Italian Grand Prix Preview
Monza • Milan • Italy
by Toby Waller
England

Circuit Length: 3.604miles / 5.800km
Race Length: 53 laps (191.009miles / 307.400km)

Monza means two words to the leagues of Formula One fans around the world: Ferrari and Tifosi. With Schumacher's brilliant win at Spa-Francorchamps still fresh in the minds of the Italian devotees, hopes for a Ferrari home win - the first since 1988 - will be rife. The rest of us, meanwhile, have the prospect of a titanic battle between the Williams drivers, Jacques Villeneuve and Damon Hill. With both of their races heavily affected by poor communications at Spa, it seems only fair that the points difference still remains in Hill's favour - just. Now is the time of year when the pundits -myself included - get out the calculator and figure out exactly what Hill and Villeneuve have to do to win the championship. Basically, Hill can come second to Villeneuve (or 4 points behind, if the events of last weekend repeat themselves ) at every race and still win the championship by one point. If Hill loses that point advantage, it comes down to race wins and Hill will have the clear advantage. Damon won't be driving for second places, though, and is still favourite to win the championship, but I don't expect he'll clinch it at Monza - unless Jacques has a real problem. It's been a great championship so far, but the variation in winners has been very small. I would dearly love to see some new faces on the top step but, whilst Williams continue their domination, I expect we'll be seeing one of the boys in blue spraying the silver bottle of champagne this weekend. Of the rest, the Benetton pair of Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger are coming on nicely. The McLaren-Mercedes seems to fair well on fast circuits so expect to see Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard figuring prominently. Don't discount Schumacher, though. With his terrific effect now being strongly felt at Ferrari, he may just pull off the win and give the home crowd the cause for celebration that they've been waiting so long for.

Lap Guide
The Monza circuit can basically be described in one word - fast. Running little wing to take advantage of the long straights, the cars slip and slide through the chicanes that interrupt the circuit in the name of safety. The first set of chicanes, the Variante Goodyear, are taken in second - the cars bouncing over the kerbs so as not to lose valuable seconds. The track funnels in from the wide pit straight at the entry to this complex, so expect the usual first lap collision between the midfielders as they jockey and dive for position. After the Variante Goodyear, it's off through the flat-out Curva Grande before braking hard down to second for the Seconda Variante. The next two right-handers - the Curva des Lesmos - used to be flat out, but were modified in the wake of the Senna/Ratzenberger tragedies of 1994. The next straight kinks slightly before the cars enter the Variante Ascari complex - a quick, but long, left-right-left flick that's taken in fourth. Exiting in fifth, the cars rush along the final straight before braking to third to negotiate the Curva Parabolica. This long hairpin is tight on entry, but eases out on the exit - the cars run wide, often falling off the road in their quest for speed onto the start-finish straight.

What Happened Last Year?
Collisions and controversy crowd the story of the 1995 Italian Grand Prix. After taking a superb pole position, David Coulthard spun his Williams off at the Variante Ascari on the warm up lap. Oil was the suspected cause, but, even so, I'm sure that there were some strong words when he arrived back at the pits. Luckily for him, the race was re-started after an accident on the first lap and he was able to re-start the race in his spare car. Holding the lead into the first corner, the race would end for Coulthard on lap 14 when a suspected wheel bearing failure threw him into the gravel. Gerhard Berger inherited the lead for Ferrari and the tifosi went wild. With Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill following closely, Berger magnificently resisted the pressure and began to slowly pull away. Hill and Schumacher took care of each other on lap 24 - the Williams driver stumbling around backmarker Taki Inoue and colliding with the German's Benetton. Schumacher was livid, and immediately sprang over to the Williams to vent his anger at Hill. No-one knows what was said, but I'm sure it wasn't polite! The tifosi now had a Ferrari one-two, but, this being Monza, something had to happen. It did. After pit-stops on lap 25, Berger's team-mate, Jean Alesi, had taken over the lead and, on lap 33, his wing mounted camera fell off, destroying Berger's front suspension. The Austrian was lucky - any higher, and his head would have been the contact point. The tifosi's dismay took an even worse turn on lap 45. Alesi's right rear wheel had been smoking for several laps and he eventually pulled in with wheel bearing failure. All this meant that Johnny Herbert was the proud recipient of the winner's trophy. Once again Herbert had been in the right position to take full advantage of the opposition's misfortune, and his second win of the year would help in the quest for a seat for 1996.

1995 Results
1.  Johnny Herbert  Benetton-Renault    1h18m27.916s
2.  Mika Hakkinen   McLaren-Mercedes       + 17.779s
3.  HH Frentzen     Sauber-Ford            + 24.321s
4.  Mark Blundell   McLaren-Mercedes       + 28.230s
5.  Mika Salo       Tyrrell-Yamaha         + one lap
6.  JC Boullion     Sauber-Ford            + one lap



Pole Position   David Coulthard   Williams-Renault    1m24.462s	
Fastest Lap     Gerhard Berger    Ferrari             1m24.419s    

This year's race will probably be as jam-packed with excitement, but who is looking hot and who's not in the quest for points.

