Length: 5.793 km
Number of Laps: 53 (306.720 Km)
Best Lap: R. Barrichello - 1'21''046 (2004, Ferrari)
Record Pole: R. Barrichello - 1'20''089 (2004, Ferrari)
2005 Pole: JP. Montoya - 1'21''054 (Mclaren)
2005 Podium: JP. Montoya - F. Alonso - G Fisichella

The seven times champion gave the thousands of Ferrari fans present reason to party with his 90th victory for the locally based outfit.

It was a victory that was never really in question, despite McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen leading the event from pole position.

Schumacher always had an answer for Raikkonen’s times and when the Finn pulled in first for his opening pit stop the 37-year-old never looked back.

To be fair, Raikkonen wasn’t a long way off the benchmark times. However he never had the final tenth needed to make a serious challenge on the Schumacher Ferrari.

In the end the pair were separated by just a few seconds, with the remainder of the field trailing home a long way in the distance.

The ever-impressive Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber led that pack. The Pole, in only his third Grand Prix, held off attacks from Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Renault’s Fernando Alonso to claim the final podium position.

Ultimately neither Alonso nor Massa were a threat, as both men’s’ afternoons faltered with an engine failure and a tyre puncture respectively.

For Alonso the failure signalled an end to his Italian bid and also a serious blow to his hopes of retaining the drivers’ championship.

He had started the day 12 points ahead of Schumacher but through retirement conceded a full 10 points of that lead.

Massa couldn’t score a point either despite limping back to the pit lane for a fresh front-right tyre.

The Brazilian rallied late in the race to put pressure on BMW’s Nick Heidfeld but couldn’t claim the final points-paying position and finished ninth.

In between Heidfeld and his teammate Kubica were Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault), Jenson Button (Honda), Rubens Barrichello (Honda), and Jarno Trulli (Toyota).

Fisichella, Barrichello, and Trulli were ambitious in electing to run with a one-stop strategy.

The choice meant they were under pressure early, however as the race unfolded each climbed up the order to finish the afternoon in very respectable positions.

Button, who went with the two-stop choice, was in battle with Kubica, Massa, and Alonso early before engine troubles saw him drop off the pace.

For the Briton the problems weren’t terminal, but they were enough to compromise his top speed and prevent him from to continuing to pressure his rivals.

The focus of the field now turns to China where Shanghai will hold the 16th round of the championship on the first of October.

With three rounds remaining and just two points separating the two protagonists in the drivers’ championship fight, each lap is set to be thrilling.

While Alonso will leave Monza seething, he can try to take small comfort in the fact that Schumacher has a very poor history at the Chinese Grand Prix.

During the inaugural event in 2004 he spent more time off the track than on, and in 2005 Alonso went on to claim the win while Michael spun off into retirement.

With so much riding on the 2006 event the result is unlikely to b e the same. However in recent rounds Schumacher has certainly proved he isn’t infallible so there is certainly plenty of hope for his rival.

Wrestling the constructors’ title from Ferrari’s grasps will prove a lot tougher task for Alonso and his men.

Schumacher’s win on Sunday put the Scuderia into the points-table lead for the first time this season and with arguably the strongest car in the paddock they look very hard to beat.