Giancarlo Fisichella's third place meant that he was the first Italian to stand on the podium here since the late Michele Alboreto in 1988, at least the 'tifosi' had something to cheer as their beloved Ferraris could only manage tenth and twelfth places in a race that saw no mechanical retirements. Ferrari had run the cars on light fuel loads for qualifying but this still didn't help their grid positions much.
Renault's performance was something of a surprise to those who had expected McLaren to dominate. Raikkonen's fastest lap was 1m 21.504s, Montoya's 1m 21.828s, but Alonso lapped in 1m 22.146s and certainly kept Montoya honest throughout the first stint. The fact that he was at most 12 seconds behind by the 44th lap was more down to slightly less competent pit work.
Williams' tyre problems in Turkey were repeated by the McLaren team here at Monza. In McLaren's case they were aggressive in setting up the cars (this is also believed to be the case with Williams). Raikkonen's tyre sustained a cut, but Montoya's outer tread wear was described by Michelin's Pierre Dupasquier as being "extremely unusual here." Investigations are continuing between the two companies to determine the cause, but Ron Dennis admitted that set-up was the probable reason.
Toyota had another good weekend at Monza which was further endorsement of the strength and reliability of the TF105 as they scored another seven points. Suddenly they are looking a threat to third-placed Ferrari, with 78 points to 86.
Williams struggled in qualifying, but once again some sound strategic decisions paid off. Antonio Pizzonia driving for the injured Heidfeldt admitted that he made some silly little mistakes early on as he reacclimatised to a car he hasn't driven for three months, but seventh place with the sixth fastest lap (1m 22.870s) was a performance sufficiently impressive to stake a valid claim to a race seat in 2006. Mark Webber was the victim in the usual first-corner shuffle as David Coulthard tagged the back of Fisichella's car (lightly enough for the Italian not even to notice) and then backed off, Webber damaged his front wing as he hit the back of the Red Bull. Later the Scot and the Australian had a fascinating battle which Webber ultimately won on his way to 14th overall.
Not a good weekend for BAR, there was little for them to cheer about. Jenson Button fell back the moment the race started, had his own problems with the refuelling rig which forced him to stop four laps sooner than planned, and was generally a bit bemused by the 007's performance in low downforce configuration. Takuma Sato had an even worse refuelling rig problem which obliged him to stop again a lap later, and struggled with poor handling thereafter.
As for the rest of the also-rans', their weekend was frustrated by the incredible reliability of the top teams, with no retirements at all it meant that their finishing positions could not be improved other than by going faster.
