2006 European GP

A great battle arose on Saturday for pole position. Fernando Alonso in particular put in a massive effort sacrificing a new set of tyres to secure the front row ahead of second place Michael Schumacher. Given that fresh tyres are premium, was this a wise move? According to Fernando, having pole is paramount to victory. Michael Schumacher on the other hand could turn up the wick seemingly at will. In free practise it was a ding dong battle between the two but Michael had an ace in the hole in the form of Filipe Massa.

Massa in fact had been doing all the hard work in free practise and basically used up his tyres to gather all important data. The Ferrari team's emphasis on Michael Schumacher meant that the German went in to the race with 3 brand new sets as compared to Alonso's 2 sets. This was to prove very significant. But any thoughts that Ferrari would give equal treatment between its drivers has been well and truly banished.

A clear indication of this was at the start where Fernando as is customary from the Renault shot into a clear lead. But Filipe Massa had started well on the cleaner side of the track and went side by side and even ahead of his teammate going into the tight hairpin of turn 1. A long way before the braking point, the Brazilian concedes and Michael Schumacher neatly dove inside of him.

Not everyone made it into turn 1 however, Vittantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso was possibly tapped from behind, took a spin and drove straight into sister team Red Bull's David Coulthard. Liuzzi had severe damage and in fact spun out a little later on the lap and found himself stuck in the middle of the road, bringing out the safety car.

The safety car came back in at the end of lap 3. Fernando Alonso trying his best to slow down Michael before the chicane but the German was quick to catch on and despite the ploy was right behind the Spaniard's tail as they crossed the start finish line.

The race at the front was always about the quartet made up of Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Filipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi Raikkonen having been stuck initially behind Jenson Button's Honda quickly found a way past the Briton and made this a four horse race. All four protagonists lapping within 1 second of one another.

Fernando Alonso at this stage was controlling the pace up front, lapping in the 1m 33s bracket. Anything he did, Michael duly matched and Filipe behind the two was keeping both of them in check. Kimi Raikkonen did display some flashes of speed and indeed was lapping within tenths of the three up front but it is telling that whilst his lap times were close, slowly, inevitably he was being dropped by the trio ahead. Kimi's lap times were the least consistent of the four in front. Clearly Raikkonen is trying his best in a car thats really not on the pace of the Renault and Ferraris.

By lap 15, everyone is wondering when Fernando would be making his pitstop. The conventional wisdom, or at least according to Ross Brawn, was that he was carrying a lot less fuel than Michael Schumacher and was expected to pit first. Indeed by this time, the Spaniard was speeding up. On lap 17, Michael Schumacher does fastest lap as the Renault and Ferrari pitcrew both appear in the pitlane. At the end of the lap, Fernando Alonso duly pits in, followed by Filipe Massa. On the very next lap Michael pits in, apparently not carrying very much fuel than Fernando.

Despite his quick in lap, Fernando does a tremendous out lap and Michael rejoins just behind Fernando Alonso. So far so good for Renault. At this point, Kimi Raikkonen went into the lead for McLaren. Obviously McLaren is keeping to its regular script for this season of running heavily loaded with fuel.

Fernando and Michael Schumacher however find themselves behind the struggling Honda of Jenson Button who has yet to pit. The Honda this weekend showing no pace either in qualifying or the race and despite his light fuel load Jenson Button holds up Fernando and Michael. Meanwhile Kimi in the lead pulls out at a rate of a second a lap. This could have been good for Kimi if his car had sustainable pace.

On lap 22, Button pits but Raikkonen carries on his merry way and is still quicker than the Renault and Ferrari behind him. Not for very long however, as on lap 23 the McLaren team is out for a pitstop. Interestingly after Kimi's pitstop, we see just how worn the Finn's tyres had been after that stint. That is to say, very worn indeed. Everyone is on soft tyres this weekend but the Michelins on Kimi's car was very much in a tortured state indicating just how hard he had to push.

Fernando is back in the lead followed by Michael. A mistake by Michael gives the Spaniard a reprieve from the otherwise enormous pressure from the German. This was turning out very much like Bahrain in fact. However, this weekend, the Ferrari is obviously the quicker car. All throughout practise and the final session of qualifying when the cars were doing the fuel burn, clearly the Ferrari seemed the most planted of all the cars. And Michael soon began catching Fernando Alonso once again.

By lap 33 Michael is right back on Alonso's tail. In truth the Spaniard had been taking a little breather. But now the both of them were speeding up once more. And here was where the race was won. On lap 37, Fernando does a fastest lap of 1m 32.722s but is immediately beaten by Michael Schumacher who does a 1m 32.544s. On the next lap, again Fernando piles on the pressure with a 1m 32.532s lap but Michael beats him once more with a 1m 32.523s tour. This was turning out to be a fantastic scrap. The pair of them simply leaving the following Massa and Kimi Raikkonen for dead.

