Monza: Who’s The Best Current F1 Driver?
Written by George Katinger · September 4, 2005
We all now know it’s Kimi Raikkonen. Unfortunately being the best doesn’t necessarily mean you win the race. A McLaren won, but it was piloted by Juan Pablo Montoya, who almost had a “Kimi Moment” of his own.
speedtv.com: “Wrong” McLaren Wins at Monza
f1.racing-live.com: Different fortunes for Montoya and Raikkonen
reuters.com: Deposed Schumacher hands F1 crown to Alonso
reuters.co.uk: Alonso poised for title after Montoya win
setanta.com: Kimi wrong to opt for Ferrari - Kennedy
grandprix.com: Race incidents from Monza
itv-f1.com: TOYOTA CHASES THIRD IN CONSTRUCTORS
sportnetwork.net: Italy: A weekend to forget as race pace evaporates
The McLaren’s are so strong, Juan never lost the lead, even during pit stops. That is an amazing statistic in itself. Even more amazing to me, Kimi Raikkonen continues to be dogged by poor luck in combination with lousy team decisions. The lousy team decision was the supposed engine upgrade they gave Kimi which, of course, crapped the bed and cost him a ten spot starting penalty. So Kimi goes to a one stop strategy and works himself into position to take the win (with or without Juan’s help) and his left rear tire shreds with 25 laps to go. He immediately pits for a new tire, and drives himself back up to fourth. And if not for a spin at the Ascari chicane, he would have challenged Fisi for third (that would have been fun!). Which is one reason why he has to be considered the current best driver on the grid. His flat out speed in conjunction with the best car and team are the others. And Kimi managed the fastest race lap, yet again, on lap 51
As for Juan’s “Kimi Moment”, his left rear tire began to show signs of shredding with about 4-5 laps to go. (Shades of Williams at Istanbul?) Juan and the team opted to stay out on the course and gamble the tire would hold up. The gamble was all on Juan’s part, especialy at Monza. I shudder to think of the consequences if that tire went down at 200+ mph on the Monza straights or while trying to get through parabolica. The difference between Juan and Kimi this year has been all about luck, good and bad. Mostly good for Juan and all bad for Kimi.
And what of all the rest? Renault have locked up the drivers title, and nearly siezed the manufacturer’s trophy, Honda disappeared for the day, Ferrari delivered exactly what they promised all the preceding week (nothing), Toyota showed some improvement and Antonio Pizzonia delivered the drive of the day, at least as far as Frank Williams is concerned. He scrambled from 16th all the way up to 7th place. Unlike that eye candy Frank covets, name of Jenson Button, who slid from 3rd down to 8th. Maybe it was part of BAR’s plan to help Jenson extract himself from Frank’s greedy clutches? Lousy finishes equate to less value. Don’t let them sucker you Frank, squeeze ‘em ’till they bleed!
