Italian Grand Prix 07 - Mclaren 1-2 despite tumultous week

In the home grand prix of Scuderia Ferrari, Mclaren managed a 1-2 finish, and enjoyed the honour of being the Highest Scoring Constructor for this grand prix.

Earlier, before the qualifying had started, Italian police called upon the Mclaren camp and served 5 writs to top management of the Vodafone Mclaren-Mercedes Team. Those served included team boss Ron Dennis, Martin Whitmarsh, Jonathan Neale, Paddy Lowe and Rob Taylor - all who were the key figures in the design and strategy of the Mclaren team. It all leads back to the white powder found on the cars of Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen a few days before the Monaco Grand Prix, which sparked the spy-scandal of Nigel Stepney - ex-head of performance development for Ferrari, and Mike Coughlan, ex-chief designer of Mclaren.

While Mclaren appeared unruffled by this 'unnecessary visit' (as Ron Dennis calls it) from the Italian police, emotions were frayed and the tv images showed just as much - an emotional Ron Dennis getting a hug from his wife and wiping away tears from his eyes before he went onto the podium to receive the Constructor's Trophy. He denied the rumours of his retirement, which were no doubt sparked by the spy-scandal incident, and his description of this season being "the most extreme" one of his 41 years in F1.

On with the race report, Felipe Massa could only lament on his poor luck as his car failed with what seemed to be possibly transmission problem just after 9 laps. David Coulthard had his front wing disintegrated by what he claimed to be the result of a contact with Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella.

After the retirement of teammate Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, who suffered a huge shunt during Free Practice 3 on Saturday, was able to move up to 3rd place. He started from 5th position, but a great start saw him leapfrogging BMW driver Nick Heidfeld into the 4th place. Going on a 1 stop strategy, he had a brief moment in 2nd place, until Lewis Hamilton, in a desperate attempt, braked late in the first turn and overtook Kimi. As described by Kimi in the post-race conference, he was not able to hold up his neck during braking after the shunt on Saturday, thus affecting his performance during the later stages of the race.

Fernando Alonso then proceeded to win the Italian Grand Prix with ease, while breaking many tifosi* hearts. Lewis Hamilton completed the 1-2 victory by Mclaren in 2nd place, the lone Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen taking third spot. A delighted Nick Heidfeld took the 4th place, teammate Robert Kubica 5th (can anyone separate these two BMW drivers?! Lol!), a strong show from Williams driver Nico Rosberg got him a 6th place, while Renault driver Heikki Kovalainen took the 7th spot with Honda driver Jenson Button completing the top 8 drivers.

*Tifosi - italian word for sports fans. An affectionate term used to call the Ferrari fans in F1 context.