The race took place at the clockwise 5.793 km (3.600 mi) Monza circuit on 16 September. It was the second Italian race of the season, following the San Marino Grand Prix in April. Before the event, both championships were already settled: Michael Schumacher had secured the World Drivers' Championship two rounds earlier at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Ferrari clinching the World Constructors' Championship at the same event.
Between the Belgian Grand Prix on 2 September and the Italian round, teams conducted mid-season testing at various European circuits from 4–7 September. Ferrari, Williams, BAR, Jordan, and Minardi tested at the Mugello Circuit. Barrichello set the fastest times on the first two days; on the final day Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap of 1:24.226. Arrows conducted no testing during this period.
Following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington D.C., the FIA announced the Italian Grand Prix would go ahead as scheduled. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo stated his team would treat the race as a normal event rather than a traditional Ferrari festival. Podium celebrations were cancelled; pre-race ceremonies, including a flypast by the Italian Tricolour Arrows display team, were called off. The Automobile Club d'Italia urged fans to behave in keeping with the gravity of the situation.
As marks of respect, Ferrari stripped their cars of all advertising and painted their nose cones black. Jaguar fitted black engine covers to their R2 cars on Saturday morning. Jordan sponsor Deutsche Post replaced its branding with the flag of the United States on the Jordan cars' engine covers on Sunday morning.
Michael Schumacher was reluctant to race and said in 2002 that he felt it was a "bad sign" to be driving after the attacks. His brother Ralf Schumacher also felt the event should not have gone ahead.
During the pre-race drivers' parade and on the starting grid, Michael Schumacher attempted to organise a no-overtaking pact for the first two chicanes. The plan failed: Jacques Villeneuve, Benetton team principal Flavio Briatore, and Arrows owner Tom Walkinshaw refused. Briatore threatened to sack both his drivers if they complied. Schumacher's concern stemmed from the September 11 context, the death of fire marshal Paolo Gislimberti in a pile-up at the 2000 Italian Grand Prix, a serious accident in the previous day's CART race in which former Formula One driver Alex Zanardi lost both legs, and multi-car accidents at the beginning of both the Porsche Supercup and International Formula 3000 support races. FIA president Max Mosley subsequently stated that he disagreed with the pact and that drivers should have raised concerns in the months beforehand.
Two driver substitutions occurred for the race. Minardi replaced regular driver Tarso Marques with Alex Yoong, who received backing from the Magnum Corporation and was granted a super licence after a two-day test at Mugello, becoming Malaysia's first Formula One driver. Marques remained as test and reserve driver. Czech Formula 3000 driver and Prost test driver Tomáš Enge replaced Luciano Burti, who had been recovering from a concussion sustained in an accident at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Due to Monza's high average speed, teams set up their cars with minimum downforce. Ferrari replaced their usual Brembo brake discs with Carbon Industrie units. Williams introduced a revised FW23 specification for Montoya after a version had been used by Ralf Schumacher in Belgium; Ralf ran the earlier aerodynamic package. Benetton brought a new front wing. Ferrari debuted a new engine specification with improved aerodynamics. Jordan introduced a new single-profile front wing.
Four practice sessions preceded the race: two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. Team principals agreed to move the first session from 11:00 to 10:50 CEST to observe a planned minute of silence at midday across Europe.
Michael Schumacher led the first session at 1:25.524. Nick Heidfeld crashed his Sauber into the wall at Variante Ascari with 15 minutes remaining. Kimi Räikkönen hit a barrier at the Variante Goodyear chicane after a brake lock-up, removing his front-right wheel and front wing; he was uninjured. Jos Verstappen set no laps after colliding with the tyre barrier at Curva di Lesmo on his first flying lap.
Ralf Schumacher set the second session's fastest time at 1:24.667. Montoya was second despite going off at the first chicane several times. Eddie Irvine spun his Jaguar into the gravel at Ascari due to brake problems.
Montoya led the third session at 1:25.558 on a still-damp circuit after a Thursday-night thunderstorm. Barrichello was 0.336 seconds back in second. Several drivers, including Fernando Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Mika Häkkinen, set no laps during this session.
Michael Schumacher set a weekend-best 1:23.178 in the fourth session, faster than his 2000 pole lap. Barrichello had the quickest time when conditions improved but fell to fourth late in the session.
The one-hour Saturday qualifying session used a 12-lap maximum per driver, with grid positions determined by fastest lap. The 107% rule was in effect. Rises in air and track temperature gave Michelin-shod teams a speed advantage.
Montoya took his second consecutive pole position and third of the season with a 1:22.216 set with 13 minutes remaining. Barrichello started alongside on the front row, 0.312 seconds slower. Michael Schumacher qualified third — the first race since the 2000 Austrian Grand Prix that Barrichello had outqualified him. Ralf Schumacher was fourth, having suffered balance issues causing alternating understeer and oversteer. Jarno Trulli qualified fifth on the soft Bridgestone compound.
David Coulthard took sixth; Häkkinen seventh before heavily damaging his car against the outside barrier at Curva di Lesmo with four minutes remaining, stopping the session for 15 minutes. Heidfeld and Räikkönen were eighth and ninth on soft Bridgestone tyres. Pedro de la Rosa rounded out the top ten after an understeer fix from Jaguar engineer Humphrey Corbett.
