15/09/2002

Italian Grand Prix - Race Round-Up

The Italian Grand Prix the final European-based round of this year's FIA Formula 1 World Championship had a disappointing outcome for Panasonic Toyota Racing after a race in which both cars were in point-scoring positions.

Allan McNish made a stunning start to the race coming round seventh at the end of the opening lap after starting 13th! The Scot was up into a points position by lap 10 after Ralf Schumacher suffered a mechanical problem. But sadly a suspension problem caused McNish to pit on the 12th lap. After a long stop he rejoined the race but came back to the garage only one lap later to retire.

"About four laps before I came into the pits the car started to wander quite badly under braking and I thought I had a problem " McNish explained. "It did not seem too bad in corners which involved just turning in and running through but at places where you had to change direction quickly such as the Ascari chicane it became very unstable. It was at the point where the rear tyres start to go off a little so I wasn't sure but then the steering wheel started behaving strangely. I kept at it for a lap but then came in because it was getting dangerous."

Mika Salo who had qualified in the top 10 also had a frustrating afternoon. "It was a pretty poor race " Salo admitted. "There was a bit of a scramble at the first corner and I got pushed onto the grass and lost a lot of places. Then my first set of tyres blistered and I had really big oversteer."

Despite that Salo was also up to sixth and into a points position as his lap 30 pit stop approached. There was more drama in store for the team as he came in for his scheduled stop from fourth position...

"As I left the pits after my stop I was concentrating too much on my mirrors and I put two wheels onto the white line and got a Drive Through penalty. That dropped me out of the points and after that I was pushing flat-out but it was not enough." Salo eventually crossed the line in 11th place.

The race produced yet another 1-2 finish for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro with Rubens Barrichello making effective use of a two-stop pit strategy to get out from his final stop just ahead of one-stopping team mate Michael Schumacher. The Brazilian's third win of the season all but confirmed his second place in the drivers' championship with neither of the BMW Williams F1 Team cars finishing the race.

Eddie Irvine scored the first podium of the year for Jaguar Racing while the Mild Seven Renaults of Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button finished fourth and fifth ahead of Olivier Panis's Lucky Strike BAR Honda.

The championship now heads across to North America for the penultimate round at Indianapolis on September 29.