Ferrari
Using the new seven-speed gearbox, the team had mixed fortunes at Spa. Michael Schumacher won, of course, but Eddie Irvine fell by the wayside thanks to gearbox gremlins. The car still seems to be a handful, as Schumacher's Friday crash proved, but it's getting there slowly. There is no doubt that the support will be there in abundance at Monza, but Ferraris don't run on support alone. Good results expected in qualifying, but the race result will probably be a disappointment for the Italian crowd.

Benetton-Renault
Disappointing in qualifying, equally so in the race - Spa was a sorry tale for the Benetton team and I don't expect Italy to provide anything better. The cars went well at Hockenheim, but the curves of Spa seemed to highlight the chassis deficiencies again. Monza has a shortage of challenging corners, but the few that exist are very challenging and the Benetton will probably struggle through them. They'll be close to the front all weekend, but it will take a few retirements or problems to provide the team's first victory of the year.

Williams-Renault
Communication problems blighted the team's race at Spa and probably cost the team victory. After such a dominant season in terms of strategy, it was an ugly sore on the face of a brilliant campaign. Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve will be hard to separate over the final three races - both drivers know the circuits well - but Hill may have the upper hand. Having said that, Villeneuve dominated qualifying at Spa - a circuit he was expected to struggle at. The predominance of slow corners at Monza may not suit the Canadian, though, despite his improved ability to set up the car. Also, expect to see McLaren/Tyrrell style front suspension on the Williams - the team were allegedly planning to adopt it in 1994, but thought it illegal.

McLaren-Mercedes
The team used their new suspension to terrific effect at Spa and were well placed for victory after adopting a one-stop strategy. The appearance of the safety car scuppered their plans, though, and Mika Hakkinen was left to claim the honours for the team with a fine third after David Coulthard crashed out. I expect the team to be challenging Williams for victory at Monza - the long straights being particularly favourable to the Mercedes engine. Who will be driving the number seven car next year is the main mystery in the paddock: Hill, Hakkinen, Frentzen or Schumacher Jr. Place your bets ...

Ligier-Mugen Honda
The pair were closely matched during qualifying at Spa, but well down the field as usual after suspected diffuser problems caused huge understeer. The pair faired even worse in the race - Olivier Panis out at the first corner and Pedro Diniz retiring with a misfire after six laps. The new Mugen engine should fair quite well at Monza, but the chassis will probably struggle in the twisty bits. Points will be a welcome bonus this weekend.

Jordan-Peugeot
New aerodynamics went some way to curing handling problems at Spa, but engine and suspension failures denied the team of well deserved points. The Peugeot engine will be the team's saving grace at Monza - if they can get the car working, the team may start to climb back up the grid again. The driver line up for next year is the main point of gossip in the paddock - Rubens Barrichello and Martin Brundle are expected to go; Hill, and possibly Frentzen and Hakkinen, are favourites to join.

Sauber-Ford
Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Johnny Herbert were promising on Friday but disappointing on Saturday - eventually lining up eleventh and twelfth. The collision at La Source involved both Saubers, and the pair were out immediately. The new evolution Ford engine worked wonders at Hungary, but it's effect will be less readily felt on the long straights of Monza. Another team surrounded by late silly season driver rumours, including the talented Jorg Muller - currently leading the F3000 championship.

Footwork-Hart
After qualifying in the bottom half of the grid again, Jos Verstappen and Riccardo Rosset were expected to finish the Belgian race, at best. Verstappen had a huge off at Stavelot - possibly caused by a sticking throttle, but this has so far been denied - whilst Rosset battled with Pedro Lamy to finish ninth. The usual will probably happen at Monza.

Tyrrell-Yamaha
Mika Salo was back on form at Spa, outqualifying team-mate Ukyo Katayama for the first time in three races. The pair were well up - Salo even in the points - by half way, but had dropped back to seventh and eighth by the end of the race. They finished, though, which is something considering the poor reliability of the Yamaha unit. At Monza they'll probably struggle again.

Minardi-Ford
The team must hate qualifying nowadays. Problems plagued the pair of Pedro Lamy and Giovanni Lavaggi again - the Italian suffering the disappointment of non-qualification once more, courtesy of Villeneuve's improved pole time and the following rain storm. Fuel rig problems blighted Lamy's race, and he was lucky to finish tenth and last. The pair will be lucky to qualify and even luckier to finish the race at Monza - the Italian team's home circuit. Benetton team boss Flavio Briatore is apparently keen to buy, or hold shares in, the team to further his Italian interests in Formula One.