F1, Italian Grand Prix: Best Races of Ferrari at Monza

Formula One Racing has turned towards the Italian Grand Prix and with eight races remaining in the calendar, the championship battle is perfectly poised. Mercedes and Ferrari have been playing tug of war all year long with both, drivers’, as well as constructors’, championships and it, is yet unclear who would end the season on top.

The Maranello based team have sixteen Formula One constructors’ championships to their name, but their stronghold over Monza is equally impressive. Due to the 18 F1 victories that the Scuderia have clinched in Italy, they have given the Tifosi plenty to cheer about.

The lack of wins by the red team at Monza in the recent years has been worrisome. However, the Prancing Horse showed in Belgium that they possess the speed to win, waiting to be unleashed at their home Grand Prix. A close battle between the two championship rivals, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, can be expected at the fastest circuit on the calendar.

Reminiscing the glory years of Ferrari, here is a list of five memorable Monza wins that they have secured over the years:

#5 2010 Italian Grand Prix

2010 was the last year that Ferrari tasted success at Monza, with both their drivers on the podium as Fernando Alonso bagged a win. The Spaniard scored a hat-trick to top off a well-rounded performance by the entire team. However, the victory did not come as easy as it sounds.

Alonso claimed pole, and Jenson Button’s Mclaren separated him from the teammate, Felipe Massa on the starting grid. At the start, Button overtook Fernando and stayed ahead till the first round of pit stops, despite the Spaniard following at the McLaren’s heels throughout.

When the Briton came in for a tyre change on lap 36, Alonso pushed his older tyres to the limit for one lap before he came in himself. The risk paid off and the overcut was successful, with both the drivers rejoining the track together as the Ferrari held the advantage.

The Grand Prix concluded in the same order with Massa completing the podium in third place.

#4 1966 Italian Grand Prix

Ferrari claiming the winner’s trophy at Monza makes the crowd go berserk, but an Italian winning for the red team at Monza takes it up a notch further. The last time this happened was in 1966 when Ludovico Scarfiotti led the Scuderia to a one-two finish ahead of Denny Hulme’s Brabham.

After initially beginning the race in second place, the Italian stole the lead from the teammate, Mike Parkes momentarily before dropping down to the back. By lap 13th, he regained the spot at the front and then gradually pulled away from the rest of the field.

He encountered the chequered flag ahead of Mike, who held on in front of Hulme by 0.3 seconds as only nine drivers had classified as race finishers.

#3 2004 Italian Grand Prix

2004 had been a dominant year for Ferrari, but the initial stages of the Italian Grand Prix would have made every fan jittery. Rubens Barrichello started on the pole and Michael Schumacher was third on the grid. While the former opted for Bridgestone intermediates, the latter chose dry weather tyres.

The rain was not kind to either choice as the German spun off soon after the race began and the Brazilian had to pit extremely early as his tyres wore off. However, the Prancing Horse team showcased their ability as soon as the track started drying up, with both their drivers making dents into the lead that the front-runners had built.

From ninth and eleventh as they were at one point, Rubens and Michael finished the race in an assertive one-two, much to the delight of the Tifosi.

#2 1996 Italian Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher began the race on the second row behind the two Williams of Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve. Jean Alesi’s sublime start saw him climb up from sixth to first before running wide and rejoining in second behind pole-sitter, Hill.

FIA had decided to use tyre barriers at chicanes in order to dissuade drivers from taking advantage by running wide. The modification on the circuit resulted in a bunch of racers hitting the barriers and causing damage to their cars.

One of those was Villeneuve, who had to rejoin in sixteenth after his incident with the tyre stack required a pit stop for damage repair. Damon had to retire from the race because of his collision with the barriers resulting in a broken suspension.

After a flurry of pit stops, Schumacher snatched the lead from Alesi to win his career’s first Italian Grand Prix.

#1 1988 Italian Grand Prix

The turning point of the 1988 Italian Grand Prix, when Ayrton Senna collided with Jean-Louis Schlesser

McLaren were unbeatable in 1988 and barring their solo defeat at the hands of Ferrari at Monza, completed a stellar season with 15 victories in the 16 races that were held that year.

The Grand Prix started as a fight between the two McLarens, and Alain Prost passed the pole-sitter, Ayrton Senna. However, soon after his engine started complaining, he had to cede the lead back to Senna.

Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto filled out the second row on the grid and were closing up to Ayrton at the front by the later stages of the race. The Brazilian, in an effort to lose minimum time, made a move to lap Jean-Louis Schlesser but it all went awry. Schlesser's car skid towards the gravel and as the Frenchman rejoined the track, he collided with Senna who was trying to move ahead of the Williams driver.

Ferrari were left to pick up the lead as Berger and Alboreto finished the Grand Prix as one-two. The result was the red team’s first victory after Enzo Ferrari’s demise and was appropriately fitting.

Edited by Sagnik Monga