Rubens Barrichello took his first victory of the season as Ferrari delivered a dream one-two for their home fans in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Barrichello overcame an early pit stop for new tyres to seize control of the race with his most impressive performance of the season to date as he chases second in the world championship.

The Brazilian, who took pole position on Saturday with Formula One's fastest-ever qualifying lap, beat Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher by 1.3 seconds to the delight of thousands of their passionate home fans.

The pair had looked out of contention after Barrichello started on the wrong tyres and Schumacher spun on lap one but such was Ferrari's supremacy they won at a canter in the end.

Jenson Button had controlled the race for some time after benefiting from early problems for Barrichello, Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen but ran out of steam late on to finish a distant third.

That, combined with team-mate Takuma Sato's fourth place, put BAR ahead of Renault in the constructors' championship after a dismal day for the French team.

Juan Pablo Montoya could not convert his second place on the grid to a podium finish and took fifth for Williams while a solid race by David Coulthard netted sixth despite starting from the pitlane.

Antonio Pizzonia claimed two points for Williams with seventh while Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella rounded out the top eight.

After several hours of rain in the morning the race started in sunny conditions but on a damp track, giving teams a headache when it came to tyre choice.

Barrichello went for intermediates while most of his rivals plumped for dry tyres, with Coulthard starting from the pit lane after a late decision to change rubber.

Barrichello's decision initially paid off when he shot clear of the competition on lap one as Schumacher spun down to 15th.

Toyota's Olivier Panis retired after spinning his car into the gravel on the first lap in the aftermath of Schumacher's mistake.

After passing Raikkonen's McLaren, Button closed on Montoya and harried the Colombian into a mistake on lap four to move into third place.

Barrichello's early advantage evaporated with the remnants of the morning rain and the Brazilian had to pit on lap five for dry tyres after Fernando Alonso took the lead with ease.

That stop dropped Barrichello to ninth and promoted Button to second while further back, Schumacher clawed his way up to 10th by passing Fisichella's Sauber.

Fisichella's team-mate Felipe Massa lost his front wing after ploughing into the Jordan of Nick Heidfeld.

Button stayed out late on the first round of pit stops and resumed in the lead, putting him in control of a race for the first time in Formula One.

He was under intense pressure from Alonso but Barrichello was flying and stole a march on the Englishman by pitting early for his second stop.

That gave him a clear track on which to race and by the time Button emerged after his second stop, the Brazilian was 12 seconds down the road.

In that time, Gianmaria Bruni had been fortunate to escape a pitlane fire after a fuel hose problem spewed petrol over his Minardi.

Once in front, Barrichello eased clear of Button, who had his hands full defending second from Alonso until the Spaniard spun into the gravel.

Barrichello took his final stop on lap 42 and resumed in a narrow lead over Schumacher, who sneaked past Button on the start-finish straight.

The Ferrari duo eased their pace in the closing stages but still Button was unable to close and the home fans got what they wanted.

Barrichello said: "I was telling myself 'just push the throttle down and go as fast as you can'. It was a phenomenal feeling, that's why I am so relieved and so delighted.

"The team told both of us to conserve the engine a little bit towards the end and at that stage I felt quite comfortable."

Schumacher added: "After the spin I had to let everybody through in order to get going. I had to wait to avoid an accident.

"It was an interesting race. I had interesting battles today."