That year McLaren arrived at Monza having won all 11 rounds of the championship, with Ayrton Senna claiming 7 victories and Alain Prost 4. Qualifying had been nearly as one sided: 10 poles for McLaren and one for Ferrari, courtesy of Gerhard Berger at Silverstone.

And after qualifying at the Italian track there was no reason to beleive McLaren’s run would end, with Senna taking pole from Prost. Behind them were the Ferrari pairing of Berger and Michele Albereto, but few were putting their money on the cars from Maronello. If you wanted a safe bet in ‘88 you backed a McLaren.

With Nigel Mansell suffering from chicken pox (deeply unpleasant for a 35 year-old) Jean-Louis Sclesser deputised in the the Williams. It was only the second time Schlesser had attempted to make a grand prix (he’d failed to qualify in France five years earlier) and he was to play a a key role in the race.

At the start Prost got the jump on Senna, but the Brazilian braked later in to the first chicane to lead as the cars crossed the line to complete lap one. Behind the Frenchman followed the Ferrari pairing, and with the McLarens scampering off in to the distance the race showed little sign of being any different from the previous 11.

© LAT/Autosport

Then on lap 35 Prost pulled out with engine problems, giving McLaren only their third DNF of the season to that point. Still, Senna was dominant out front. The Ferraris would surely be hugely pleased with taking the lower steps of the podium.

But as the race progressed the red cars began to close on Senna. Did the Brazilian have a problem, or was he merely pacing it to the flag, mindful of Prost’s problem?

That would soon be irelevant. As Senna began lap 50 of 51 he came upon Schlesser’s Williams- and that’s when Enzo Ferrari reached down from the sky and completely altered the course of the race.

Actually we’ve no proof of that, but it’s a decent explanation of what happened. However the more conventional story goes like this: Senna tried to lap Schlesser at the Ascari chicane, coming from a long way back as the Frenchman locked up.

But as Senna slipped around him Schlesser got on the kerbs and failed to get his car turned in properly. He nurfed Senna, bouncing the Brazilian off on to the exit kerbs from where he couldn’t recover. He was out; Berger led; Albereto was second. The Tifosi went wild.

And so Gerhard completed the final two laps to come home for a famous win. It was fitting that Enzo’s beloved red cars should win at their home circuit at this grand prix, the first since his passing. Since that day Ferrari have won 7 more Italian Grand Prix but none have been quite so special or emotional as this.

© Rainer Nyberg/FORIX

Best buddies Fernando 'n' Felipe celebrate the German grand prix (c) LAT, autosport.com

PODIUM.  Ferrari -

WMSC update!  Surprise, surprise … they decided yesterday not to take any further action over the “fixed” German grand prix won by Fernando Alonso.  That means that Ferrari escaped the incident with a pitiful £65,000 fine.  The Ferrari defence lawyers’ argument was that the team did not give “explicit” instructions to Felipe Massa, which basically admits that they did give instructions.

What can we deduce from this decision then on the handling of the “team orders” rule?  As long as you don’t say “let Alonso overtake you”, you won’t get nicked by the FIA.  Easy peasy.  Rules?  What rules?  POP says it’s high time the “team orders” debacle of a rule is either scrapped, or properly enforced, and fast.

PITS.  Lotus -

Lotus may be on the verge of something rather brilliant: a Renault-powered car for 2011.  The team have come to an agreement with the manufacturer after unreliability issues with their current Cosworth engines have plagued the team’s maiden year in Formula 1.  However, all could be ruined by a looming contractual dispute with Cosworth.

Lotus must have employed some proper hacks for lawyers: they failed to include a break clause in the 3 year fixed term contract with Cosworth.  Mugs.  So that’s either 2 more years of pants engines, or one very large cheque written out for ‘Cosworth plc’.

PITS.  Lewis Hamilton -

This is a sort-of Pits, a warning Pits if you like.  Take note Lewis:  no more crazy, reckless, boy-racer stunts, police run-ins, driving offences … because you could be risking your superlicence!  So what is a superlicence?  It’s the “super” racing licence required to compete in Formula 1, and drivers must have requisite experience in other series before they can be awarded one.

“the [sporting] Code will be amended to clarify that if an International Super Licence holder is involved in a serious road traffic offence recognised by a national police authority, the FIA … may issue a warning or refer the matter to the International Disciplinary Tribunal, which may temporarily or indefinitely withdraw the competitor’s International Super Licence.” – FIA

You have been warned, Lewis.  And readers, for your viewing pleasure, he’s the moment Lewis got caught …

Click here to view the embedded video.

