We all know that McLaren are going to be fast at Monza. They may have set up problems or even run into reliability issues (lately rare for McLaren but engines work hard at Monza) but at the end of the day they are most likely to finish in the top three.

We also know that Ferrari will be struggling to get the speed to match McLaren. If they manage to go faster (and to win that needs to be significant) they will probably not have the reliability to finish.

What has suddenly become a lot more interesting is the rise of several teams that are getting closer and closer to Ferrari (and are also closing the gap to McLaren). Williams, BAR and Jordan are all a lot faster and more competitive than they have been in the past. Some time ago I predicted that Ferrari will soon be fighting for position with several teams that were on their way up but I did not expect the rise of these teams to be that rapid.

It now looks as if Ferrari are very close to the maximum that they can get out of this seasons car and teams like Williams and BAR are only starting to realise their potential (albeit a little late for the season).

Williams, particularly impresses me. A month or two ago I would have guessed that they did not have a particularly good chassis for the faster, low downforce, tracks and now they are way up there nudging Ferrari in overall ability. If they keep this up they will overtake Ferrari before the end of the year.

BAR and Jordan are also improving rapidly. BAR have the benefit of direct involvement by Honda and it is very noticeable. It is hard to judge how much of the improvement that we see at Jordan is Honda working behind the scenes but they are also getting closer to the leaders.

Monza may be the fastest track of the season if we compare average speeds. We can expect the leading cars to average well above 240km/H(149mph) which is close on 10kph faster than Hockenheim. But there the similarity ends.

Hockenheim has 6 corners where speed drops below 100mph/160km/H and Monza has none. Yep NONE.

Hockenheim maximum speed is over 215 mph/350km/H. Monza maximum speed should be just a tad over195mph/314km/H.

What makes Monza so different from any other track of the season is that it is consistently fast with almost no slow sections. Straights are relatively short, keeping very high speeds at bay and corners are fast.

Both are low downforce circuits and McLaren should dominate at Monza (unless they screw Coulthard in the pits again).

I am sure that Ferrari do not need me to tell them that this is the race where they must do something dramatic.

Hype and atmosphere always has a huge impact on drivers and if that is anything to go by Schumacher will be highly motivated to go faster in front of a home crowd that will be dominated by Ferrari fans.

Unfortunately it is not Schumacher that needs to be faster – he is plenty fast enough – it is the Ferrari that has to be faster and sophisticated as the car may be it does not respond to atmosphere (unless it is of the breathable sort).

Rain will do it for Schumacher but it hardly ever rains in Monza this time of the year.

Pushing harder will not work because both drivers are already pushing too hard, ruining tyres and running the risk of ending up in the kitty litter (or a wall, if they are not careful).

No, the only chance Schumacher has is if Ferrari can close the gap to McLaren.

I can’t see this happening as we must expect McLaren to improve at least a little since the last race and to be as fast as they were two weeks ago Ferrari has to improve a lot! This is a tall order!

No, what is more likely is that Williams would have continued their meteoric rise and that, instead of trying to take the race to McLaren, Michael will find himself racing a Williams. This could be the first of many real Schumacher to Schumacher battles but it is also likely to be with Button who seems a lot faster and more relaxed on the track now that his future is secure.

The race may be a procession but it is the order of the procession that promises some excitement.

If it does not happen this weekend, I wonder how long it will be before we see a battle between the Schumacher brothers. Michael may be regarded as the best driver on the circuit today but Ralf has not had a competitive car yet. If Williams improve as much over the next 5 months as they did in the last 5 races they may well be the team to challenge McLaren for the lead next year and then the roles may be reversed. Ralf could be the driver that is regularly on the podium and Michael could be the brother that gets there every once in a while.