12/09/2004

Grand Prix of Italy - Race Report

Ricardo Zonta finished 11th for Panasonic Toyota Racing in the Italian Grand Prix as the team endured another difficult afternoon in the final European race of the season.

With heavy rain falling at Monza on race morning the track was damp but rapidly drying as the field lined up for the start. Dry tyres were the choice of most drivers but it meant that the opening lap was treacherous with grip in short supply. And just as Olivier Panis had feared after qualifying on Saturday 13th proved to be an unlucky place to start the race. The Frenchman was involved in a tangle with Antonio Pizzonia's BMW Williams which put him out of the race before he had even completed a lap.

Team mate Ricardo Zonta avoided the opening lap dramas and thereafter drove a consistent race the last driver to finish on the same lap as the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro cars.

Zonta said: "I think everyone knew that the first lap was going to be very difficult in conditions with such little grip on dry tyres. The important thing was not to hit anyone which I managed but I found that it took a long time to generate heat in the tyres. Also every time I found myself close behind another car I seemed to lose a lot of downforce. I did all that I could but I was disappointed to finish 11th here after the effort everyone has put in."

Panis meanwhile added: "It's always a bit of a lottery in first lap conditions like that and I see that even Michael Schumacher got caught up in it. The team made the right call with the tyres to start on dries but there was hardly any grip. I found myself racing with Pizzonia I picked up some understeer and hit the back of his car at the second chicane. That broke my front wing and I ended up in the gravel trap and out of the race."

Race winner Rubens Barrichello started on intermediate tyres and opened up a good early margin before having to pit for dry tyres. He was able to come back and win the race partly through team mate Schumacher being caught up in the first lap mayhem. Ultimately the Ferraris came through to score the team's eighth 1-2 finish of the season ahead of Jenson Button's Lucky Strike BAR Honda. Button's team mate Takuma Sato finished fourth ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya's BMW Williams F1 Team car and David Coulthard's West McLaren Mercedes. The final points were taken by Pizzonia in the second BMW Williams and Giancarlo Fisichella's Sauber Petronas.

Technical Director Chassis Mike Gascoyne commented: "It was a disappointing race for the team losing Olivier on the first lap and Ricardo having to struggle early on. We made the decision to start on dry tyres which was the correct one and it's difficult to understand why we went backwards when everyone else was able to set competitive times. In the last two stints the car was reasonably competitive which makes it difficult to understand why we lost so much time in the first stint. We will keep on pushing hard in the remaining three races."

Those final races of the season will be fought out in Asia and South America. Round 16 will be held on an all-new state of the art circuit in Shanghai on September 26. Some observers in the F1 paddock regard the race as the most commercially significant for Formula 1 in its entire history as Grand Prix racing taking its spectacular show to a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion and rapidly emerging markets.