Motor Racing: Ferrari title short on acclaim in Italy

FERRARI MAY have won its first Formula One constructors' title in 16 years, but there was little joy in Italy on Monday.

The consensus in the country's newspapers was that the constructors' crown was not enough to dispel the disappointment of seeing Eddie Irvine fall short in his attempt to claim Ferrari's first drivers' title in two decades. "Ferrari disappoints in Japan," read La Repubblica's front-page headline, while Corriere della Sera's was: "Ferrari - the dream vanishes."

The race broadcast set a record in Italy for ratings share, as 83.9 per cent of televisions in use were tuned in to the event.

"Now we enter the 21st year of waiting," La Gazzetta dello Sport's Candido Cannavo wrote. "The children have grown, some grandparents have died, the little girls have become brides, the Berlin wall has fallen, they have invented the Internet... but dreams are faithful: they always rise again and they never get tired."