Brazil's Rubens Barrichello won the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, overcoming an unscheduled early pit stop to finish 1.3 seconds ahead of Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher in a 1-2 showing for the Italian team on its home circuit.
Jenson Button, who led the race for several laps, was third in his BAR-Honda, 10.1 seconds behind Barrichello.
PHOTO: EPA
It was the eighth career Formula One victory for Barrichello, who claimed his second win at Monza in three years.
Barrichello started from pole but had to pit stop after five laps to change tires and change his aerodynamic settings to complete the 53-lap race.
"I picked intermediate tires as the track was wet in the initial laps," Barrichello expolained. "Then the asphalt became dry earlier than I thought ... it was a difficult decision to take about pitting early."
It rained all morning but the track began to dry during the pre-race warmup.
The Brazilian, who started from the pole, built a lead of more than 20 seconds and emerged from his third pit stop just ahead of Schumacher.
"I was relieved to know I was leading ... I thought everything was lost in the middle of the race when I was overtaken by [Antonio] Pizzonia and some other drivers,'' Barrichello said.
Japan's Takuma Sato was fourth in his BAR-Honda, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya in his Williams and David Coulthard in his McLaren.
Delphi Indy
When Buddy Rice won at Michigan, Adrian Fernandez got most of the attention for a spin in the pits that nearly took out a crew member.
Now Rice has returned the favor.
Fernandez won his second race in a month Sunday, but the enduring memory of the Delphi Indy 300 will be Rice's scary crash late in the race that had his car skidding upside down along the track.
"This is a very exciting time for Fernandez Racing," Fernandez, said. "My spin in Michigan, that made a headline, yes. I took a little bit from the winner there, so we are equal now."
Fernandez could joke about the crash because Rice emerged unscathed. But it didn't look so good when it happened.
The Indianapolis 500 winner was running fifth on lap 186 of the 200-lap race when Darren Manning's right front tire touched Rice's left rear tire on the backstretch out of the second turn. The impact turned Rice's car sideways and lifted it into the air.
Safety crews rushed to the car and as soon as they righted it, Rice popped up. His helmet had scorch marks on it, but Rice was unscathed.
Monterey GP
Patrick Carpentier drove onto the hills of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and became the driver to beat, leading most of the practice sessions, taking the provisional pole and dominating the Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey for the second straight year.
"We had a great car and the pits stops were really fast," said Carpentier, whose first win since reaching Victory Lane here last year was the fifth of his career.
The race was shortened from its scheduled 80 laps on the 3.6km, 11-turn road circuit to 79 by Champ Car's 1 hour, 45 minute time limit for road races.
Series leader Sebastien Bourdais started from the pole but had a miserable day, twice pitting with flat tires after banging into other cars, and also losing a position when he slid through the sand on the last lap.
Newman-Haas Racing teammate Bruno Junqueira finished second to Carpentier for the second straight year.
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