Summary

The McLaren team is looking strong for the race. David Coulthard was fastest in the warmup followed by his team-mate Mika Hakkinen. Schumacher also proved he could be on the podium today by setting the third fastest time.

Gerhard Berger suffered another spin when he had just exited the pits. Berger left his car a wreck and continued in the T-car.

Top Ten Warmup

1. D. Coulthard 1m 25.476s
2. M. Hakkinen 1m 25.593s
3. M. Schumacher 1m25.765s
4. D. Hill 1m 26.149s
5. J. Alesi 1m 26.467s
6. J. Villeneuve 1m 26.813s
7. R. Barrichello 1m 26.868s
8. H.H. Frentzen 1m 27.187s
9. O. Panis 1m 27.192s
10. J. Herbert 1m27.424s

The Benetton team have announced that Hill is not an option for next season.

Team-boss Flavio Briatore said to News of the World: "We are not interested in signing Hill. We have contracts with Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi and we want to keep them. It caused us a lot of problems this year changing drivers. Next year we want stability so we will stay with the drivers we have got."

Summary

Michael Schumacher won the tyre dominated race at Monza. It were not the tyres on the cars that played a part in the result but it were the tyres next to the track, to prevent drivers from taking shortcuts. A lot of people ran into them resulting in retirement or loss of time because of damage.

Jean Alesi, second, could not keep Schumacher behind him and so the tivosi got what they wanted: a Ferrari home win.

Damon Hill threw away his chances of clinching the title this weekend when he hit a tyre pile and spun out of the race while he was leading. He could have been sure of the title because he team-mate and greatest rival Jacques Villeneuve ended outside the points.

Dutch driver Jos Verstappen drove to a respectable eighth place with the much under powered Arrows.

Notes

• Panis doesn't get his engine started in time for the formation lap and has to start from the back only to retire on lap 2.
• Coulthard spins off on lap 1.
• Berger's Benetton brakes down on lap 4.
• Hill spins off after he hit a tyre pile on lap 5.
• Lavaggi parks his Minardi in the pits on lap 5.
• Frentzen makes a mistake and spins off on lap 7.
• Salo retires on lap 9.
• Lamy has engine troubles and retires on lap 12.
• Irvine hits a tyre pile and brakes his front suspension on lap 23. Rosset does the same and retires on lap 36 with a broken left front wheel suspension.

Results

1. M. Schumacher 1h 17m 43.643s
2. J. Alesi + 18.265s
3. M. Hakkinen + 1m 06.635s
4. M. Brundle + 1m 25.217s
5. R. Barrichello + 1m 25.475s
6. P. Diniz 1 lap
7. J. Villeneuve 1 lap
8. J. Verstappen 1 lap
9. J. Herbert 2 laps
10. U. Katayama 2 laps

Quotes

Hill: "I hit the tyres at the exit of the chicane. I cannot blame anyone but myself. I made a mistake. If I could have finished the race, I could have won the race. I made a good start and that was probably going to be an easy victory, but I threw it all away."

Schumacher: "We had a safe strategy to try and win the race with pit stops. I was just glad I had a bit more fuel than Alesi."

Schumacher on him hitting a tyre pile: "It was a stupid moment. I thought I had the room to pass the tyres but obviously I did not."

A Quick Look at the Standings

Drivers championship

1. Hill 81
2. Villeneuve 68
3. Schumacher 49
4. Alesi 44
5. Hakkinen 27
6. Coulthard 18
7. Berger 17
8. Barrichello 14
9. Panis 13
10. Irvine 9
11. Frentzen 6
12. Brundle 6
13. Salo 5
14. Herbert 4
15. Diniz 2
16. Verstappen 1

Constructors championship

1. Williams-Renault 149
2. Benetton-Renault 61
3. Ferrari 58
4. McLaren-Mercedes 45
5. Jordan-Peugeot 20
6. Ligier-Mugen-Honda 15
7. Sauber-Ford 10
8. Tyrrell-Yamaha 5
9. TWR 1

Schumacher announced just before the start of the Grand Prix of Italy that he and his wife Corrinna are expecting a child. Both Michael and Corrinna have not made it a secret that they want may children. Schumacher said: "When I quit motor racing I want to live on a ranch in Canada with my wife and many children.