The Ferrari team’s domination of the 2002 season continued on. This time, in front of the home crowd. While qualifying showed that the red cars from Maranello may not have had the fastest package in qualifying trim, the race results showed that no one has come close to matching, let alone beating the team. Rubens Barrichello wrestled control of the race early from the Williams-BMW’s of Montoya and Ralf Schumacher, leaving everyone, including his team-mate, in the dust.

Michael Schumacher did not have team orders come into play, this weekend, as he was solidly out driven. With Rubens gaining maximum points, and all of his main competitors DNF’ing, a Ferrari 1-2 in the driver’s championship is getting closer every race.

Juan Pablo’s highlight came in qualifying by setting the fastest pole speed ever in an F1 race. But, as race fans have learned, he can’t capitalize on pole. This time around, he took himself out of the race by being a little to aggressive with the curbs and breaking the front suspension.

Ralf passed the Columbian on the start by almost going over the grass in the first chicane. The FIA ruled that he passed not using the real race track, and was asked to let Juan Pablo by. Shortly thereafter, his engine called it a day, allowing the Ferraris to pass in the confusion.

Monza is a track with very few turns, and most of them are high speed. To do well here, you need a lot of power and just enough wing to make it through the turns without doing pirouettes. Believe it or not, this is just the type of track on which Jaguar can do well. No one ever questioned whether Ford could build a decent engine. The question was, could they make a decent chassis?

American racing has always been about straight line speed. What do you mean the car has to turn? But, since the car is built in England, just like the GT40, there is always a chance that they won’t screw it up. In this case, the colorful Irishman managed to get a podium finish. This, if you ignore how bad Ferrari has been kicking everyone else’s "arses" this season, is the same as winning. Let’s just hope that it is enough for the board members to vote "yes" to continue funding.

If Eddie Irvine put on a good performance, then Trulli put on the drive of his life. After failing to get away on time for the formation lap, the Italian was forced to start from the back of the pack in front of his home crowd. He then took his Renault and managed to finish 4th, and about 10 seconds ahead of his team mate. He really does have everything it takes to be a champion, except the right ride.

Panis grabbed the last point of the race, once again, ahead of his French Canadian team-mate. Too bad he’s leaving for Toyota at the end of the season. McLaren had a miserable race, this weekend. The Flying Finn Part Two put in a good race and was running for the last podium spot when his motor went McClunking. DC could do no better than 7th after a nose job early. Honda seemed to work out some of the engine difficulties that they had and managed to get everyone to the finish line, today. Yoong finished last, as always, and only 6 laps down. That’s about 8 minutes off of the pace, or 10% off. The time off didn’t do anything, he still sucks. Too bad his checks to Minardi keep clearing. (ERIK!!!!)