On lap 39, the Renault boys are out once again and its a critical time for the two leaders. Fernando dives into the pits but Michael stays out and on sets another fastest lap of 1m 32.420s. He doesn't stop and immediately sets the screens purple with fastest sector 1 and 2 times. He stays out for yet another lap and goes even quicker with a 1m 32.099s. This was certainly Michael Schumacher at his very best doing what he does best, consistently blitzing the laps prior to his pit stop. If he was mere tenths behind Alonso before the pits, Michael was now effectively and definitely ahead by now. The Ferrari boys are ready for a stop but its for Massa.

On lap 40, Michael does a 1m 32.167s lap whilst behind him Fernando Alonso on his third set of tyres can only manage a 1m 33.707s lap. And this is really where he could have benefitted from a fresh set of tyres. But Fernando has used up all his brand new sets and on this last stint, Fernando has more fuel on board and on used sets of tyres.

In truth there was basically nothing the Renault team could do. Unlike in Imola, where it was a tactical error, in this race no amount of strategy could save them. Michael Schumacher's Ferrari is simply too quick. On lap 42, the Ferrari comes in the pits, letting Kimi Raikkonen through to the lead. But significantly Michael comes out 5.8 seconds ahead of Fernando. Thats a net gain of about 2 seconds a lap from the Ferrari team. And game over for Renault. Knowing this, Fernando doesn't even bother to try to catch the Ferrari in front and slows down.

After Raikkonen's stop on lap 45, the four were spread out over 16 seconds. By this time, Michael Schumacher is 7.7 seconds ahead of Alonso who is 4.8 seconds ahead of Massa who in turn is 3.2 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. But of all of them Kimi was lapping quickest of all but really it all seemed futile.

Behind the flying quartet, Nico Rosberg was having a fine race indeed. In fact the German was the last to stop on lap 33 having made it all the way to fifth. He dropped to tenth after his stop but emerged in tenth behind and monumental battle for the final scraps of points. This battle engulfed Rubens Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Jacques Villenueve, Giancarlo Fisichella, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfeld and Scott Speed. Between all these runner, the gaps were less than a couple of seconds.

The race saw Jenson Button retire in a puff of smoke on lap 30, although he wasn't doing particularly well up to that point. Honda was left with just Rubens Barrichello to do the honours. The battle for the midfield was indeed incredibly close. Rubens, Ralf, Jacques and Fisi in fact pitting on the very same lap as one another. Fisichella in fact must have felt enormous satisfaction coming out of the BMW of Villeneuve who had held him up in qualy and up until then was also holding him up in the race. Try as he might Giancarlo could not find a way past Jacques on the circuit. And really, Jacques penalty on Giancarlo's behest seemed rather unfair once one watched the battle between them on the circuit.

As everyone pitted in, Rosberg again found himself ahead of the gaggle. But surprisingly, Williams chose not to fuel the German all the way to Barcelona. Instead on lap 50, Nico was back in the pits. But he emerged back into eighth and resuming the battle royale once again. Alas, Ralf Schumacher was not see the end of the race, the Toyota retiring on lap 55. On the same lap, Juan Pablo Montoya was another casualty of this fantastic scrap.

Back up front, Filipe Massa, spurred on the ever quickening Kimi Raikkonen was catching Fernando Alonso. Michael Schumacher meantime had backed right off. At the chequered flag, four and half seconds covered the first four. In fact, the gap between Alonso, Massa and Raikkonen was covered by only a second. Rubens Barrichello finished a very distant fifth 72.5 seconds behind Michael Schumacher. Fisichella finished a disappointing sixth way behind his teammate, whilst Rosberg managed a fighting seventh. Jacques Villeneuve yet again finds the points with an eighth. Had Rosberg been fueled to the end, one would have expected him to have won that fight.

Michael Schumacher and the entire Ferrari team were absolutely jubilant during the podium ceremony. This was indeed a straight fight and in this battle, they emerged victorious. Whilst Michael was not helped by Massa in this race but indirectly the Brazilian had played an enormous part in his victory this weekend. Thats the advantage Michael Schumacher has in a team that throws their lot fully behind him. One wonders if Kimi Raikkonen would be willing to play the loyal team player to him if the Finn should join Ferrari and drive alongside the great man next year.

This battle may be over and done with but the season is definitely hotting up. Fernando Alonso was a dejected figure on the podium today and it seems just like last year, he's going to spend the summer defending his lead. However, the championship this year is a lot closer and it remains to be seen whether Michelin can match Bridgestone in the summer months. The Ferrari team though seems to have made a quantum leap in their own performance. There also still remains the question of the flexi wing with protest threats still hanging in the air. The logic being is that for Ferrari to have made this quantum leap, they would have had to gain some 80 bhp on their engines since Imola. As this seems too large a leap, once again some teams are focussing on those bendy Ferrari wings.

But take nothing from Michael. He came to do a job this weekend and he did it absolutely brilliantly. Ferrari are now well and truly back.



Written by Eddie Azman, Pitstop Editorial Team

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