2006 Italian GP: Facts & Stats

In case you've forgotten, there was a motor race on Sunday afternoon, as Michael Schumacher broke through the 90-win barrier with victory in the Italian GP.

The German becomes the first ever five-time winner at Monza, and he gave Ferrari their 17th victory there, extending the record for most wins for a constructor at a single circuit. At an average speed of 245.814 km/h, the race was the third fastest in F1 history, beaten only by last year's (247.096 km/h) and the 2003 Grand Prix (247.585 km/h).

With retirement looming, the seven-time champion will own every major record in the book, with one notable exception. At the end of the season he will have started 249 races, seven short of Riccardo Patrese's record. Although he claims to be disinterested in statistics, he may know that he needs just two more wins to equal the combined total of Alain Prost (51) and Ayrton Senna (41).

A home victory will always be enjoyed by the tifosi, and the fans enjoyed a "virtual" 1-2 as incoming Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen finished on the podium for the first time at Monza. For the second year in a row, Kimi was the quickest man in qualifying, but unlike last year, he was able to line up on pole - the 125th in the history of the McLaren team, and the 11th race in a row where Kimi has beaten his teammate on Saturdays, be it Juan Pablo Montoya or Pedro de la Rosa.

The pole time was 1:21.484, just 0.438 seconds off the all-time qualifying lap record, despite the massive reduction in engine power this year. With Schumacher just 0.002 seconds behind the Finn, it was the closest qualifying session since Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen famously stopped the clock on 1:21.072 at Jerez, nine years ago.

Fernando Alonso's retirement means there are only two points separating the title protagonists, with three races remaining. In 2000, Schumacher narrowed the gap to championship leader Mika Hakkinen to the same total with victory at Monza. He then won the final three races to wrap up his first Ferrari title. Winning his final title for them in the same manner would be perfect symmetry.

The highly controversial penalty assessed to Alonso after qualifying was rendered a moot point when his engine blew spectacularly with 10 laps to go. It was his first engine failure since Renault moved away from their radical 111-degree vee angle at the end of 2003.

Robert Kubica's third place was somewhat overshadowed by the events immediately after the chequered flag, but try telling that to the man from Krakow, who at 21 years 277 days is the second-youngest ever to finish on the podium in F1. He continues to make the most impressive start to a career since his erstwhile BMW-Sauber teammate Jacques Villeneuve.

Not only did Kubica start in the top six, he was the last of the front-runners to stop for fuel and led for five laps - propelling him to the top of the all-time lap leaders for the Sauber team. Admittedly, that's not a prestigious honour, as he beats only Felipe Massa (2 laps at Interlagos in 2004) and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (1 lap at the 2003 US Grand Prix).

Kubica had the race that most people thought Nick Heidfeld was more likely to enjoy. The German was making his 65th start for Sauber, passing Frentzen's team record, but never had the outright pace of the Polish rookie, who set the second best lap overall in qualifying, and the fourth fastest of the race, underlining that this podium finish was down to genuine pace and not good fortune.

Sauber's first ever podium was at Monza in 1995, and having never previously finished on the podium twice in one season, but they have now done so twice in three races, following on from Heidfeld in Budapest. Their next step has to be to finish higher than third, as that's where they've finished all eight times they've appeared on the podium.

Heinz Harald Frentzen finished third for Sauber-Ford in the 1995 Italian Grand Prix © LAT

For two laps before Heidfeld made his first fuel stop, Sauber ran 1-2 in a Grand Prix for the first time. Had Heidfeld not incurred a drive-through penalty for speeding, it's likely that they would have finished 3-4 on Sunday.

Giancarlo Fisichella was a rather quiet fourth, giving him his 13th points scoring finish of the year. That's the same as his teammate Alonso, despite scoring 51 points less than the Spaniard. In Honda's 50th Grand Prix as a constructor, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello both scored for the third race in succession, a nice present for Barrichello's senior race engineer Jock Clear, who turns 43 on Tuesday.

Jarno Trulli's seventh place was not enough to stop BMW-Sauber vaulting over Toyota in the constructors' championship, but despite flying below the radar screen at many of the races over the summer, this was the seventh straight race in which Toyota have scored points.

Tenth place summed up another dismal weekend for Mark Webber and the Williams team, as their run of races without a point moved into double figures. Webber was able to recover after being eliminated in period 1 of qualifying on Saturday. For Nico Rosberg, Monza was his fourth consecutive retirement, all of which have occurred before half-distance.

At Toro Rosso, Scott Speed continued his recent run of good form in comparison to teammate Tonio Liuzzi. At the last five races, Speed has headed Liuzzi on the track for 93% of the time, although the Italian wasn't giving up without a fight - his last lap was his quickest of the day, as he finished less than half a second shy of the American in 14th place.

Like last year, when all 20 cars finished, Monza's reputation as a car breaker proved unfounded (although try telling that to Alonso right now). Only five cars failed to see the flag, and it was only the third race all season in which we didn't see a first lap retirement.