In San Paulo, Brazil, Ferrari Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen celebrates his victory with champagne. In Rome, Italians paid homage to their favourite car with gallons and gallons of coffee. (Anna Kalagani/Associated Press)

Italians are very particular about how they consume their coffee.

Cafés and hole-in-the-wall bars where one can grab an espresso or cappuccino are found on street corners all over the country. But unless you are retired or a senior citizen or a tourist, one does not linger in such establishments while drinking a cup of java in Italy, oh no.

The daily ritual of Italians drinking their morning coffee is a sight to behold — people rush into the café off the streets, place their order directly with the barista , quickly swig back their coffee at the bar and slap down their money on the counter before scampering out the door to work. Indeed, Italians would be aghast at how North Americans take half an hour to drink coffee while chatting and gossiping with friends at Tim Hortons or Starbucks.

But a funny thing happened this past Monday morning here in Rome. I noticed that the buzz on the streets was subdued as I walked to the corner bar where I have my morning cappuccino. Were people not going to work today? Were the bus drivers and subway workers on strike again? Was there a major accident on Via Tiburtina that caused a major traffic jam, thus rendering any chance of entry into the centre of the city impossible?

I clued in to what was going on the second I set foot in the bar. The place was packed, with people occupying the usually abandoned tables and customers lined up at the counter. Nobody seemed to be in a rush to get to work, and instead they took their time to slowly sip and enjoy their coffee and chat with their friends.

And the topic du jour? Why, Kimi Raikkonen's stunning victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix the day before, of course.

Ferrari hysteria

In case you missed it, Raikkonen capped off a debut season with Ferrari by winning his first Formula One world title in dramatic fashion. The Finn sat third in the drivers' standings and trailed front-runner and F1 poster-boy Lewis Hamilton by what seemed an insurmountable seven points heading into the final race of the season on Sunday.

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen of Finland drives on his way to winning the race and the Formula One World Championship at the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix on Oct. 21, 2007 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was the tightest race for the F1 title in 21 years. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Raikkonen twice finished runner-up in the overall standings (in 2003 and 2005) while driving for McLaren, and it seemed as though he would yet again be denied in Sao Paulo: the Finn needed to finish first and hope that two-time defending world champion Fernando Alonso finished no higher than third and Hamilton placed sixth or lower in order to win the title.

Italian F1 fans had already resigned themselves that either Hamilton or Alonso would take the crown, and another trophy-less season would come to pass for Ferrari. But Raikkonen moved from second to first with 21 laps left and with the help of teammate Felipe Massa, who kept Alonso (who finished third) and Hamilton (seventh) at bay, he went on to win the race and delivered Ferrari its first drivers' title of the post Michael Schumacher era.

Cue the hysteria back in Italy.

Ferrari tifosi (fans) took to the streets all across the country, not like they did when Italy won the World Cup last year in Germany, but still in significant numbers, causing traffic delays by parading around in city centres while waving Ferrari's famous red flag. Residents of San Lorenzo, the neighbourhood where I'm staying while vacationing here in Rome, were serenaded by a cacophony of car horns all night long in celebration of Raikkonen's improbable victory.

Il miracolo

It might be hard for us to imagine why they made all of this fuss over a driver who isn't even Italian, but you have to understand that people in Italy are crazy about their cars. Calcio (soccer) is king here, but F1 ranks as the second-most popular sport in Italy because it taps into Italians' obsession with automobiles, and none more so than with their beloved Ferrari, the country's pride and joy.

So, yes, Raikkonen was born and raised in Finland, but the minute he put on the famous red uniform and hopped behind the wheel of a Ferrari, he was no longer a straniero (foreigner), but instantly became Italian.

After the race, Raikkonen struggled to answer questions in a television interview, as he repeated "Non credo. Non credo," ("I don't believe it. I don't believe it") over and over again. Unlike Raikkonen, Italy's three major sports dailies were not at a loss for words, dedicating plenty of column space to his victory in their Monday editions.

"Vedo Rosso" (Seeing Red) screamed the front-page headline in La Gazzetta dello Sport in massive letters. Il Corriere dello Sport's front page boldly proclaimed "Ferrari il trionfo piu bello" (Ferrari's greatest triumph), while Tuttosport went with "Miracolo Ferrari" (Ferrari Miracle) as its lead headline.

All three newspapers were being passed around the bar that I frequented on Monday morning, as customers talked at great lengths about il miracolo (the miracle) and kept the barista busy with orders for a second cup of coffee.

It could have easily passed for any Tim Hortons back home, as Raikkonen's victory had, on this day at least, changed the coffee-drinking rituals in this Roman bar.