PODIUM. The 2011 Season -

20 races.  Yes, you heard correctly.  20 RACES! It’s like your birthday, Christmas and New Year’s all rolled into one … but better.  If there’s one thing POP loves more than Formula 1, and that’s even more Formula 1.  And we have India to thank as it prepares to host its inaugural grand prix next year.  It’s official.  2011: bigger, better, and more numerically satisfying.

PODIUM.  Cliff hangers?

‘Tiresome-Tilke’ and ‘Tilke-drome’ are just some of the monikers associated with circuit architect Hermann Tilke.  In the world of Formula 1 there is apparently only one track designer.  POP can smell a monopoly a mile off.  Apparently though Tilke has had a talking to by none other than Bernie Ecclestone, and they have decided on a “radical” new direction for the Austin circuit:

“He [Bernie] has a good view on it. Now, we are going much more to the edge than we have some years before – in terms of elevation and the types of corner we have.” – Tilke

It’s a characteristically vague announcement, what else?  New types of “corner”?  Left?  Right?  POP’s out of ideas.  But POP does like to imagine an extreme new American circuit featuring: bare-faced cliffs, jumps, and road-block Republicans.  Too far?  Ok, ok … POP will settle for a hot-dog shaped circuit.  Thanks!  And for anyone interested in reading more about Hermann, do check out his ‘Unencyclopedia’ entry: it ain’t accurate, but it sure is funny.

PITS.  Team 13 -

It’s official: 13 is unlucky.  The elusive “Team 13″ mooted this year by the FIA has failed to materialise on the proposed grid for 2011.  Jacques Villeneuve will have to crawl back home in disappointment after his team ‘Durango’ failed to impress FIA officials.  Maybe record another album to vent your misery eh, Jacques?

The controversy stemmed from a poorly coded message to race leader Felipe Massa to let teammate Fernando Alonso through in to the lead of the German race. This breached the rule banning team orders (article 39.1), which itself had been brought in after the Italian squad told Rubens Barrichello to allow Michael Schumacher into the lead of the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix.

The FIA released the follwoing statement on the matter:

After an in depth analysis of all reports, statements and documents submitted, the judging body has decided to confirm the stewards’ decision of a $100,000 fine for infringing article 39.1 of the sporting regulations and to impose the payment of the costs incurred by the FIA.

The judging body has also acknowledged that article 39.1 of the sporting regulations should be reviewed and has decided to refer this question to the Formula 1 Sporting Working Group.

The FIA had little choice but to consider revising or scraping the team orders rule, with today’s judgement making the current rule effectively meaningless.

On a busy day for the FIA it was also confirmed that neither Epsilon nor Villeneuve Racing would be grated the 13th F1 grid slot, as neither outfit was felt to meet the combined financial and technical requirements needed to join the F1 circus. As such the field will remain 24 cars strong next year, assuming no one drops out.

The sport’s governing body also confirmed a 20 race calender for the 2011 season, with the championship kicking off in Bahrain on March 13th and concluding at Interlagos, Brazil, on November 27th. As such F1 folk have less than a month to do their Christmas shopping, though we don’t reckon that’ll bother them too much.

But, let’s be honest, today was all about the Ferrari judgement. We’re absolutely certain you’ll have an opinion on the FIA’s ruling- or lack of- so why not let us know what you think in the comments section below.

In the 1960s and ’70s Monza was the scene of some of the closest finishes in Formula One history. In 1967 John Surtees pipped Jack Brabham to victory by 0.2 seconds; two years later Jackie Stewart won by 0.08 seconds from Jochen Rindt, with Jean-Pierre Beltoise 0.17s behind the winner and Bruce McLaren a further 0.02 back; and in 1974 the great Swede Ronnie Peterson beat Emerson Fitipaldi by 0.8s.

But closer than all these- closer, in fact, than any other finish in F1 history- was the 1971 event. This was won by Peter Gethin, whose BRM crossed the line 0.01 seconds ahead of Peterson’s March. It was, and still is, the closest finish to a competitive grand prix.*

Chris Amon and Jackie Ickx were the men to beat in qualifying, grabbing first and second on the grid respectively. Peterson  meanwhile could only manage 6th, and Gethin had to make do with 11th spot.

At the start it was the Ferrari of Clay Regazzoni who stole the limelight, the Swiss getting a stellar getaway to leap from 8th to 1st by the time the cars hit turn one. Behind him the action was intense, as the cars slip-streamed to and fro on Monza’s fast sweeps.

