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2006 EUROPEAN GP-RACE REVIEW | |||
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Many F1 insiders predicted that Michael
Schumacher's victory at Imola was simply a flash in the pan, the Italian circuit
famed for favouring Bridgestone tyres. But if that was the case, why were the
other Bridgestone runners off the pace? The answer is that it was not a flash in
the pan, but simply that Ferrari have got it back together again. Ferrari were left highly surprised after Fernando Alonso took pole for the European Grand Prix, after the Italian team had dominated the Saturday free practice sessions, and things didn't get much better for the Prancing Horse when Alonso jumped into an immediate lead at the start, with Schumacher and Massa in pursuit. Further back there was trouble when Vitantonio Liuzzi was spun round in turn one by one of the Toyota's, and hit David Coulthard's Red Bull. Liuzzi trundled round the track with a rear puncture and a broken front wing, before spinning off and leaving his car stranded in the middle of the track, mid way through the opening lap. Coulthard too suffered damage, and after making two stops, pulled off the track on the second lap reporting steering problems. Interestingly, Mark Webber, starting from 20th on the grid was up to 12th place mid way through the first lap, taking advantage of the first corner mishap. However by lap 13, the Australian was forced out of the race with a transmission problem. Reliability is proving Williams' achilles heel in 2006, with Webber retiring from three out of the five races so far this year. Up front, Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher were separated by a whisker until the opening round of pit stops, with Alonso pitting first on lap 17, with Massa following. However, interestingly Schumacher pitted on the next lap, despite claims from the pits that Ferrari were running much heavier than Alonso. This meant that Schumacher exited the pits right behind Alonso, as it were before the stops. The gap remained much the same until the second round of pit stops, with Schumacher trying to out psyche Alonso by tentatively posting laps marginally quicker than the Spaniard in the run up. Alonso was again first to pit on lap 38. Schumacher took advantage to post some blistering lap times, and set a fastest lap of 1:32.099 on lap 39. Crucially Schumacher's stop came on lap 41, 3 laps after Alonso's, and Schumacher resumed almost five seconds ahead. Race won. It was like the Schumacher of old, pushing at the times where it was needed, and utilising the strategical brilliance of Ross Brawn to full advantage. Alonso seemed to concede defeat and dropped seven seconds behind, but was forced to speed up when Schumacher's team mate Felipe Massa began to close up. At one stage it looked as if Kimi Raikkonen was driving himself into contention, as he stayed out for several laps after Alonso and Schumacher's pit stops and pumped in a sequence of laps that were generally half a second quicker than the leading pair. The lead was up to fourteen seconds, but had to pit on lap 23, and was unable to make up ground with a heavy fuel load. Team mate Juan Pablo Montoya had a relatively quiet race, and apart from soaring past the grumpy Giancarlo Fisichella in the early stages, did little else to impress, and retired on lap 54, in sequence with ex Williams team mate Ralf Schumacher, both cars retiring within 30 seconds of each other with engine maladies. Fisichella, who fumed at Jacques Villeneuve during the qualifying session, claiming the Canadian had held him up, found himself behind the BMW Sauber for much of the race, and only managed to edge his way through exiting the pits. Villeneuve was compromised for his actions, and was demoted a place on the grid, but was left unruffled, and drove sensibly to eighth place, his third points finish of the season. Villeneuve, impressing this year after several years in the doldrums, has left team mate Nick Heidfeld in the shade for much of the season and is making a case for his seat in 2007. While Villeneuve and BMW went from strength to strength, the Honda's of Button and Barrichello again failed to impress. Button was anonymous, and retired on lap 29 with an engine failure. The disgruntled Brit left the circuit before the race had even finished. Rubens Barrichello saved some grace with a fifth place finish, but Honda have some serious work to do to to make a case for race wins this year. Williams' woes were faded by Nico Rosberg's brilliant drive from 22nd on the grid to 7th by the end of the race, another demonstration of the maturity and skill shown by the young German. However it was all about the race up front, with Michael Schumacher claiming his second win on the bounce to the delight of the home German supporters. The championship, which looked as if it was heading for an Alonso demonstration, now looks to be a close fight between Schumacher and Alonso, with the pair increddibly closely matched. It's going to be very exciting as the season goes on, all we can hope, is that it is more exciting than this grand prix.
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