TheSportsCampus

Rubens Barrichello picked up his second win of the season, and his second ever at Monza as he cut championship leader Jenson Button's gap at the top of the drivers' standings to 14 points with a strong tactical race at the Italian Grand Prix. Perhaps more importantly, 1-2 finish for Brawn practically guarantees them both the Constructors and the Drivers championships in a phenomenal debut season. Brawn have opened up a 40.5 point lead at the top of the constructors' standings, and though while mathematically their closest rivals Red Bull are still in with a chance, realistically it seems unlikely to happen. The race for world champion also looks to be a two horse race now, and with no team or ders between Barrichello and Button, things are likely go down to the wire in the last four races of the season.

The battle on the track today in Monza was exciting from a strategic perspective as the McLarens, Ferraris and Force Indias opted for a two-stop strategy, while the two Brawns went in with a full tank, hoping to ensure that their tyres would hold over the considerably shorter race distance. Lewis Hamilton had narrowly pipped Adrian Sutil to pole position in yesterday's qualifying, with the KERs equipped cars behind Sutil hoping to make inroads into the top order before the first corner.

Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen made great starts as the lights went out around Monza, relegating Sutil to third as  amazingly there were no collisions going into the first corner. The opening lap did claim a casualty though as Robert Kubica bumped into Mark Webber, ending the Australian's challenge in the race, and relegating Red Bull to some early doom and gloom.

Lewis Hamilton pulled out a 7 second lead at the front of the field before being the first of the front runners to hit the pits on lap 15. He came back out in 5th place ahead of the second Force India, that of the debutant Vitantonio Liuzzi, who was doing a stellar job given the circumstances. Sutil and Raikkonen pitted on the 17th and 19th laps respectively, and crucially for the Ferrari man, he maintained his slender lead over the Force India.

Disaster struck the Force India team on lap 22 as Vitantonio Liuzzi had to retire due to mechanical failure, the Italian though did show that he is more than capable of performing at this level, and enjoyed having a competitive Force India under him.

Rubens Barrichello, now at the head of the field was putting his pedal to the metal and opening up a bit of a gap over his teammate Button in second. He was to retain that lead through the pit-stops, finally putting any favouritism stories within the Brawn camp to rest. The next few laps saw a flurry of pit stops as all the one-stoppers headed in, with Jenson Button crucially staying in-front of Lewis Hamilton, who made an early second stop on lap 34.

Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil in 4th and 5th place respectively headed into the pits together on lap 37, with the German missing a golden opportunity to take a place as he went into the pits too hot and knocked over an engineer in the process. Raikkonen also made a mess of his stop, starting and stopping on his way out of the pits, but crucially benefitted from Sutil's blunder to keep the place. This proved to be crucial in the final race standings.

World champion Lewis Hamilton mounted a late challenge with 8 laps to go, closing in on his likely successor Jenson Button, only for Button to respond with his fastest lap of the race so far, a 1:24.935. While Button battled Hamilton for 2nd and 3rd, Adrian Sutil kept up the pressure on Kimi Raikkonen in fourth, the Finn likely to be pretty sick of seeing the Force India colours in his rear view mirrors for two consecutive races.

However, with just 1 lap to go Lewis Hamilton in his pursuit for that little bit more speed went too close to the curves and smashed into the wall at the second Lesmo, sending the Tifozi into delirium. With debris all over the track, the race finished behind the Safety Car, as Rubens Barrichello took the chequered flag for his 11th Grand Prix victory, with Jenson Button in quick tow and Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari grabbing a popular podium.

The teams next head over to Singapore in a couple of week's time for the ultimate excitement that only a night race can provide. Look for a rejuvenated Brawn to continue to challenge for top honours, and the Ferraris and McLarens to push them all the way. While Red Bulls championship challenge seems to be as good as over, we do have the emergence of Force India to look forward to in Singapore!

Top 10:

1. Barrichello, Brawn-Mercedes 1h16:21.706
2. Button, Brawn-Mercedes  + 2.8
3. Raikkonen, Ferrari + 30.6
4. Sutil, Force India + 31.1
5. Alonso, Renault + 59.1
6. Kovalainen, McLaren-Mercedes + 60.6
7. Heidfeld, BMW Sauber + 82.4
8. Vettel, Red Bull-Renault + 85.4
9. Fisichella, Ferrari + 86.8
10. Nakajima, Williams + 1 lap

File Photograph Copyright: Jose M Izquiredo Galiot

Check out our motorsports photo gallery