The atmosphere at Monza was electrifying as drivers took to the grid in preparation for this afternoon's 53 lap Italian Grand Prix. Over 100,000 fans waited in anticipated in the continuing beautiful weather conditions to see their heroes in action. Juan Pablo Montoya was starting from pole, his seventh of the season, with five time champion Michael Schumacher lining up alongside him on the front row. Meanwhile, third placed Ralf Schumacher was in the spare FW24 after a suspected fuel supply problem with his racecar was detected.

The formation lap gets underway and Jarno Trulli stalls his Renault after a problem selecting first gear! The Italian driver is now forced to start his home grand prix from the back of the grid! The rest of the field make their way around the track with Montoya setting the pace. And they're off! A bad start from Montoya as he attempts to cut across the track! Ralf slips up the outside and passes his brother for second. Both Williams drivers go wide at the first corner and Ralf takes advantage of the situation, cuts the chicane and goes into the lead! Montoya is second, Barrichello third and Michael Schumacher fourth. Kimi Raikkonen takes fifth from Irvine.

Coulthard and Raikkonen appear to have touched somewhere and the Scot has lost his front wing. He comes into the pits for a replacement and drops back to last place. Rubens Barrichello is all over the back of second placed Montoya, the Brazilian making it known that he wants to get past and fast! Something happened to Pedro de la Rosa on that first lap, it's not clear what and the Jaguar driver is all the way down in fifteenth place. Ralf slows to allow Montoya through, the stewards asking that the Williams drivers change position after Ralf's cutting of the chicane on the opening lap. But, it was all for naught as there is smoke coming from the back of the German's car! He slows and Montoya takes the lead.

Rubens Barrichello gets past Ralf then Montoya and Ralf eventually parks the Williams and retires. The tifosi go wild as Barrichello leads in Italy! Third placed Michael Schumacher is now all over the back of Montoya who missed the chicane at turn two. The Ferrari driver finally gets past and Montoya is dropped to third with the two Ferraris in the lead and pulling away.

After starting from the back of the grid, Jarno Trulli has worked his way up to tenth place by lap six and the two Toyota drivers are sixth and seventh, Allan McNish the quicker of the two and currently in the points! Olivier Panis gets past Salo for seventh, nine places ahead of his 16th placed grid position. The Frenchman begins to harry McNish for sixth but can't get past. Takuma Sato spins the Jordan and loses several positions, the Japanese rookie now back to 18th place behind both Minardi drivers. Lap eleven and Rubens Barrichello continues to lead his teammate, the gap now up to 11 seconds.

Toyota mechanics come out for McNish and there are problems for the Scot with a 25 second stop. Mechanics are busy checking his rear wing and although he returns to the circuit, he is soon back in and retires. Problems for de la Rosa as he has a slight coming together with the Sauber of Felipe Massa. Race over for both drivers, leaving just 16 cars on the track. Meanwhile up the front, Rubens Barrichello is continuing to fly, the gap back to Michael Schumacher growing with every lap.

Lap 19 and Barrichello pits, coming back out in front of Montoya. Olivier Panis and Nick Heidfeld come in for their first stops as well. Michael Schumacher catches the back markers, costing the German a little bit of time. Mark Webber joins the list of retirements, parking his Minardi on the side of the circuit. Both Renault drivers pit as Michael comes up to lap twelfth placed David Coulthard.

Lap 28 and Michael Schumacher comes in for his one and only stop. Barrichello is on a two stopper while third placed Montoya is also on a one stopper but is 21 seconds behind Schumacher. 10.8 seconds for Schumacher and he returns to the track in third place, seven and a half seconds behind Montoya. Irvine pits from fifth, Montoya in soon afterwards. Kimi Raikkonen suffers yet another blown engine and the Finn is out of the race! De la Rosa is upset with Massa over their clash earlier in the race and Massa is off to see the stewards. Alex Yoong has problems in pit lane and loses a lot of time. Meanwhile, Mika Salo crosses the white line exiting the pits, a penalty definitely coming his way. Massa admits he was at fault in the incident with Pedro de la Rosa and the drive through penalty for Salo is handed down.

Lap 36 and Juan Pablo Montoya is out of the race! The Colombian retires his FW24 in the Williams garage with suspension problems. Barrichello completes his second stop and he retains the lead, but only just, his teammate close behind as he rejoins the circuit! With Montoya and Raikkonen retiring, Eddie Irvine is now in a podium place, all he needs is to keep his Jaguar on the road. Olivier Panis can see a podium for BAR in his grasp, the Frenchman running really close behind Irvine and he makes his move at Parabolica, getting through and into third place!

Sadly for the BAR team, Panis then pits, giving third back to Irvine. Both Renault drivers are in the points, Trulli fourth, after starting from the back of the grid, and Button fifth. Panis exits the pits and rejoins in sixth place.

Eleven laps remain and thirteen drivers are still on track. Rubens continues to lead and looks as if he will definitely claim victory here this afternoon, his teammate second making it a Ferrari one-two in front of the tifosi. Barrichello slows but soon finds his earlier speed, keeping his fourth victory on track with five laps remaining. The laps tick down and it's a run to the chequered flag. Barrichello begins his final lap with Michael Schumacher now close behind for a formation finish. The Ferrari's cross the line for a one-two finish with Irvine taking the third spot, a dream result for Jaguar!

Top six: Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Eddie Irvine, Jarno Trulli, Jenson Button and Olivier Panis.