Barrichello heads Ferrari one-two

Rubens Barrichello has seized his first victory of the season as Ferrari dominated the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

15:34 12 September 2004

Rubens Barrichello has seized his first victory of the season as Ferrari dominated the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Barrichello, starting from pole position, overcame an early pit stop for new tyres to seize control of the race with a series of blistering laps.

"I was telling myself 'just push the throttle down and go as fast as you can'. It was a phenomenal feeling, that's why I am so relieved and so delighted," reflected Barrichello.

"The team told both of us to conserve the engine a little bit towards the end and at that stage I felt quite comfortable."

The Brazilian was able to dictate from the front and beat Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher by 1.3 seconds to the delight of the thousands of Ferrari fans.

However, the race was not a prosession for the Ferrari pair as both stuttered in the opening laps.

"After the spin I had to let everybody through in order to get going. I had to wait to avoid an accident," said Schumacher.

"It was an interesting race. I had interesting battles today."

Jenson Button had held the lead for some time after benefiting from early problems for Barrichello, Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen but the Briton could not hang-on and had to settle for third.

Nevertheless, Button's podium finish and team-mate Takuma Sato's fourth place put BAR ahead of Renault in the constructors' championship.

Meanwhile, Juan Pablo Montoya will be disappointed not convert his second place on the grid to a podium finish and took fifth for Williams while Scotsman David Coulthard took a respectable sixth after starting from the pits.