There are times when one feels that Oliver Stone should turn his attention to formula One.

As if there isn’t enough controversy surrounding the weekend, we now have Renault complaining about a penalty handed down to Fernando Alonso for an incident in qualifying, and the Spaniard claiming that F1 is no longer a sport. Welcome to the club Fernando.

As if the fact that both titles are up for grabs, and Michael Schumacher is on the verge of announcing his plans for the future, the 2006 Italian Grand Prix has been given some extra spice courtesy of a 5-spot grid penalty for the reigning World Champion.

If nothing else, it keeps the Pitpass forum busy.

To add to the melodrama, overnight, the Midland F1 team was sold to a Dutch consortium for $106m, while, following another intervention by the stewards, McLaren Mercedes protégé Lewis Hamilton went into this morning’s spring race as 2006 GP2 Champion. Congratulations Lewis.

Both GP2 events featured a number of incidents, especially at the first chicane, while the tyre failures that befell Yamamoto and Alonso were also worrying, especially in light of the fears raised by a number of drivers regarding safety at the Autodromo Nazionale.

Although we can expect a decent fight between Kimi and Michael this weekend – both of whom will want to win here for a number of reasons, we can also expect strong performances from Massa and a charged-up Alonso, indeed Renault will be eager to prove a point. The BMWs and Hondas will be worth watching also, as will de la Rosa, who is keen to retain the McLaren seat for 2007.

The predicted rain never made an appearance, and, barring a miracle, we are not going to see any downpours this afternoon, conditions are ideal.

As the cars prepare to head off on the warm-up lap, the air temperature is 28 degrees C, while the track temperature is 41 degrees. The sun is shining, even if there’s a storm brewing in the paddock. Takuma Sato is starting from the pitlane.

Some of the team crew, particularly Honda, leave it quite late before leaving the grid – let’s hope that doesn’t lead to further penalties.

The grid forms…. The red lights come on, then go off, they’re away.

Raikkonen gets away well as Heidfeld passes Michael, however the Ferrari driver re-takes second at the first chicane. Meanwhile, Alonso is up to eighth.

Button is weaving all over the place on the back straight, much as he did yesterday, he really needs more heat in those tyres. Alonso passes Heidfeld on the main straight but fluffs the first chicane, almost colliding with another car.

Raikkonen, Michael, Kubica, Massa, Button, Heidfeld, Alonso, de la Rosa, Fisichella and Barrichello.

As Massa hounds Kubica, Raikkonen enjoys a 1.4s lead over Michael, who is 3.3s ahead of the Pole.