MONZA, Italy, 15 September 2003 — World champion Michael Schumacher returned to winning ways for the first time in six races here yesterday when he claimed his 50th Ferrari victory in front of the team’s Tifosi fans at the Italian Grand Prix. German Schumacher led from start to finish in what was a crucial race for the World Championship and kept cool under the pressure to extend his lead to three points over second-placed Juan Pablo Montoya. His only brief concern was when a rampant Montoya jostled his way through the pack after a slow start and fought his title rival wheel-to-wheel for the lead on the first lap. But Schumacher stayed composed, gave as good as he got, then controlled the pace, with the help of slick pitwork from his Ferrari team, to ease home with a comfortable cushion and a sigh of relief.
“It’s one of the greatest days in my career,” said Schumacher after his 5.294sec win had given him his fifth victory of the season but his first since the Canadian Grand Prix six rounds ago. “We have had a lot of tough races where we haven’t been winning and not scoring the points we wanted to.”
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello added to the delight by holding off McLaren driver and world championship contender Kimi Raikkonen to claim the final podium position. The Finn’s fourth place finish keeps him in the hunt for the title but puts him seven points behind Schumacher with two races of the season, in the United States and Japan, left to run.
Spaniard Marc Gene, the former Minardi driver who made his Grand Prix return with Williams after stepping up from his test-driver role to replace the injured Ralf Schumacher, scored three points for fifth. Canadian Jacques Villeneuve claimed his third points finish of the year with sixth place for BAR-Honda, Australian Mark Webber was seventh for Jaguar and Fernando Alonso recovered from a first-lap crash to claim the final point.
Alonso, who won the last race in Hungary, started from the back after spinning in qualifying but hit Dutchman Jos Verstappen’s Minardi as he tried to avoid the stricken Jaguar of Justin Wilson. All three were in the pits by the end of the first lap and returned to the track but Wilson, who was pushed in by his team after complaining of gearbox problems, retired soon after.
Alonso’s teammate Jarno Trulli, who had been fighting for third at the start, was forced to park his car at the side of the track before the end of the first lap. Schumacher crossed the line at the end of lap one to finally post a leading lap for the first time in 327 laps, the last time coming when he won the Canadian Grand Prix six races ago.
Brazilian Cristiano da Matta, of Toyota, had a high-speed spin as he headed toward the Parabolica because the left rear Michelin tire on his car disintegrated. Schumacher built up a lead of 4.9 seconds on Montoya by the time the top runners began to come in for their first pit stops, with Raikkonen and Gene the first in at end of lap 13.
Barrichello stopped one lap later and Schumacher was in on the following lap, handing Montoya the lead, but only for one lap as Montoya peeled into the pits at the end of lap 16. Schumacher, whose stop had lasted 8.6 seconds, easily retained his lead. Montoya came out after an 8.4 second stop just ahead of Barrichello, with Raikkonen, Coulthard and Gene completing an unchanged top six.
Montoya pitted first in the second round of pit stops, on lap 32, after closing to within a second of leader Schumacher, who stopped two laps later, on the same lap as Raikkonen. Once again Schumacher came out ahead of Montoya but was this time right behind the Colombian’s teammate Marc Gene, who led for the first time in his career.
Once Gene pitted one lap later the same top-six order was resumed.
