And Rubens Barrichello wins the Italian Grand Prix ahead of Michael Schumacher. Eddie Irvine finishes on the podium for the first time since Monaco of last year. Jarno Trulli finishes in 4th ahead of his team-mate Jenson Button while Olivier Panis makes the top 6.
Coulthard, Fisichella, Villeneuve, Heidfeld, Salo, Sato and Yoong make the rest of the runners.
Retirements: Montoya, Raikkonen, Webber, Massa, de la Rosa, McNish and R Schumacher.

Final Lap: Barrichello is just ahead of Michael. In fact he is just 0.5 seconds ahead. 

Lap 52: Olivier Panis in 6th is right behind Jenson Button and is trying hard to pass him. 

Lap 51: Alex Yoong who was pushed into his garage earlier in the race is actually back in the race and 6 laps down! 

Lap 50: Barrichello now leads Michael by 9.2 seconds with Irvine just over a minute behind. 

Lap 49: Behind those two, Trulli in 4th is catching Irvine but he is unlikely to catch him before the end of the race! 

Lap 49: And Barrichello is now the slowest car on the track. When you're a minute over any other team you can do whatever you like! 

Lap 48: Now Barrichello has eased of and Michael is back near the pace! 

Lap 47/53: Order - Barrichello, M Schumacher, Irvine, Panis, Trulli, Button, Fisichella, Coulthard, Villeneuve, and Heidfeld. Retirements: Montoya, Raikkonen, Webber Massa, de la Rosa, McNish, R Schumacher. 

Lap 46: Now Michael goes quick again!

Lap 45: Michael is still slow, he is the slowest runner at this stage. Barrichello is now 17 seconds ahead.

Lap 44: Michael continues to lap slowly and over 3 seconds slower than Rubens but he has a huge lead over Irvine in 3rd. 

Lap 43: Only the first 4 are on the same lap. Barrichello leads Michael by 11.9 seconds. Irvine in 3rd and Trulli in 4th are over a minute behind! 

Lap 42: Michael Schumacher may have a problem. He is now 11 seconds behind Rubens and let two cars unlap him! 

Lap 41: Panis pits and Irvine moves back into 3rd. 

Lap 40: Panis takes 3rd from Irvine but he has to make a second stop. 

Lap 39/53: Order - Barrichello, M Schumacher, Irvine, Panis, Trulli, Button, Fisichella, Villeneuve, Coulthard and Heidfeld. Retirements: Montoya, Raikkonen, Webber Massa, de la Rosa, McNish, R Schumacher. 

Lap 38: Rubens Barrichello builds a gap to Michael Schumacher.

Lap 37: Giancarlo Fisichella is the last to make his pit stop from 4th.

Lap 37: And Barrichello pits ... 8.4 seconds .. and comes out just ahead of Michael Schumacher!

Lap 36: Ferrari ready for Barrichello

Lap 35: Only Fisichella has yet to stop. At the front Rubens Barrichello leads Michael Schumacher by 26 seconds but is on a 2 stop strategy so he has to make another stop.

Lap 35: Jacques Villeneuve pits from 4th! Amazingly, Eddie Irvine is running in 3rd!

Lap 34: Juan Pablo Montoya pits and retires!  Mika Salo takes his drive through penalty.

Lap 33: Mika Salo gets a drive-through penalty for crossing the white line exiting the pits. 

Lap 32: Alex Yoong retires in the pits. Villeneuve in 5th and Giancarlo Fisichella in 6th have yet to stop!

Lap 31: Rubens Barrichello leads Michael Schumacher by 22 seconds.

Lap 30: And Juan Pablo Montoya pits .... and Kimi Raikkonen retires with an engine failure!

Lap 29: Montoya, Raikkonen, Salo, Villeneuve and Fisichella have yet to pit.

Lap 28: Eddie Irvine pits from 5th. So far a strong race from Jaguar.

Lap 27: And this time Michael Schumacher pits .... he rejoins in 3rd.

Lap 26: But Michael stays out this lap! 

Lap 25: Ferrari ready for Michael Schumacher. 

Lap 24: Jenson Button now pits from 7th and rejoins in 12th ahead of Trulli! 

Lap 24: Michael Schumacher is losing time through traffic. His lead over Barrichello is down to 8.9 seconds. 

Lap 23: Trulli pits from 7th. Michael Schumacher laps Sato but loses a fair bit of time in the process. 

Lap 22: Mark Webber retires with a mechanical problem. 

Lap 22/53: Order - M Schumacher, Barrichello, Montoya, Raikkonen, Irvine, Salo, Trulli, Button, Villeneuve and Fisichella. Retirements: Massa, de la Rosa, McNish, R Schumacher. 

Lap 21: Panis and Heidfeld also pit.

