the reigning world champion. Barrichello was able to extend his advantage prior to his one and only stop to a healthy 14 seconds, guaranteeing him his second victory of the year.
Jenson Button was always one step adrift of his charasmatic team-mate, and was put under severe pressure by Hamilton over the final ten laps, but eventually the pressure became to much for the chaser and Hamilton lost control of his McLaren at the Lesmo corners, eventually spinning into the barrier on the exit of the second Lesmo. The incident brought out a late-race safety car, with the drivers taking the chequered flag at reduced speed.
Kimi Räikkönen therefore took a crowd-pleasing third place for Ferrari, prompting loud cheers from the gathered Tifosi. Much like in Belgium, Räikkönen was pushed all the way by Force India, with Adrian Sutil remaining in his slipstream almost throughout the race. Despite good top-speed, Sutil was unable to find a way past the KERS-powered Ferrari, and settled for fourth, his first points since the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix. Setting the fastest race lap underlined the VJM02′s potential speed.
Elsewhere in the top eight, Fernando Alonso secured a solid fifth for Renault ahead of their World Motor Sport Council hearing in eight days, with Heikki Kovalainen taking three points for McLaren to somewhat make up for the disappoitment of the lost podium. Nick Heidfeld put in one of the drives of the day to rise from 15th on the grid to seventh at the flag, with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel jumping to eight to score a point thanks to Hamilton’s crash.
Other than Hamilton, five other drivers failed to make the finish. Mark Webber crashed out on the opening lap after tangling with Robert Kubica at the second chicane, Kubica himself retired after 15 laps with an oil leak, gearbox problems were to blame for Alguersuari’s exit after 19 laps and Tonio Liuzzi’s impressive Force India debut came undone by a transmission problem 22 laps into the race. Sébastien Buemi also failed to take the chequered flag after mistakenly taken to the pitlane when the safety car emerged on the final lap.
Discussion
No comments for “Barrichello wins in Italy as his second victory of season”