Well before the race at Imola I knew it was going to be hard to get my car up into the points. I had a chat with Ross [Brawn] about strategy and he was quite happy for me to go out on a standard 2 stopper with a slightly long first stint. I was a bit disappointed about this, to be honest, I'd have preferred some kind of stunning 3 stopper with strategy all over the shop, but he knows what he's doing and I trust him a lot, so I lined up on the grid with 23 laps of fuel in the car. I hoped I was going long in the first stint compared to most of the field, so I was hoping for a few clear laps to really bang in some fast laps and gain ground towards my first stop.
My objective for this race was really to get somewhere up into the points. With Beyens 15 places ahead of me on the grid starting from 5th place, we were really trying to both finish up near the sharp end to please the Tifosi. Jean [Todt] told us before the race that he expected nothing less, and when Jean tells you something like that it adds more pressure than usual. He obviously had some orders from Maranello.
At the end of the formation lap coming round to the grid I was running a few things around in my head, getting the passing places sorted out and trying to think of the characters of those around me. There were quite a few fast cars around about me in the grid, so I was really hoping to get past them in the opening couple of laps and make progress through the rest of the field.
As the lights went out I got a great start and managed to pass 6 cars in the first lap. My car was working really well on this lap, the set-up felt spot on. I had a lot of confidence to go really deep on the brakes. My fears from before the race were soon realised though, as I got stuck behind the clearly slower Honda of Davidson. I was all over the back of him looking for a way through but I couldn't get as close as I wanted through the last chicane into the start-finish straight. Even though we were fighting for position we both made it past Butler's Williams. On laps 7 and 8 I was miles faster than Davidson and was getting a bit irritated trying to pass. I could feel the race was slipping through my fingers. I needed clear air to lap quickly. I made a really silly mistake a couple of laps later trying to pass, outbraked myself and Edwards Red Bull made it past as I ran wide. Edwards was obviously on a roll as he passed Davidson's Honda a couple of laps later. I followed him through and immediately walked up to the back of Edwards Red Bull. Thankfully he pitted straight afterwards, he was holding me up quite badly. Someone should remind those guys what engines they have! I was amazed to see a Super Aguri in front of me on the track! I was running behind him but he wasn't moving out of the way. I couldn't even see any blue flags. I was waving at the marshals to flag him, but they weren't doing anything. I got on the radio to my engineer and told him to get the blue flags out, but he replied that I was racing the Super Aguri for position. I couldn't believe it, they've done a lot of work with that car to get it up near the front. I made it past on lap 21, however, and managed to set the fastest lap on the same lap. My car was flying near the end of the first stint, but now I was right behind Beyens. I never expected to make up that much ground before the first stop. I had to get past as I was so much quicker than him approaching my stop. I got him along the pit straight and then drilled Trendell's Honda into Tosa. The car felt perfect just before my stop.
I steamed into the pits at the end of lap 23, just managing to hit the pit lane speed limit with all 4 wheels locked up to the mark. The stop was perfect, but I made a mistake trying to get away and lost a good few seconds. I rejoined in 11th, pleased with myself and the car having made so much progress towards the front. I was immediately locked on to the back of Hedberg's Williams in front, the car even felt good on the high fuel load I was on now. I was stuck behind that Super Aguri again, Hedberg made it past more quickly than I could and he was pulling out a gap. I was pushing him hard and he went flying off into Villeneuve chicane on lap 32. I got passed another few cars in the next three laps, Horton's Midland (another car doing well at this track) and both Butler and Hedberg's Williams. I was getting close to Davidson's Honda near my second stop and made a lunge up the inside of him into Tosa on lap 41. I was now in 4th, just behind my teammate again, who was running a really good race up near the front. He was in the pits just 10 laps ago so I was much lighter than him on fuel approaching my second (and final) stop at the end of 42.
It was another good stop but as I pulled out of the box the clutch felt funny and the anti-stall system cut in. I lost a little time but not too much. I came out into a good patch of clean air and was just getting used to the changed balance of my car. Herberg's Williams came out of the pits right in front of me, and I was just following in his slipstream for the next few laps. Horton's Midland stopped out on the track bringing the Safety Car out and bunching us all up. I was trying to get a good look at his rear tyres to see how they were, but they seemed about the same as my own looked in my mirrors. As the Safety Car pulled in I was right on the back of Hedberg, knowing we were both about the same on tyres, but I felt I was a bit quicker in terms of all-out pace than him. I got a great slipstream coming along the main straight, pulled alongside on the brakes into Tamburello and hung him out to dry on the outside accelerating down towards Villeneuve on the second last lap. I held the position until the end and came home a very happy sixth. As I got on to the pits to thank the team for the excellent car, they told me Beyens had won the race. It was fantastic news. Another win and another double-points finish for us. As I pulled in to park the car, I couldn't help wondering what the result could have been had I been able to qualify the car.
At the end of the day it didn't matter. The Tifosi was happy and so were Scuderia Ferrari.
I assure you its not gonna last