Jenson Button qualified eleventh. Heinz-Harald Frentzen took twelfth. Irvine was thirteenth, struggling with rear-biased brake balance. Fisichella drove Benetton's spare car after his own developed a hydraulic failure. Villeneuve and Olivier Panis were fifteenth and seventeenth for BAR, separated by Jean Alesi in the slower Jordan. Enrique Bernoldi and Verstappen were eighteenth and nineteenth for Arrows. Enge took twentieth in his first Formula One qualifying session; Prost traced two engine problems to a Ferrari quality-control error. Both Minardi drivers — Alonso ahead of Yoong — stopped at the first chicane with gearbox actuator failures and shared the spare car.
A 30-minute warm-up session at 09:30 local time preceded the race in sunny and windy conditions. Michael Schumacher led with a 1:26.029; the top nine drivers were within eight-tenths of a second of his time. A second minute of silence was organised at 11:15 by the Italian National Olympic Committee before the Drivers' Parade.
The race started at 14:00 local time before 95,000 to 110,000 spectators, running 53 laps over 306.749 km (190.605 mi). Air temperature was 19 °C, track temperature 26 °C, with no rain forecast.
Montoya held his start-line advantage through the first corner. Ralf Schumacher passed Michael Schumacher at the Variante Goodyear chicane, but Michael regained the position at the Curve di Lesmo after Ralf pushed him onto the grass. Trulli was hit by Button, who braked too late on the slippery outside line into the chicane and spun; Button became the first retirement. He stopped for a replacement front wing and later retired on lap five with an engine failure. Irvine improved from thirteenth to seventh during the first lap; Verstappen progressed from nineteenth to eighth.
Montoya led by half a second at the end of lap one. Barrichello and Michael Schumacher maintained the gap to Montoya while pulling away from Ralf Schumacher. Coulthard retired with an engine failure on lap seven. On lap nine, a blister on one of Montoya's rear tyres caused him to exit the Variante della Roggia chicane slowly; Barrichello took the lead at the entry to the second Lesmo corner. Barrichello then pulled away. On lap 12, Michael Schumacher unsuccessfully attempted to overtake Montoya at the second chicane; Montoya overshot his braking point and shortcutted the corner to stay second.
Irvine retired on lap 14 after a cylinder failed in his engine. Häkkinen lost second and retired at the Rettifilio chicane on lap 21 after losing all gears. Verstappen retired on lap 26 with a loss of power.
Barrichello made his first pit stop on lap 19 with a ten-second lead over Montoya. The refuelling rig failed after being reprogrammed; Ferrari mechanics switched to Michael Schumacher's rig, keeping Barrichello stationary six to seven seconds longer than planned. Barrichello rejoined third, behind Montoya and ahead of Michael Schumacher. Michael Schumacher had made his first scheduled stop on lap 18, rejoining fourth.
Ralf Schumacher took the lead when Montoya made a one-stop pit call on lap 28; Montoya rejoined third, 5.5 seconds behind Barrichello. Ralf Schumacher built a 6.1-second gap before his sole stop on lap 35, rejoining fourth. De la Rosa pitted from fifth on lap 36 and retained the position. Michael Schumacher made his second stop for fuel on lap 40, dropping to fourth. Montoya reclaimed the lead when Barrichello made his second fuel stop on lap 41; Barrichello rejoined third behind Ralf Schumacher.
At lap 42, the order was Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, de la Rosa, Villeneuve. Barrichello closed on Ralf Schumacher and slipstreamed him on the start/finish straight into the Rettifilio chicane on lap 47. Ralf Schumacher out-braked himself onto the concrete run-off at the Variante Goodyear chicane while defending; aware that cutting the chicane would bring a stop-and-go penalty, he yielded second to Barrichello at the Curva Grande. Yoong retired on the following lap after spinning into the gravel at the first Lesmo corner. Bernoldi retired the same lap with a crankshaft sensor problem.
Barrichello closed the gap to Montoya but could not catch him. Montoya crossed the line first on lap 53 in a time of 1:16:58.393 at an average speed of 239.103 km/h (148.572 mph), claiming his maiden Formula One victory and the first for a Colombian driver. Barrichello finished second, 5.175 seconds back. Ralf Schumacher was third, Michael Schumacher fourth, de la Rosa fifth — scoring the first championship points for Jaguar since the Canadian Grand Prix — and Villeneuve sixth. Räikkönen was classified seventh. Out of respect for the September 11 victims, no champagne was sprayed on the podium.
Montoya said he was "so happy" with the victory, adding he had not expected to win at all during the season. Barrichello called the weekend "one of my best" and believed the two-stop strategy was correct despite the refuelling rig failure. Ralf Schumacher described the Williams first-and-third finish as "a great achievement." Alesi criticised Briatore's role in the no-overtaking pact discussions, alleging team principals had threatened their drivers. Villeneuve told ITV that the race circuit was not the appropriate place for such discussions. Ross Brawn explained Ferrari's two-stop choice as a tactical response to the BMW-powered Williams cars, referring to the team's defeat at the Hockenheim race. Jean Todt admitted the refuelling rig problem at Barrichello's first stop had likely cost him the race.
In the championship, Montoya moved to fifth, 83 points behind leader Michael Schumacher. Barrichello narrowed the gap to Coulthard in second to three points. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari led McLaren by 80 points; McLaren's advantage over Williams had reduced to eight points with two races remaining.
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