The Italian Grand Prix – the 13th race of the year and the final of the European round – opened at Monza in the outskirts of Milan on 7 September. Panasonic Toyota Racing headed into the weekend in excellent form after participating in tests here the week before.

The first practice session started at 10am on Friday to an ambient temperature of 18 degrees C and a track temperature of 25. Being his home Grand Prix, Trulli was out on the circuit immediately after the start, putting in a concerted effort to mark a time of 1’23”965 for 10th. It was a different story for Ralf Schumacher, who struggled with understeer in the second sector and finished the session in 15th.

As the sun continued to beat down on the track, ambient and track temperatures had risen to 26 and 36 degrees C, respectively, by the time the afternoon’s practice session got underway. Both drivers completed their scheduled tyre comparisons in a trouble-free session that saw Jarno Trulli finish in 11th and Ralf Schumacher in 12th.

Leading the field into day two was Fernando Alonso (McLaren) with his time of 1’22”386 recorded in the second session.

Fine conditions continued throughout the second day of the Italian Grand Prix, enabling both practice sessions and qualifying to be completed under dry conditions.

Panasonic Toyota Racing fitted reinforced new parts to the machines in preparation for day two after problems developed with part of the aerodynamic package during Friday’s practice. Competing on home soil, Jarno Trulli finalised his setup during the morning’s practice session to head into qualifying in eighth. Ralf Schumacher was a different story, dropping to 18th as he struggled to complete his setup.

Conditions were warm – an ambient temperature of 25 degrees C and a track temperature of 36 – for the start of qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix. Competition was fierce in the first period with less than one second separating the 16 drivers in fifth to 20th positions. Despite this, Trulli improved on his personal best in his second time attack to place him in fifteenth and through to the second period. Ralf Schumacher also performed strongly, but unable to get a clear lap, he missed out on qualifying for the second period by the narrowest of margins.

In the second period, Trulli recorded a super-fast lap to further improve his personal best and take him through to the final period for the eighth race in a row. His best time of the session placed him in ninth and in a good enough position to take home points for the third year in a row here at Monza.

Pole position honours went to Fernando Alonso (McLaren) for the third time this season (career total: 17 poles). His time: 1’21”997.

Clear autumn skies once again greeted the final day of the Grand Prix weekend at Monza. Ambient and track temperatures had risen to 26 and 38 degrees C as the formation lap got underway at 2pm.

Jarno Trulli got off to a slightly delayed start resulting in a three position loss by the first corner.

Then, in the in the second lap, David Coulthard’s (Red Bull) crash brought out the safety car, immediately after which Alexander Wurz (Williams) shortcut through the chicane, coming out ahead of Trulli. The result was a further one position drop to 13th for Trulli.

Trulli had made up the positions he had lost by the 15th lap; however, he remained unable to make the most of the advantages of his one-stop strategy before he pitted in the 30th lap. He returned to the track and put in a strong performance, managing to close the gap between the group in front, but in a hard-fought battle, was unable to get past any of them. It was a frustrating day and disappointing result for Trulli.

Starting from 18th, Ralf Schumacher held his position through the start; however, as all other drivers in his group were also on one-stop strategies, there were few chances – other than in the second lap when he advanced one position – to escape the drivers to the front and rear of him.

All the same, both machines had trouble-free races, with the two Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers finishing in 11th and 15th. With next week’s Belgian Grand Prix bringing the European round to a close, it would be wonderful to see the team get back up amongst the top runners.

Result:
Fernando Alonso (McLaren) came home the winner at the Italian Grand Prix after starting from pole position. It was his first win since the 10th race of the year, the European Grand Prix, and took his season wins to four.