Schuie’s Back
Grand Prix of Italy, September 14, 2003

By Erik Nielsen
Photos Courtesy of Ferrari Media

Michael Schumacher gave the Italian fans the result that they wanted - his Ferrari at the front of the pack at the end of racing on Sunday. The German, who is starting to look like he’s trying hard to make it a record sixth world championship, fended off Juan Pablo Montoya, his closest rival in this year’s competition.

Schumacher put his Ferrari on the pole and managed to stay ahead of Juan Pablo on the first lap, drove a clean race, and always seemed to be just a fraction quicker. By doing so, he extended his lead over his nemesis by a much needed two points, but still kept this year’s running into a nail biter.

The German summed up his 50th win for Ferrari with "I think this is the greatest day in my career. It is a long time since I won. We made a big push over the summer break with everyone in the team giving more than a hundred percent."

Juan Pablo sounded like he expected the result, but knows that the next two tracks should help his team. "We were expecting Ferrari to be strong here, so to only lose two points to Michael and be only three points behind with two races to go is okay. Ferrari had a good top speed compared to us at this low down force circuit, quite unlike the next two tracks, where I think we will figure strongly." Rubens Barrichello finished the race in third, definitely doing his part to help Ferrari win the constructor’s championship. He fought hard to stay ahead of Trulli on the opening lap, but Trulli was out shortly thereafter giving back the position. The Brazilian described it as "I am quite happy to be third. It is better than being in the wall, like the last race! My car was very good at the start, but I lost time on the first lap with Trulli. He was alongside me and put me on the grass and so I had to back off, which meant I had to defend my position against Raikkonen and I almost ran into Trulli when he had a problem. By then, Juan was already two seconds ahead, even though I was able to close on him a bit. Unfortunately, my tires were not as good on the second stint when I had too much understeer." More importantly, it was one spot ahead of the other front runner in the championship, Kimi Raikkonen. Mark Gene was filling in for Ralf Schumacher who was still suffering from headaches due to a nasty shunt during testing. By missing out, the younger Schumacher gave up any title hopes this season after a phenomenal start.

Jacques Villeneuve managed to keep his BAR Honda going long enough to finish in 6th place, but a lap down. There is a rumor among my Japanese counterparts that BMW-Williams is looking at him to replace Ralf, but I think that is more wishful thinking by Honda to look for a way to fire him without firing him.

Webber captured 7th and two points for Jaguar. Yawn.

Fernando Alonso started the race from the pit lane after botching his qualifying run. While one point may not sound like much, on a high speed track like Monza, the young Spaniard showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with in the future (at Renault, if they can sort the car, or with another top team).

With Juan Pablo doing his bit at looking into the crystal ball, he may have a point. Ferrari has figured out how to make a fast straight line car. Indy has a complicated infield section where you can’t stand on the loud pedal. Suzuka is a complicated track. Period. Can the boys in red pull it off? There are only two races left to find out.