Monza couldn't smile more: Ferrari is there, Alonso is there, the Italian Grand Prix was open to a red masterpiece and a world championship filled with dreams of the same colour. There was enough to start real projects, not just daydreaming, for this championship that started uphill and steep too. An ugly but successful Ferrari, in the wishes of the president Luca di Montezemolo on the day of the presentation of the single-seater. Instead, it was ugly and also slow, not very sensitive to technical corrections, was the response of the first tests. Up to almost second per lap achieved at the championship debut in Australia: a chasm, against the reigning world champion Red Bull but also from McLaren, not to mention Mercedes which seemed set to usurp the role of third force.
Then, the recovery. Initially the work of Alonso alone and his mature genius of champion in speed but also in patience, strategy, ability to tow an entire team perhaps weakened by the exaggerated weight of the initial disadvantage. So, also thanks to the strenuous and clear-headed work put in place by all of Ferrari: technicians and strategists, mechanics in the garage and at home, in Maranello, to study and calculate and experiment on calculation models what then went on the track at give life (words by Alonso, at the press conference in Monza on Friday) to the most exceptional technical-sporting comeback that modern Formula 1 can remember. And to make up for this gap during the championship, let's remember, is often a feat beyond the hoped for, since the law for those with world championship aspirations requires that you improve, on average, a minimum of a tenth per race, or a couple of seconds in the space of a season. Something that the adversaries know how to do and have done, so that the ascent of the Reds was even more miraculous.
Result: in Monza, the fastest race in the entire championship, a festival of corners almost from a standstill and accelerations up to well over 330 kilometers per hour, Ferrari showed up in the best shape of the season to hunt down the technical peculiarity of fundamental importance to win on the Autodromo circuit, the record maximum speed. And everything seemed perfect: Alonso uncatchable in the first two heats of the qualifying session; a tactic in the final assault that allowed the Spanish champion to 'pull' his teammate Massa up to the second best time, which later became the third. Unfortunately behind the two dreaded McLarens, with Hamilton in pole position ahead of his twin Button. And even more unfortunately, with Alonso powerless to fight: a technical problem with the rear suspension of the F2012 limited him to the tenth final time, when - to put it in his embittered words as soon as he got out of the cockpit - the one at Monza presented itself to him as “the simplest pole position of the season”.
Now, winning the race is going to be much, much harder. In Monza, in the last 12 editions, 9 times those who started from the first position at the start won. Everything remains: a very strong Ferrari today, an Alonso in amazing form, at the wheel and at the brains of the team. But the cold shower remains: winning at Monza from tenth position at the start would be a masterpiece beyond the possible conception of a masterpiece. Even if Fernando Alonso, in the most prohibitive conditions, often gave days beyond belief. Even if Vettel, today's closest opponent in the championship standings, starts fifth with a Red Bull that is no longer brilliant and perhaps very recoverable. And the championship is still long. Very long.