Regazzoni’s lead lasted 3 laps, at which point Peterson passed the Ferrari. He held the position for a further 4 laps before succumbing to Jackie Stewart, before Regazzoni once again thrilled the Tifosi but returning the Ferrari to P1. The leading trio were not alone: Ickx, Gethin, Cevert, Siffert, and Ganley all maintained a watching brief as the lead was exchanged.

But by lap 17 three contenders had succumbed to engine failures: Ickx and Stewart had retired on the 15th tour, before early race star Regazzoni pulled out in the second Ferrari two laps later. But whilst this trio called it a day two more drivers had joined the leading pack, with Mike Hailwood and Jackie Oliver reeling in the front-runners. They joined Gethin, Peterson, Cevert, Ganley, and Amon in contesting the lead.

As the race progressed Siffert dropped back with an overheating engine, whilst the loss of his visor ended Amon’s shot at victory. Oliver also faded, leaving a quintet of cars contesting the win- and they would fight to the end.

As cars headed to the Parabolica for the final time Cevert led, but Peterson slip-streamed the Frenchman and pulled out to pass him as the they approached the braking zone. Peterson made his way past, as did Gethin, who dived up the inside and then challenged the Swede around the corner. The BRM driver had the inside line, and was able to eke ahead of Peterson as the cars headed for the flag. Gethin held on to win- just- crossing the line 0.01s ahead of Ronnie. Behind them followed Cevert, Hailwood and Ganley, the top five covered by just 0.61s.

It was an incredible finish, more Indycar than F1, and remains of one most memorable conclusions to a grand prix in the sports history. What would you give to see a finish that tight on Sunday?

*there have been races dubbed as ‘the closest ever’ – some were non-championship grands prix and due to timing differences between the early years and modern F1 it’s impossible to do a direct comparison – races used to be timed to a tenth of a second rather than now where it’s thousandths of a second.

Aguri grits his teeth in celebration -Suzuka 1990 - copyright unknown

Happy Birthday to Aguri Suzuki, former F1 driver and founder of the Super Aguri F1 team, who’s 50 today! Aguri was born in Tokyo, Japan on 8th September 1960. Kick-starting his driving career in 1972 with karts, he did rather well in that before progressing up through Japanese F3, touring cars, Japanese F2, and winning the Japanese F3000 title before having a bash at F1 in 1988, in a Larousse at Suzuka. Failing to pre-qualify in a slow Zakspeed for all the races in 1989, the following year brought a lot more cheer as he finished in third spot at his home race Suzuka! This fine result was the highest that an Asian driver had ever achieved up to that point. Sadly this was to be the high point of Aguri’s driving career, as stints at Footwork, Jordan and Ligier failed to bring as much success.

Displaying gritted teeth in the photo above, Aguri sprays the local fans with champagne after his triumphant third place at Suzuka in 1990. He later took this same grit and determination into entering his own F1 team -Super Aguri, with the aid of Honda engines in 2006. Unfortunately, after just two and a bit seasons racing and finding their feet, the team experienced severe cash problems, resigning Aguri’s red and white cars to be parked in the garage for good. Though there had been a couple of good results in Takuma Sato’s sixth place in Canada in 2007, along with an eighth spot in Spain a month before.

Despite Aguri’s “official” announcement in 2009 that he won’t be entering Super Aguri in F1 again, we do hope to see him with gritted teeth involved in the sport again at some level, despite saying in recent years that he intends to retire from the sport at 50 -which would seem to be today in fact. Nevermind! Let’s hope he has a change of heart! Happy Birthday Aguri!

Their lead driver, Fernando Alonso still has a very good shot at getting his third drivers world championship, but this grand prix will be crucial for him to make an impression on the slight lead that Hamilton and Webber have over the rest in the tables.  Another result like he had in Belgium and it could easily be game over for 2010 (not mathematically, but feasibly anyhow)

So what does this track consist of – well it’s pretty much flat out, except for a few chicanes to slow the cars down, other than them it’s quick corners and quick straights and all the cars will have their lowest down-force setups of the season onboard and probably not many hands on the steering wheels with F-ducts expected to play a big part in this northern Italian playground.

As ever, Badger’s here with your ever so handy track guide so you know what the drivers will be doing at each corner and what they have to contend with to grab pole and victory this Sunday.

The Italian Grand Prix of 1950 was significant for a few reasons: it was the first to be held in the country since the creation of the world championship; it saw the crowning of Formula One’s first champion; and- get this, fact fans- it was the only time a world champion has ever been crowned in his home country.

