The Serenity Prayer

For the organisers of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the traditional late-season slot comes as either a blessing or a curse.

In a close-run championship battle, the flat-out sweeps of the fastest circuit on the calendar provide a fitting challenge and thrilling racing towards deciding the championship.

In a championship blowout year, the Monza result is often of academic interest only. Although, during the Michael Schumacher era, the prospect of yet another Ferrari whitewash did little to dim the passion of the home fans.

Sunday's Italian Grand Prix should have offered the best of both worlds to thetifosi - a resurgent Ferrari team driving home to a jubilant 1-2 finish, and inching ever closer to the McLaren pair leading the drivers' championship. Instead, McLaren proved to be spoilers - both on and off the track.

McLaren's race weekend was the practical application of the Serenity Prayer that generations of English schoolboys had drummed into their heads by enthusiastic headmasters: "God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

Team chief Ron Dennis heaped praise upon his personnel for their focused and spirited approach to the Monza weekend, despite the looming distraction of Thursday's outcome in the investigation against the team's possession of Ferrari technical data.

Yet, for a highly professional outfit like McLaren, there could be no other approach. The outcome of the investigation is beyond their control, so they focused solely on the next most important aspect that they could control - silencing thetifosi on home soil and stopping the Ferrari resurgence in its tracks.

That took more than just a productive week of testing, and of setting up the car just right for the notorious bumps and kerbs of Monza. It also took two drivers who each, in their own style, turned in an excellent performance under pressure.

Fernando Alonso had been implicated heavily in the off-track legal matters, due to his alleged email exchange with fellow Spaniard and McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa. Given the reigning champion's fragile and moody state of mind recently, it was an even money bet that he would turn in another glowering and sulky performance.

Instead, he presented his own version of the Serenity Prayer - he was sublimely serene, and nobody else had a prayer for either pole position or the win.

The relationship with McLaren may have been irreparably damaged, and Alonso may have avoided the traditional swerve towards his crew lining the pit wall as he took the chequered flag. But when the two-time world champion pulls out the "talking fingers" on the slow-down lap, it's a sure sign that there is at least some sunshine in his world.

It was the type of race weekend that many were expecting from Alonso all year and, along with Silverstone, was his best performance of the season.

It was also an important career achievement. His 19 GP wins to date have come at 15 different circuits. Before Sunday, Monza was one of the few tracks where he hadn't won. If Alonso can record further victories this year at Spa-Francorchamps, Fuji and Interlagos, then Indianapolis and Istanbul will be the only gaps remaining on his CV.

If Alonso was serenity personified, then Lewis Hamilton's race was, typically, all elbows.

Whether it's chaotic jostling for position on the run to the first corner, or merely getting to the end of the pitlane first for the third qualifying session, Hamilton clearly relishes direct confrontation with his rivals - and hasn't taken long to pick up the most robust tricks of the F1 trade.

Lewis Hamilton bounces across the first turn at the start of the Italian Grand Prix © XPB/LAT

It must be a source of some irritation for Alonso that every time he tries an optimistic move at the first turn (such as in Spain or Canada), he ends up bouncing across the infield and losing positions. Every time Hamilton tries the same, he defies the laws of physics and makes the move stick.

Starting on the dirty side of the grid, not even a Schumacher-like chop could prevent Hamilton being out-dragged by Ferrari's Felipe Massa off the line.

From that point, Hamilton should have been looking in his mirrors and trying to limit the damage by keeping the hard-charging Kimi Raikkonen and BMW's Nick Heidfeld behind him. Instead, he took to the outside line for the first chicane, muscling past Massa and almost getting into position to challenge leader Alonso.

Arguably, the light contact between his rear wheel and Massa's front wheel proved Hamilton's salvation, as it caused him to steer into the skid and change direction, cutting across the inside of Turn 2 while retaining position ahead of the Brazilian.

At the time of the contact, Hamilton's front wheel was already level with Alonso's rear - remarkable in itself, considering that Alonso was at least four or five car lengths ahead of Hamilton as they started braking for the turn.

With the race leader possibly unsighted and already taking the conventional racing line directly across the track to the apex of Turn 2, both McLarens were pointed at the same piece of tarmac and converging on it from different angles.

As the trailing car, the onus was on Hamilton to avoid the inevitable collision. Without the helpful nudge from Massa, it seemed unlikely that he still had enough traction and braking power to have avoided Alonso.

However, in Hamilton's case, 'unlikely' is not a deterrent. His overtaking move later in the race, against Kimi Raikkonen at the same corner, was immediately reminiscent of Ayrton Senna's overambitious move against team-mate Alain Prost at Suzuka 1989.

Both drivers committed themselves to "all or nothing" moves from too far behind the leading car. Yet, with help from an alert and defensive Raikkonen, Hamilton again emerged unscathed and with track position.

There will come a time when the dice won't fall in his favour, and Hamilton will start to play the percentages rather than gambling all on his unshakable belief in his own braking prowess. But, as long as it's working for him, he'll continue to ride his luck.

Depending on luck is now the main hope for Ferrari as well. Not only has no Finnish driver ever won at Monza, the circuit has also been the site of some spectacular disappointments for them - most memorably, Mika Hakkinen dropping to one knee and bursting into tears after a gearshift error had pitched him into the gravel in the 1999 race.

Kimi Raikkonen is too phlegmatic for such public displays of emotion. But even he must be heartily sick of sitting in post-race press conferences and explaining how yet another opportunity had slipped away from Ferrari.

Still, at least Raikkonen got to attend the post-race conference. When Massa's car expired early in the race, so did his already slim championship hopes.

Kimi Raikkonen celebrates his third place in the Italian Grand Prix © XPB/LAT

Arithmetically, he is still in contention. But, in terms of the Serenity Prayer, he is now firmly in the wisdom phase - of knowing that he can no longer win the championship on his own merits, and can only be gifted it.

Yet, bizarrely, Massa could be right back in contention (with team-mate Raikkonen as his only opposition) as early as Thursday, depending on the outcome of the Stepney-gate investigation.

Although Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo feels that the Scuderia would be worthy champions even if McLaren are penalised heavily or excluded from the championship, it would make a travesty of the remaining four races on the calendar.

As alpha males, the four leading drivers don't need the serenity to accept a court ruling that they cannot change. Nor do they need the wisdom to know that the legal process is essential for the sport's integrity.

All they need is the opportunity to show their courage (and skill) in changing the things they can - and settling the championship on the track.