McLaren’s first one-two finish at Monza could not have come at a better time for the Woking-based team. And as for Fernando Alonso, his maiden Italian Grand Prix victory may rank as one of the best performances of the double world champion’s career.The 2007 Italian Grand Prix wasn’t an epic race by any stretch of the imagination… The fact that a McLaren driver would claim victory in the race was never really in doubt and Felipe Massa’s courage (or Lewis Hamilton’s pluck) at the start of the grand prix, and Kimi Raikkonen’s brief promotion to second position, provided the few bits of intrigue in an otherwise predictable race at the fastest Formula One circuit on the calendar.
The metronomic Alonso might be reviled for winning races in unspectacular fashion (although his stunning win at the European Grand Prix earlier this year suggests otherwise), but if ever there was a race in which he should keep his composure and dominate the race from pole position, the Italian Grand Prix was it.
Before I continue, I’d like to praise Hamilton for emulating the legendary tenacity of his countryman, 1992 F1 World Champion Nigel Mansell, at Monza. After making a very ordinary getaway at the start of the race, he nevertheless wrestled second place from Ferrari’s Felipe Massa by the first chicane. I believe he was lucky not to have crashed following his collision with the unlucky (as it would turn out) Brazilian, but the young Briton’s outbraking manoeuvre to regain second position from Kimi Raikkonen after his second pit stop, was awe inspiring. Should the Briton hang on to his lead in the title chase to win the driver’s championship in his rookie F1 season, it may be attributed to that single moment of bravery (or blind ambition, depending on whom you ask).
Having said that, Alonso may have realised – even more so than the rest of us – that he only outscored team-mate and title-rival Hamilton in Turkey due to the Briton’s unfortunate tyre failure. In Italy, Alonso’s victory over Hamilton had nothing to do with good fortune, and not all that much on his greater experience… He outpaced his team-mate throughout the weekend and set up the prospect of a thrilling duel with the precocious Briton and Ferrari’s Massa and Raikkonen in Belgium next week. Throughout the years, the demanding Spa Francorchamps has separated the stars from the also-rans, and the 2007 edition of the race will be no different. May the gods of motor racing smile on us all – and the European leg of the calendar’s final instalment be a classic race!
Admittedly, ongoing investigations of espionage by the FIA and a subsequent court ruling, following this week’s hearing, may render the 2007 World Championship a dead rubber. If the FIA decide to kick McLaren out of the championship, or penalise the Woking-based team’s drivers severely, Raikkonen may finally win his maiden driver’s title in 2007, but it would, sadly, be by default. Kimi might be the leading Ferrari driver in the standings, but the mercurial Felipe Massa has impressed me a lot more (with the exceptions of lacklustre performances in Malaysia and Hungary), than his better-remunerated and more-vaunted Finnish team-mate. Raikkonen recovered remarkably from his accident in free practice at Monza, but the Scuderia’s top brass would have been disappointed that he couldn’t defend a hard-fought second position for the last 10 laps.
The final result of the Italian Grand Prix proved that Alonso, despite all the uncertainty in Formula One and a myriad of rumours about his future in the sport, still possesses the hunger to win a third consecutive world championship title. In Hamilton, the Spaniard has his toughest rival… Fernando may have defeated Raikonnen and Michael Schumacher due to a combination of consistency and good reliability, but Hamilton is an altogether different rival, at the wheel of similar machinery, spurred on with a nothing-to-lose attitude and the exuberance of youth. Will Alonso prevail over his ambitious team-mate? Roll on Spa!
Although the whole “espionage” scandal has blunted my passion for Formula One to some extent, the fervour with which the 2007 driver’s championship is being contested has certainly renewed my faith in the pinnacle of motor racing. May Alonso and Hamilton contest the crown until the bitter end. We demand nothing less.
