My Classic Italian GP: 2004

(Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Of all the circuits on the F1 calendar, Monza is not one of my favourites. Its high-speed straights punctuated by dreary chicanes provide little challenge to the drivers, and its layout in these days of "dirty air" barely lends itself at all to overtaking.

Thus the challenge of picking a "classic" Italian Grand Prix was more difficult than usual. I could have gone for 2008, where Sebastian Vettel picked up an epic maiden win for Toro Rosso in the wet, or 1997, where a five-car battle was won by the quick pit work of McLaren and David Coulthard.

But in the end I have chosen 2004's race, not because it made particularly scintillating watching at the time, but because it told us an awful lot about the state of F1 at the time, and in particular about Jenson Button.

At the previous race at Spa in Belgium, Kimi Raikkonen had won his first race of the season for McLaren. But the rest of the year had been all about the dominance of Ferrari, and in particular Michael Schumacher, who in finishing second behind Raikkonen had wrapped up his seventh world championship.

So with no world titles to fight for, the rest of the field resigned itself to fighting for the scraps in the final four races of 2004. Ferrari's dominance throughout the year had been such that Schumacher had won all but two of the races—Raikkonen's victory in Spa accounting for one, and Jarno Trulli winning in Monaco for Renault after Schumacher had crashed with Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams.

On paper, then, Ferrari were unbeatable, but there was definitely an awareness that if normal service was disrupted by some outside turn of events, then the fight to be "best of the rest" would quickly turn into an opportunity to win, as had happened with Trulli at Monte Carlo.

And therefore, when rain began to fall on Sunday morning, it looked as though the race would not be as straightforward as had previously seemed.

The second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello had qualified on pole at Monza, with a lighter-fuelled Montoya alongside. Schumacher was third. But with the track wet, then rapidly drying in the build-up to the race, the layout of the grid would be insignificant in relation to the crucial tyre choices made by the teams.

Should the drivers start on dry tyres or intermediates? The majority of the drivers opted for the former, but Minardi, Sauber, McLaren and Ferrari decided to split their drivers, running one on dry tyres and one on intermediates.

David Coulthard changed his mind about his intermediate rubber on the parade lap and pitted before the start, but Barrichello, Felipe Massa and Gianmaria Bruni were all still on intermediates when the lights went out.

Immediately Barrichello shot into the lead, while most of the others struggled to get up to speed on their dry tyres. Schumacher tagged Button at the first corner and spun, while Oliver Panis rammed his Toyota into the Williams of Antonio Pizzonia. The Frenchman was out on the spot, but Pizzonia and Schumacher were able to continue, albeit at the back of the field.

At the end of the first lap Barrichello was an incredible 6.9 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso, who had started fourth in his Renault, and Montoya. Kimi Raikkonen was in the hunt as well, as was Massa who took full advantage of his extra grip to make up several places. Bruni was doing well as well, rising from nineteenth on the grid to tenth place.

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