Race: Montoya takes first F1 win

In the same week as the worst terrorist attack in history and Alex Zanardi's horrifying Champ Car crash, the Italian GP really didn't seem that important to many F1 insiders. But come the race, Williams and Ferrari put on a fascinating and absorbing battle to lift the sport's sombre spirits - at least for a couple of hours.

Montoya's victory has been a long time coming, the Colombian having taken pole position for three of the last four races. As his team boss Frank Williams pointed out after the race: "Now he has settled into the team and won a race, he will go on to win a lot more - hopefully with us."

But his first victory did not come easy. On race pace, Ferrari confounded expectations that the Williams-BMWs would have the advantage by holding the edge on home turf. Much of that was down to their Bridgestone tyres, the Japanese manufacturer's intense work before this race clearly paying off. The rival Michelin rubber proved less durable around Monza's flat-out straights and tight chicanes, with Montoya's team-mate Ralf Schumacher particularly suffering with heavy graining early in the race.

But despite their speed, Ferrari lost out - and that was down to fuel strategy. As Williams technical director Patrick Head speculated, Ferrari may have been concerned about possible brake problems on this demanding circuit and took a decision to go for two stops. Traditionally, this is a one-stop race, the strategy Williams stuck to. If brakes were a worry, Ferrari may have decided that the extra grip provided by running for longer on fresher tyres would aid braking distances and put less demand on the carbon fibre discs.

Whatever the reason, it cost Rubens Barrichello his second win. The Brazilian actually passed Montoya for the lead early in the race, but that second pitstop handed the advantage back to Williams.

With Ralf Schumacher finishing third, his brother Michael was left a distant fourth. The world champion was not his usual self all weekend and was at the centre of a safety row throughout Sunday morning and right up to the final minutes before the start.

Schumacher tried to convince his fellow drivers not to overtake through the first two chicanes after the start, in a bid to avoid an accident like the one that left a marshal dead at last year's Italian GP. But with Jacques Villeneuve and several team bosses strongly disagreeing with his view, the necessary unanimity was not reached. As the drivers prepared for the start, Schumacher walked down the grid urging caution among his rivals.

Not everyone took notice of his words. As the red lights went out, Jenson Button went for it big time. With team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella being forced to start from the pitlane, Button knew he would have plenty of room on the right hand-side to make a move. He lined up on the left of the track in 11th, ahead of Fisichella, who would have started 12th.

Button immediately jinked to the right and charged down the inside line to make up as many places as he could. "As I braked I hit a patch of cement dust," he said to explain why he reached the corner too quickly. But even without the dust, he had hit the brakes too late. Jarno Trulli was unlucky enough to be in his path, and the Benetton speared into the Jordan. The Italian was out on the spot. Button pitted for a new nose, but his Renault engine let go shortly afterwards to cap another poor day for the Englishman.

The top four held their grid positions through the first two chicanes, with Montoya leading Barrichello, Shumacher Sr and Schumacher Jr. But if they were playing to rules of etiquette, Ralf soon dismissed them as they exited the second chicane. He made a move on his brother at the first Lesmo corner that only just failed to come off.

Over the opening laps, the brothers continued to run in close company, but then Ralf started to fall sharply away. His rear tyres were graining and he could not keep pace with the Ferraris. Montoya too was under pressure and on lap nine, Barrichello got better traction out of the second chicane and dived inside for the lead into the first Lesmo.

By lap 18 Barrichello had opened up around 10 seconds on the Williams, but to everyone's surprise his team-mate dived into the pits. Either Ferrari were going for an incredibly early single pitstop, or they were being forced to take two. Williams technical director Patrick Head said: "When we saw them pit, we didn't know they were on two stops for sure." But he admitted that the length of the stop gave away that Ferrari would have to come in again for more fuel.

Barrichello pitted a lap later than Schumacher and lost a heap of time as the mechanics struggled to fit the fuel nozzle. The 16 second stop ended up being the difference between first and second.

Montoya came in for his single stop on lap 28, but his team-mate left it until lap 35. During those laps while Ralf led the race, he was the quickest man on the track and his Michelins had clearly began to work as they wore down.

But when he returned to track, Ralf was back in fourth, seven seconds behind his brother. Meanwhile, Barrichello held an advantage of over 11 seconds to Montoya. That gap started to stretch as Rubens put the hammer down. He was trying to open a big enough advantage over the Colombian to allow him to stop again and return to the action still in the lead.

But he couldn't do it. When Barrichello returned to the track after his second stop on lap 41, he was third behind Montoya and Ralf. And the gap to the leader? Around six seconds, the same amount of time he lost during the nozzle mix-up on his first stop...

Barrichello was clearly fired up and closed in on Ralf ahead of him. As they started lap 47, the Ferrari held the inside line into the first chicane, but Schumacher refused to yield and was forced to cut the kerb on the exit. Knowing that he would be penalised for that, he backed off and let Barrichello through.

With six laps left, Barrichello was 7.2secs down on Montoya - too much to make up. The battle was already won.

Ralf's third place was never under threat from his brother after the Ferrari's second stop and Michael settled for fourth, eight seconds down on the Williams.

Pedro de la Rosa drove an excellent race to take Jaguar's first points since the Canadian GP with fifth. Jacques Villeneuve was a surprised sixth, the former world champion finding his British American Racing car much quicker in the race than it had been in qualifying. He had started way down in 15th.

It was a bad day for McLaren. David Coulthard's Mercedes engine blew up on lap seven while he was running fifth. His team-mate Mika Hakkinen was forced off the track in the first corner confusion, then suffered gearbox problems, retiring on lap 19.

Kimi Raikkonen and Jos Verstappen starred early on, running in the top six. But Verstappen's Arrows gave up the ghost on lap 26 and Raikkonen's momentum was cut short after his first stop. He rejoined the race behind a train of cars that were struggling to find a way past Enrique Bernoldi and eventually finished out of the points in seventh.

Tomas Enge made it to the finish of his first GP in 12th, but fellow rookie Alex Yoong spun out in his Minardi. Earlier in the race, he had spun in front of Montoya and the Williams had to take avoiding action. But nothing was going to rob Montoya of this one - having come so close before, finally it was his day.

For full results click here.

For championship standings click here.