Rubens Barrichello wins his first Italian GP in a Ferrari - on this day in 2002

The 2002 Italian Grand Prix was something of a celebratory Formula 1 race for the loyal Ferrari tifosi. The reason? Michael Schumacher had already sealed the world driver’s championship and, with the aid of Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari had also won the constructor’s championship. 2002 was a dominant year for the team from Maranello. And while that might have made the races a bit boring to watch, the tifosi didn’t care one iota. They were too busy celebrating the return of their own dominance.

As such, it came as little surprise when a Ferrari driver won the race. But the win did owe to a number of circumstances, making for a fairly entertaining race.

With that in mind, let us now look back at the 2002 Italian GP.

The background

As mentioned before, there was little to race for but pride at this point. Schumacher had wrapped up the driver’s title in France, and two races later in Hungary the costructor’s title was sealed by Ferrari.

However, the Italian team still wanted a win in front of their loyal home fans. Conversely, the likes of Williams and McLaren wanted to throw a spanner in the works of the championship team and their fans.

Things appeared to be heading in that direction on Saturday, when Juan Pablo Montoya took pole. The Schumacher brothers – Michael followed by Ralf – were second and third, respectively. Barrichello, meanwhile, started fourth.

If Ferrari were to win on Sunday, they would need to work hard for it. However, they were helped by the Williams’ self-destruction.

The beginning of the race was in itself chaotic. Montoya moved towards his right to block off Michael Schumacher, but this only saw younger brother Ralf run up alongside him.

A collision at the chicane seemed likely, but Montoya chose to run wide instead. Ralf then took the lead, but it was illegal since he cut the chicane while doing so.

The rules dictace that in such circumstances, the leader who gained the position give it back. However, Ralf continued to pull away – even after the FIA race director made it clear that he would need to cede the position.

Eventually he would pull over to give up the position on Lap 4 but his engine would blow up before Montoya could retake it. This proved problematic for his teammate, as he couldn’t properly see ahead due to the smoke.

Rubens Barrichello finally wins at Monza

In this chaos, Rubens Barrichello swooped in and took the lead. He would remain in second place for a while but was eventually overtaken by Schumacher the elder.

Montoya was on a two-stop strategy and it was Schumacher’s usage of a one-stop that allowed him to bypass the Colombian. In the end, it didn’t matter too much as Montoya had to retire with a damaged chassis while running in third.

This retirement gave McLaren-Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen the perfect chance to finish on the podium. He was fourth behind Montoya but now found himself in third, behind the two Ferraris.

However, disaster would strike for the McLaren team – and not for the first time that season either. Raikkonen would himself have to retire due to an engine failure – the fifth of the season for the team.

This saw an unlikely driver take up the final podium spot – Eddie Irvine, the man who Barrichello replaced and who was now at Jaguar.

His third-place finish would be the last time a Jaguar finished on the podium. It also meant that the podium comprised of drivers who were or are associated with Ferrari. Happy times for the tifosi indeed!

The aftermath

The remainder of the season passed by without much fuss. Barrichello won the penultimate race at Indianapolis, USA. The season ending Japanese GP was won by Schumacher, capping his title-winning season with a win.

This meant that, of the 17 races held that season, 15 were won by Ferrari drivers – a mind-boggling feat. The only other race winners were Ralf Schumacher at the Malaysian GP and David Coulthard at the Monaco GP.

Barrichello would go on to win at Italy again in the 2004 season – incidentally, another supremely dominant season for Ferrari. It would also be his second-last at the team before he joined Honda in 2006.

Still, the first is always special – and this was Barrichello’s first win in front of the tifosi. He celebrated it accodingly, clearly delirious with joy at the prospect.