Second Fiddle

From the time it became known that Michael Schumacher would make his all-important announcement following Sunday's Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the race itself was always destined to be little more than the appetizer for the 'big moment' afterwards.

It is hard to imagine the GP playing second fiddle to any other event in Italy over the race weekend. And, for the legions of tifosi, the GP (particularly with a victory for Ferrari) was again the highlight of the annual racing calendar. For the rest of the world, each successive lap on Sunday brought us closer not to the chequered flag, but to the long-awaited announcement by the most successful driver of his (or any other) era.

Even if part of the racing world hadn't guessed that Schumacher would retire, or hadn't been informed by ITV commentator James Allen about Schumacher relaying his decision to the team by radio on his slow-down lap, Schumacher telegraphed the decision on the podium. When he leaned over and placed a fatherly hand on Kimi Raikkonen's shoulder during the podium celebrations, the body language was clear. It was a figurative handing over of the Ferrari mantle from king to heir.

Of his five Monza victories, Sunday's was probably Schumacher's most memorable, although perhaps not his best. Monza has been a strange circuit for Schumacher, in that he only performs at his best when he absolutely has to. For his first WDC title in 1994, Schumacher sat out Monza as the first in a two-race ban that saw rival Damon Hill pouch twenty points and tighten up the championship considerably.

During his four easiest championship victories (1995, 2001, 2002 and 2004), Schumacher failed to win at Monza, recording a DNF (collision with Damon Hill), a 4th, 2nd and 2nd respectively. Although, in fairness, on each of those occasions he had either already won the title or was on the brink of doing so.

His four Monza victories (prior to Sunday) were all special in their own way. In 1996, he arrived at Monza having won just two of his first 13 GP for the Scuderia. Importantly, it was Schumacher's first performance in front of the Monza faithful as a Ferrari driver. He didn't disappoint, seizing on the opportunity provided by the misfortunes of Hill and Villeneuve in the dominant Williams cars to record victory.

By 1998, the brains trust of Schumacher, designer Rory Byrne and technical director Ross Brawn had put the 1996 teething problems at Ferrari behind them. After the disastrous end to the 1997 season at Jerez and Schumacher's subsequent exclusion from the championship, there would be no more excuses for losing.

However, the team arrived at Monza with Schumacher lagging McLaren's Mika Hakkinen by seven points in the WDC chase - a particularly regrettable situation given that, in the previous GP at Spa, Schumacher had lost a certain ten-point swing after colliding with Hakkinen's teammate David Coulthard in the wet. Once again Schumacher excelled at Monza, taking pole position and then coming from behind to oust Hakkinen and even up the championship battle.

Two years later, the championship situation was almost identical by Monza. After a superb opening half of the season in which he'd built up a commanding 24-point lead over arch-rival Hakkinen, Schumacher suffered three consecutive race retirements and then back-to-back defeats by Hakkinen at Hungary and his favoured Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. The Finn had, against all expectations, taken the championship lead by six points.

Schumacher needed something special in his response and he again delivered at Monza, taking pole position and leading the race for all but three laps before taking the win. It was a rejuvenated performance, under extreme pressure, that marked the start of a peerless four-race winning streak to break Ferrari's 21 year WDC drought and net the German his third career title.

Michael Schumacher wins the 2000 Italian Grand Prix at Monza © LAT

Three years later, Schumacher was again in crisis by Monza. After a lackluster start to the season, he'd suddenly come good, recording four wins in five starts and overhauling Kimi Raikkonen's early advantage. Then, just as suddenly, Schumacher went off the boil, taking just one podium finish in a five-race streak from Europe to Hungary. During that period, Rubens Barrichello looked the more accomplished Ferrari driver.

Luckily for Schumacher, Raikkonen fared little better during those five GP. However, Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya reeled off five straight podium finishes (including a victory in Germany) to leapfrog Raikkonen into second in the WDC, just one point behind Schumacher.

Schumacher and Montoya occupied the front row of the grid, with less than a tenth of a second separating them. Again, Schumacher drove a perfectly controlled race under great pressure to return to the top step of the podium. Just as in 2000, Monza had swung the momentum back in Schumacher's favour, and he again went on to clinch a close championship.