With this being the first Formula One race in Italy the homecoming teams- in particular Ferrari and Alfa Romeo- were keen to impress, leading the Scuderia to introduce a brand new car- the 4.5 litre Ferrari 375- in the hope that star driver Alberto Ascari could compete for victory.

But Ascari would be fighting for honour- the title was already guaranteed to go to an Alfa man, with Nino Farina (who entered the race on 22 points) Luigi Fangioli (24 points) and Juan Manuel Fangio (26 points) all seeking to make motorsport history.

Qualifying saw Fangio seal pole, but Ferrari’s new motor was clearly a step forward: Ascari was second, just two tenths shy of the great Argentine. Behind them were the Alfas of Farina, Sanesi and Fagioli, with the Ferrari of Serafini 6th- a full seven seconds shy of pole. In fact the gap between first and last on this 26 car grid was a whopping 35 seconds, and this on a track that Fangio was lapping in just under two minutes.

The race was led from the start by Farina, with Ascari fighting him for the lead and Fangio keeping both in sight. 1950 had been a poor year for the Scuderia, but Ascari gave them hope by challenging Farnia in the new 375. On lap 13 he took the lead, before Farina retook the position two laps later.

Then on lap 21 Ascari’s engine began overheating, and he was forced to retire his car. A few laps later Fangio too withdrew, leaving Ascari clear at the front and heading for the title.

But that wasn’t the end of either’s races. In a move that would make Eddie Jordan’s head inflate to twice normal size and pop live on TV both took over the car of a still-running teammate. Fangio took Taruffi’s machine, but this too expired, and Fangio’s title hopes lay in tatters.

Meanwhile Ascari- who replaced Serafini in the number 48 Ferrari- took full advantage of his reprieve, passing Fagioli’s Alfa late on to claim second place.

But out front it was Farina who cruised home in first place, propelling him from third to first in the championship at the last round of the season. And so history was made: Formula One had its first champion. He was an Italian and he’d done it on home turf.

Molto Bello.

Young Vettel - Champion in the making? © FORIX

Sebastian Vettel is a very talented racing driver, there can be no doubt about that. On Red Bull’s payroll since the age of 12, he’s now one of the five clear contenders for the 2010 drivers’ championship.

As young as he is fast, most of Vettel’s records centre around his age. Youngest driver to score points, youngest pole position winner, youngest Grand Prix winner, the list continues. All of these records were taken from Fernando Alonso, and none of them look at immediate risk of being claimed by Jaime Alguersuari, the only current driver young enough to break them.

In 2009 Vettel was runner up in the driver’s championship, and Red Bull Racing were runners up in the constructor’s standings. Between the team, Vettel, and Webber, they’d shown that an independent team could hold their own with the big league – Ferrari, McLaren, and what was left of Honda.

Last year, nobody expected Red Bull Racing to do as well as they did. But this year, all expectations are on RBR to achieve great things. The pressure is on for Vettel to finish the next step up in the championship. The RB6 is capable of winning the championship. Twelve pole positions from thirteen attempts speaks for itself. Barring some minor malfunctions early in the season, the RB6 has also proved itself a solid car.

But recently everyone has begun asking a question: “Is Sebastian Vettel capable of winning the championship?”. If the championship were purely about desire, then Vettel would be right up there. Unfortunately, though, it’s not about desire, it’s about points and strong drives, and recently, Vettel has not been finishing race weekends with enough of those. Only once this season has he turned pole position into a win (in Malaysia he did get the jump on Webber to win from third on the grid, but Webber won’t be letting that happen again).

People are wondering if Vettel can handle the pressure and whether he has the mentality needed to be world champion. Hamilton, Button, and Alonso can certainly handle it – they’ve done it before. In F1, Vettel only has experience of finishing second, and that can only give him more desire to want to finish first.

Can Vettel handle the pressure of racing? Yes. He’s a racing driver – it’s what he does for a living. Does he have the right frame of mind to win the championship? Perhaps.

© RBR Media / Getty

That Vettel wears his heart on his sleeve seems to be both a blessing and a curse. When he wins, he looks like the happiest man on the planet. He’s witty, laid-back, and can charm journalists like the best of them.

When things don’t go his way, however, and when he makes mistakes, he is not afraid to let his frustration show. Too often can he seen post-race looking like someone kicked his puppy and/or insulted his grandmother. It’s this ‘uncontrollability’ of his negative emotions that is causing people to question his capabilities to handle the fight for the championship. He can win well, but can he lose gracefully?

Georgio Ascanelli, technical chief at Vettel’s former team Toro Rosso says “the only way for a driver to find his limit, is to go over it sometimes”. This season, and especially in the races since Silverstone, Vettel has certainly found that limit. Mistakes, things he didn’t need to do, have proved costly.

