Montoya wins Italian GP

MONZA (Italy)—Juan Pablo Montoya won the Italian Grand Prix from the pole Sunday, and Fernando Alonso finished second to maintain the inside track on the Formula One season championship. Montoya recorded his sixth career victory and second at Monza, where he won his first Grand Prix in 2001. The Colombian’s other victory this season came at the British Grand Prix in July.
Giancarlo Fisichella, Alonso’s Renault teammate, was third. Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher finished 10th, mathematically ending his run of five straight world titles.
McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen gave the day’s most impressive performance by finishing fourth despite a penalty for an engine change. Raikkonen was relegated to an 11th-place start after recording the fastest qualifying time. Using a one pit-stop strategy, the Finn lost only three points to Alonso in the drivers’ standings.
Montoya had a smooth race until a problem developed with his rear left tire on the final laps, and Alonso started gaining. The race finished just in time for Montoya, who won in 1 hour, 14 minutes, 28.659 seconds. Alonso was 2.4 seconds back, with Fisichella 17.9 seconds behind and Raikkonen trailing by 22.7.
Alonso has 103 points and Raikkonen 76. Four races remain, with wins worth 10 points each. McLaren’s first and fourth placings were worth one more point than Renault’s second and third. McLaren trails Renault by eight points in the constructors’ standings.
Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher’s teammate, was 12th. Last year, Barrichello led Schumacher in a 1-2 Ferrari finish at Monza. The Italian team had dominated at the track since Montoya’s first victory.
Raikkonen started with more fuel than the other top cars, and the team’s strategy may have been good enough to place him among the top three if not for two unscheduled stops.
Raikkonen made his only scheduled pit stop on the 26th lap of the 53-lap race. On the 29th lap, the Finn returned to the pits to change his rear left tire.
On the 45th lap, Raikkonen spun and came to a brief but complete stop on the gravel, with Jarno Trulli overtaking him for fourth place. Three laps later, Raikkonen passed Trulli and returned to fourth but was unable to challenge Fisichella for third.—Agencies