Grapevine: No Party Mood for Ferrari Fans at Monza

Ferrari fans turned out in their thousands for the qualifying session of the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday but there was little celebration of the team's third successive World Championship title.

After Michael Schumacher defended his world title with victory in Budapest and Ferrari took their third Constructors' crown in a row, the fans had been set for their biggest ever party at Monza. But instead the atmosphere has been muted in the wake of the terror attacks in the United States.

World champion Schumacher himself admitted it was hard to concentrate on his driving. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo had said that in the wake of events in New York and Washington the Monza weekend should be simply a sports event and not the party that had been expected.

The Ferrari fans appeared to have taken on board Montezemolo's comments. There were significantly fewer of the red flags that Ferrari fans display at Grand Prix events across the world and hardly any of the traditional banners to greet Schumacher and his team mate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.

"There are a lot of people here but we are affected by what has happened in America," said one Ferrari fan from northern Italy. "It is a sports event but without the joy. It is not possible to make a party when there is so much sadness," he added.

Ferrari, whose biggest market for car sales is in the U.S., have removed all sponsors' logos from their cars and painted the nose cones black. Team staff covered up logos on their clothing. The gesture was appreciated by one American racing fan among the crowd.

"It is nice what Ferrari did," said Rich Reynolds, a U.S. citizen living in Italy. "I was amazed the other European teams didn't respect in the same way as Ferrari did."

There had been some debate about whether the race should go ahead after Tuesday's attacks but Reynolds said there was no reason why it should have been halted.

"I don't think they should have cancelled, there is no security risk in Europe," he said. Schumacher, who finished third in qualifying, hardly gave a ringing endorsement to the decision to go ahead with the race.

Asked whether he would have preferred the race to be cancelled, the German said: "I've avoided talking about it too much all weekend and I would like to continue like this if you understand."

In answer to a question about whether it was difficult to concentrate on racing he said: "Certainly."

Following a minute's silence during practice on Friday there will be another before Sunday's race during the drivers' parade when the parade truck will stop in front of the main grandstand.