Sunday's GP marked a continuation of Schumacher's Monza trend. He once again needed a win desperately, was once again going through a difficult period in which teammate Felipe Massa seemed the more composed and consistent performer - and once again delivered with a perfectly controlled and near-flawless victory.

Although this year, unlike his wins in 1998, 2000 and 2004, Schumacher did not have the satisfaction of pipping his main championship rival directly on track. We were robbed of that juicy prospect by one of the most ludicrously lopsided stewarding decisions in memory.

Time was, blocking meant a driver putting his car on the track in a position to physically impede a following driver. Or, in other words, inviting a collision if the trailing driver followed his normal racing line and speed. Now, the definition apparently extends to merely disturbing the airflow that the following driver might encounter.

It is no doubt possible that the aerodynamic efficiency of Massa's Ferrari was slightly compromised by the wash from Alonso's flying Renault in front. It is also beyond doubt that, if every driver in the sport's history had been penalised for the same offence, we'd have seen more grid penalties than legitimate qualifying times over the years.

There is no way to legislate complete fairness in F1. Even under the rigorous control of single car qualifying, drivers could (and did) justifiably complain of freak gusts of wind or other factors (dust kicked up by other drivers, for example) that prevented them from performing at their peak.

The best that the rules should aspire to is to ensure that deliberate blocking or baulking is deterred and punished. It would take a brave man to claim that Alonso went out on his lap with the express purpose of blocking Massa, or that he did anything during the lap to suggest that hindering Massa had even crossed his mind.

The rule may not call for intent to be a factor. If that is the case, then the rule needs to be changed. Nevertheless, rules are rules until they are changed. Alonso's outburst that "F1 is no longer a sport" was an ill-advised response, particularly from a driver who has (until now) let his driving do the talking.

Fernando Alonso faces the press after failing to finish at Monza © XPB/LAT

By Sunday afternoon, Alonso had recovered his composure and reacted brilliantly on track, muscling his way up from tenth on the grid to third before the new Renault engine expired ten laps before the finish. That included a white-knuckled side-by-side dice down the pitlane with BMW's Robert Kubica, in which Alonso demonstrated again that he will race as hard as anybody but still keep it clean.

Perhaps it was the fact that his normally flawless Renault had let him down and ruined a star drive for the second time in three races. Perhaps it was because, for the first time in two seasons (excluding the first two races of each season), Alonso is now less than ten points ahead in the WDC table.

It could be that he was merely following the example of team boss Flavio Briatore, who (jokingly, according to him) accused F1 of being more corrupt than Italian football. Or maybe it was the cheers and jeers of the tifosi ringing in his ears as he walked away from his stricken Renault.

Whatever the reason, Fernando Alonso's image underwent a change for the worse at Monza. When he wins, Alonso is all comic animal impersonations and good-natured clowning. When forced to play second fiddle to a resurgent Michael Schumacher, an uglier side of the reigning champion emerged.

Not content with his scathing remarks about F1 following the qualifying penalty, Alonso followed up with comments that Schumacher is "the most unsporting driver in Formula One history". It's irrelevant whether the observation is true or not, the nature and timing of it reek of desperation, bitterness and a loss of control.

Monza can do that to Ferrari's rivals. When Mika Hakkinen spun into retirement in the 1999 Italian GP (ironically at exactly the same spot as Alonso on Sunday), the usually implacable Finn burst into tears.

Hakkinen recovered and never lost his composure to that extent again. For Alonso's own sake, he must be hoping that Monza will prove a once-off freak event as well. Even in an era when nobody expects losers to be gracious anymore, the vitriol emanating from the Renault garage has been startling.

It does, however, open up an interesting possibility for the remaining three races of the season. For the first time since 1997, we are faced with the prospect of genuine bitterness between the two championship protagonists.

That plays to Schumacher's advantage. If he can resist the urge to rise to the bait then, win or lose, he will be remembered for running his final few races with dignity and class.

Alonso, by contrast, has put himself in a tough spot.

If he continues the scathing comments about his legendary rival, caves into the championship pressure or, worst of all, tangles with Schumacher in the final few races, he will be stuck with the stigma of being a sore loser and possibly a choker to boot. And as Michael Schumacher will attest, that isn't an easy image to shed in F1.

One way or the other, the next three GP will probably define Fernando Alonso's longer-term reputation in the sport.