ITALIAN GRAND PRIX RESULTS - SEPTEMBER 4, 2005 - 53 LAPS
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT LAPS TIRE TIME/RETIRE
1. JUAN PABLO MONTOYA Colombia McLaren-Mercedes 53 1h14m28.659
2. FERNANDO ALONSO Spain Renault 53 2.479
3. GIANCARLO FISICHELLA Italy Renault 53 17.975
4. KIMI RAIKKONEN Finland McLaren-Mercedes 53 22.775
5. JARNO TRULLI Italy Toyota 53 33.786
6. RALF SCHUMACHER Germany Toyota 53 43.975
7. ANTONIO PIZZONIA Brazil Williams-BMW 53 44.643
8. JENSON BUTTON Britain BAR-Honda 53 1m03.635
9. FELIPE MASSA Brazil Sauber-Petronas 53 1m15.413
10. MICHAEL SCHUMACHER Germany Ferrari 53 1m36.070
11. JACQUES VILLENEUVE Canada Sauber-Petronas 52 1 Lap
12. RUBENS BARRICHELLO Brazil Ferrari 52 1 Lap
13. CHRISTIAN KLIEN Austria Red Bull-Cosworth 52 1 Lap
14. MARK WEBBER Australia Williams-BMW 52 1 Lap
15. DAVID COULTHARD Britain Red Bull-Cosworth 52 1 Lap
16. TAKUMA SATO Japan BAR-Honda 52 1 Lap
17. TIAGO MONTEIRO Portugal Jordan-Toyota 51 2 Laps
18. ROBERT DOORNBOS Netherlands Minardi-Cosworth 51 2 Laps
19. CHRISTIJAN ALBERS Netherlands Minardi-Cosworth 51 2 Laps
20. NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN India Jordan-Toyota 50 3 Laps
FASTEST LAP: Raikkonen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 51 1:21.504
DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS:
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT POINTS
1. FERNANDO ALONSO Spain Renault 103
2. KIMI RAIKKONEN Finland McLaren-Mercedes 76
3. MICHAEL SCHUMACHER Germany Ferrari 55
4. JUAN PABLO MONTOYA Colombia McLaren-Mercedes 50
5. JARNO TRULLI Italy Toyota 43
6. GIANCARLO FISICHELLA Italy Renault 41
7. RALF SCHUMACHER Germany Toyota 35
8. RUBENS BARRICHELLO Brazil Ferrari 31
9. NICK HEIDFELD Germany Williams-BMW 28
10. MARK WEBBER Australia Williams-BMW 24
JENSON BUTTON Britain BAR-Honda 24
12. DAVID COULTHARD Britain Red Bull-Cosworth 21
13. FELIPE MASSA Brazil Sauber-Petronas 8
14. TIAGO MONTEIRO Portugal Jordan-Toyota 6
ALEXANDER WURZ Austria McLaren-Mercedes 6
JACQUES VILLENEUVE Canada Sauber-Petronas 6
17. NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN India Jordan-Toyota 5
CHRISTIAN KLIEN Austria Red Bull-Cosworth 5
19. CHRISTIJAN ALBERS Netherlands Minardi-Cosworth 4
PEDRO DE LA ROSA Spain McLaren-Mercedes 4
21. PATRICK FRIESACHER Austria Minardi-Cosworth 3
22. ANTONIO PIZZONIA Brazil Williams-BMW 2
23. VITANTONIO LIUZZI Italy Red Bull-Cosworth 1
TAKUMA SATO Japan BAR-Honda 1
CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS:
POS CONSTRUCTOR POINTS
1. RENAULT 144
2. MCLAREN-MERCEDES 136
3. FERRARI 86
4. TOYOTA 78
5. WILLIAMS-BMW 54
6. RED BULL-COSWORTH 27
7. BAR-HONDA 25
8. SAUBER-PETRONAS 14
9. JORDAN-TOYOTA 11
10. MINARDI-COSWORTH 7
Comments
4 Responses to “Monza: Who’s The Best Current F1 Driver?”
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Were it not for the late tyre dramas that was a fairly average race.I had dreams of a Kimi charge through the field.
George, must you refer to the treacherous Button as “eye candy”, please this is the F1 page not the IRL page.
a cold Fosters?
In my definition “eye candy” is anything superficialy pleasing without much depth. I think that describes our boy Jenson to a “T”, as well as the young lady in the IRL you may have been alluding to?
George,
Are you serious re: the “luck” comment? Juan has had 2 race wins and 2 race starts taken away due to “bad luck.”
JPM’s luck has been a long freakin’ shot from “good”.
Kelly:
Juan’s two lost starts are not attributable to bad luck, but to bad judgement and/or poor coordination. Whether he fell off a bike or flopped on a tennis court is irrelevant.
His black flag at Canada was also poor team judgement, and I’ll concede his one breakdown to bad luck. That’s why I said Juan’s luck was “mostly good” while Kimi’s has been all bad.
Can’t wait for next year when Juan and Kimi will hopefully fight head to head for a title, assuming McLaren can come up with a dominant car with the new engine regs.