Of more relevance to many teams, especially the Scuderia, was the EU ban on fag advertising and sponsorship from 1 August. The position on racing with tobacco branding at circuits in the EU is clear enough, what is less clear is the position of EU teams racing out of the EU, with TV images being beamed into their home countries. McLaren swapped West for Johnnie Walker whisky on Saturday, it apparently attacks a different part of your body; the other UK-based teams affected, BAR, Jordan and Renault are waiting for clarification from the British Government, but BAR played it safe and went into mufti on Sunday.

Ferrari is in a different position: the Italian government have decided that broadcasting into their domicile is not an offence. I was amazed to find out that advertising of tobacco products in Italy was banned by Law No.165 of April 10 1962! Fines for non-compliance were small, and even when the law was strengthened in 1983, the Polizia would just pop in and collect the (still small) fines – only in Italy!

The other big news was that Minardi tester, 42 year old Chanoch Nissany, who has Hungarian connections, made his GP weekend debut as the team’s Friday driver. In first practice he suffered a spin and was 12.9 seconds off the pace of leader Alexander Wurz and six seconds behind the next-slowest driver. Unfortunately, he was unable to appear in the second session due to 'hydraulic failure'. Wonder if that was like one of Alfa's old 'electrical problems'?

At the other end of the grid things were looking better for Ferrari, with Schuey second and third in free practice on Saturday, after having to sit out the second session on Friday because of an alternator failure – so much of the sorting out of the tyres and car set-up was done by Rubens. However no-one, not even Ferrari, was to suspect what would happen in qualifying - Schuey on pole by nine tenths! Rubens was down in seventh, clearly on a different strategy. The McLarens were quick again, with Montoya second and Raikkonen fourth, despite the latter having to qualify first. Alonso was down in sixth, with both of the fast-qualifying but hitherto slow-racing Toyotas between him and the action. Whoever thought of 'The Car in Front is a Toyota' had an uncanny vision of the future.

In the race, Schuey made a brilliant start, as did both McLaren drivers who must have been delighted to jump Trulli at this track where overtaking is notoriously difficult, as the fast-qualifying Italian’s Toyota has become a mobile chicane in recent races. Behind the leaders all hell broke lose as Villeneuve tagged Klien’s rear wheel, launching him into a roll. Klien emerged unscathed and once again all were thankful for the massive strength of modern F1 cars.

Rubens hit the back of Trulli, damaging the Toyota’s diffuser and breaking the Ferrari’s front wing which necessitated a pit stop. Similarly afflicted was Alonso who was chopped by Ralf Schumacher, tweaking Alonso's front wing which later fell off and poor Coulthard ran over it. The Red Bull’s carbon front suspension shattered – so both of their cars were out before the end of the first lap!

At the end of the first lap Schuey was nearly two seconds in front of Raikkonen, who’d got past team-mate Montoya. By Lap 3, the gap was down to around a second and this was how it stayed until the McLaren driver was called in first of anyone on Lap 11 – what was going on, surely Kimi hadn’t qualified that light?

Schuey stopped on lap 15 which gave Montoya the lead until he stopped on lap 22, handing it back to Schuey, with Raikkonen second. The Finn was clearly in a quicker car, but could only close to within six tenths or so. Schuey stopped for the second time on lap 36 which got Raikkonen in front. He had a very short stop a lap later and emerged still in front. Montoya retired from the lead on lap 41 with a driveshaft failure and that was that. It was clear that McLaren's strategy had succeeded in getting Raikkonen in front in clean air and once this had been achieved he ran away with an ever-increasing gap to the flag (up to nearly 40 seconds on the last lap but one).

Rubens finished tenth, one place ahead of Championship leader Alonso, the track making it impossible to recover after their first lap incidents. In fact the whole race was dull after the first lap, unless you are interested in automotive chess.

Barrichello may well have had other things on his mind, as the rumour broke on Saturday that he would be leaving the Scuderia at the end of the season to be replaced by Massa. Despite vehement denials by both, the deal was announced the following Tuesday (click here). For the record, his successor at Ferrari was classified 14th and last, seven laps down after suffering a misfire, then a real fire because of spark-coil problems caused by high under-bonnet temperatures.

Jean Todt later said that Schuey’s qualifying pace was a surprise, if they’d expected it they’d have put a drop more Shell in. He thought the improvement in form was largely tyre related but it wasn’t track or temperature specific. Qualifying pace is back, but performance drop-off after 20 laps or so is the next problem to be addressed.

This was by far the best performance by Ferrari this year, in terms of result and underlying trends but it’s clear they are still no match for the super-quick but fortunately fragile McLarens; Montoya’s foibles are helping too.

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