A DNF in Turkey after crashing into his team mate, and his worst finish since China 2009 by finishing 15th in Belgium after crashing into Button, have not done his championship chances any good at all.

Vettel has everything he needs at his disposal to win the championship. He’s not topping the standings, and that’s nobody’s fault but his own. Bad luck haunted him at the beginning of the year, but that seems to have gone now. Now, it’s just about what Vettel can do with his car.

Sebastian Vettel can still win the driver’s championship this year. If he can keep his car out of the gravel, and out of other competitor’s sidepods, he can do very well. Now that’s he’s found the limits of his present capabilities, he needs to keep within them and have solid races. Otherwise Alonso, the two McLaren drivers, and most definitely Webber will take advantage of his weaknesses and beat him to the championship. It’s his to lose.

The event is usually favourable to the cars with the high-end top speed, due to the long straights and much of the lap being flat-out with only a few pesky chicanes to slow the field down.

We can therefore expect to see McLaren take the constuctors title fight to Red Bull, with Renault and Force India not far behind with their similarly good F-duct type gadgets.

Red Bull have openly said how they don’t expect to go well and come home with a victory or a one-two result, instead hanging out for Singapore and the like to gift them some veyr valuable points.  That said, due to the nature of the 2010 season, it’s anyone’s guess who’ll be on the podium this coming Sunday – Ferrari were thought to runaway in Spa last time, but they were as far away from that as HRT are from qualifying anywhere but last.

To make sure you don’t miss a second of the action from Monza, here’s Badger’s Grand Prix TV guide for all the sessions:

The Main Events

All are on BBC1, Radio 5Live, the Red Button and online

• Qualifying: Saturday 11th September from 1pm (coverage on telly from 12.10)
• Grand Prix: Sunday 12th September from 1pm (coverage on telly from 12.10)

Even more F1 for your money

On Radio 5Live, the Red Button and online

• Practice 1: Friday 1oth September 9am – 10.30am
• Practice 2: Friday 10th September 1pm – 2.30pm
• Practice 3: Saturday 11th September 10am- 11am

Of course, don’t forget to make your FantasyGP predictions for the grand prix, points mean prizes and maybe you can join Badger’s Winners Wall of Fame and bag a much coveted Badger Trophy Mug for your efforts – good luck!

To commemorate the 40th Anniversary of his death, this month’s Red Bulletin features a great piece on Rindt and his life with quotes from others who raced with and alongside him.  You can pick up the Red Bulletin in the Sunday Telegraph (out today – September 5th) and every other first Sunday of the month or if you can’t bring yourself to change your Sunday reading materials, get the whole magazine online at RedBulletin.com – well worth a read.

Here are quote snippets from the piece and a short video for your enjoyment…

It was very traumatic. Helen (Stewart) went to the hospital with Nina (Rindt) and that’s never a nice thing for a wife to do, to look after another wife. After the accident I’d been to Jochen and come back to Nina, who had totally disappeared with Helen. When I went out later to qualify I was in tears. But when I had the visor down that was when I did my qualifying time, which was the best lap I had ever done at Monza. I didn’t have a death wish, but as I came back in, my best friend John Lindsay, handed me a Coca-Cola, I took a drink and I was so angry I smashed it against the concrete wall that separated the pits from the track. That was my emotion.

Sir Jackie SteWart
GB, Tyrrell

Jochen had a tremendous urgency about the way he conducted his life and he was very quick to judge.

The Lotus 72 [the title-winning car on which Miles helped the development] was such a troublesome child – every time I got into it something broke. Jochen kind of didn’t want to drive for Lotus in one sense because he knew the cars were liable to let him down, but there was engineering rashness with the 72. If we hadn’t been doing stupid experiments like taking the wings off with zero aerodynamic data to base it on and if the mechanics
hadn’t pulled an all-nighter to do this stuff, then maybe Jochen would still be alive.

John Miles
GB, Lotus (team-mate)

By the time of Monza I was the third driver at Lotus, behind Jochen and John Miles. Over breakfast before practice, we were talking about my 1971 contract. Then came the disaster. It was awful for me. I was only 22 and he was a guy I had looked up to as an idol. He was always very good to me when I arrived in Europe from Brazil and his death was a big shock. Although Jochen could sometimes seem quite cold if you didn’t know him, he was a really warm guy underneath. He was an extreme talent and a fantastic guy.

Emerson Fittipaldi
BR, Rob Walker Lotus (team-mate)