Lap 20: Michael Schumacher now leads Rubens Barrichello by 11.5 seconds. Montoya is in 3rd 16.1 seconds behind Michael.

Lap 20: Barrichello pits ...  8.4 seconds and rejoins in second.

Lap 19: It looks like Barrichello will pit on this lap as the Ferrari crew are ready for him. He is 16.7 seconds ahead of Michael. 

Lap 18: And Massa now retires after going off into the gravel. It seems that his contact with de la Rosa has caused this. 

Lap 17: Michael Schumacher goes a little wide but recovers. Pedro de la Rosa fighting with Massa appeared to have made contact with him. de la Rosa parks his car after what appears to be a suspension failure. 

Lap 16: And Allan McNish returns to the pits and retires. That is the second retirement of the race. 

Lap 16: Rubens Barrichello sets another fastest lap with a 1:23.657.  

Lap 15/53: McNish rejoins in last place after a very long pits stop. 

Lap 15/53: Order - Barrichello, M Schumacher, Montoya, Raikkonen, Irvine, Panis, Salo, Heidfeld, Trulli and Button. Retirements: R Schumacher 

Lap 14: Rubens Barrichello goes fastest again with a 1:23.769. He is lapping over a second faster than his team-mate! 

Lap 13: Barrichello continues to increase his lead over Michael. He is now 11.7 seconds ahead. Allan McNish pits from 6th. 

Lap 12: There is a close fight between McNish in 6th and Panis is 7th with just 0.6 seconds. 

Lap 11: Takuma Sato isn't having a good weekend. He spins and loses a few places and is now in 18th! 

Lap 10: Barrichello continues to increase his lead. He is now 9.7 seconds ahead of Michael while Montoya is 15.8 seconds behind Rubens. 

Lap 10: Coulthard is in 19th after having to change his front wing. He is over 20 seconds behind Yoong in 18th! 

Lap 9: Barrichello is flying, he sets another fastest lap with a 1:23.937. It is likely that he is on a 2 stop strategy ? 

Lap 8/53: Order - Barrichello, M Schumacher, Montoya, Raikkonen, Irvine, McNish, Panis, Salo, Heidfeld and Trulli. Retirements: R Schumacher 

Lap 7: Rubens Barrichello sets the fastest lap of the race so far with a 1:24.142!. 

Lap 7: Rubens Barrichello leads Michael Schumacher by 4.6 seconds with Montoya 6.2 seconds behind Rubens. 

Lap 6: And Michael Schumacher makes a move on Juan Pablo and moves into second. 

Lap 5: Barrichello overtakes Montoya and Montoya cuts the chicane and is now caught by Michael Schumacher! 

Lap 4: Ralf Schumacher retires with a blown engine! 

Lap 4: Ralf Schumacher slows and Montoya and Barrichello go through! 

Lap 3: Ralf Schumacher defending 

Lap 2: At the start it appeared that Ralf Schumacher had cut the chicane, it will be interesting to see if the stewards will take any action.

Lap 2: Ralf Schumacher leads Juan Pablo Montoya by 0.9 seconds with Barrichello 1.4 seconds behind

Lap 1/53: R Schumacher, Montoya, Barrichello, M Schumacher, Raikkonen, Irvine, McNish, Salo, Panis and Villeneuve

Race start: Barrichello gets ahead of Michael for 3rd. Coulthard loses his font wing.

Race start - Lights ... Go! .... Montoya blocks Michael but Ralf Schumacher gets through and go wheel to wheel into the first chicane. Ralf leads!

Formation lap: The leading cars are arriving at the grid

Formation lap underway ... Jarno Trulli slow to get away but he gets going!

1 minute to formation lap! 

It will be an interesting start and lets hope the cars get through the first and second chicane on the opening lap without any dramas. Formation lap in 3 minutes 

Track temperature has increased by a degree to 34 degrees. Formation lap in 6 minutes 

This morning in the warm-up session, Ralf Schumacher was fastest ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Juan Pablo Montoya. Michael Schumacher was 4th but over half a second slower which could indicate he is planning a single stop race while the rest of the top runners are planning a 2 stop race. At any rate, this is the first time in many races that we may actually see some competition to the Ferraris. Formation lap in 8 minutes 

The track temperature is currently at 32 degrees while air temperature remains at 23 degrees. Formation lap in 12 minutes 

The pit lane has closed and all the cars have made it on the grid. Formation lap in 15 minutes 

Juan Pablo Montoya starts from Pole for the Italian Grand Prix alongside him is Michael Schumacher. Ralf Schumacher starts from 3rd on the grid and alongside him is Rubens Barrichello. Eddie Irvine starts from 5th in the Jaguar after the stewards deleted the fastest time set by Kimi Raikkonen who now starts from 6th place. Formation lap in 20 minutes 

Formation lap starting at 2:00 PM local time. It is sunny with an air temperature of 23 degrees.