Alonso, Hamilton Run 1-2 At Monza Amid Spy Scandal; Raikkonen Third

MONZA, Italy — It’s often said that Formula One is a sport for about one and a half hours on Sunday afternoon and a business the rest of the time. That’s certainly was the case at the Italian Grand Prix, but substitute politics for business.
The ongoing saga of the spy scandal between McLaren and Ferrari filled most of the weekend.
In the race itself, Fernando Alonso started from pole and his McLaren Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton lined up alongside him. Fifty-three laps later they crossed the finish line in that order, trouncing Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen finished a distant third while Felipe Massa retired after 10 laps with a rear shock problem.
It was McLaren’s first ever one/two at Monza and Alonso’s first win at the famed track as well. Testing at Monza prior to the race showed that McLaren was quicker than Ferrari, and that domination continued all through the race weekend. Ferrari’s situation wasn’t helped by Raikkonen’s heavy crash on Saturday morning that left him with a sore neck and reduced track time.
At the start, Alonso took the lead while Hamilton had to fend off a very aggressive Massa who was obviously on a light fuel load. They clipped each other in the first chicane but neither car was damaged. Massa was soon out of the picture anyway because of handling problems, and that left Raikkonen trailing in third place.
A one-stop strategy is generally faster than a two stop at Monza, but McLaren decided to stop twice so that they could have a lighter fuel load as they had had front tire graining problems with heavy fuel loads in testing. It also insured the McLarens got on the front row.
Still, Ferrari’s one-stop plan for Raikkonen almost paid off as he moved into second place when Hamilton pitted for the second time. But Hamilton, on fresh, soft tires, quickly tracked down Raikkonen, on worn, hard tires, and passed him decisively into the first chicane.
“The biggest problem for me was that I couldn’t keep my head upright any more under braking,” Raikkonen said, “so my neck is not in such good shape after yesterday. But we just didn’t have the speed today.”
Monza is the one track this year where BMW Sauber had a chance to get in among the two lead teams, but it turned out the BMWs just weren’t quite fast enough. So Nick Heidfeld finished fourth (for the fifth time this year), and Robert Kubica was still fifth despite a lengthy pit stop when the jack got stuck under the car’s nose.
Nico Rosberg drove outstandingly in the ever-improving Williams Toyota to finish sixth and in the points for the third consecutive race. Heikki Kovalainen started seventh and finished seventh in his Renault. He has scored points in seven of his last eight outings.
Monza’s low downforce set-up flattered the Honda, but still Jenson Button did a good job to finish eighth and grab the final point just ahead of Mark Webber’s Red Bull Renault.