2006 Turkish GP

A great debut victory

Felipe Massa scored a great debut victory in winning the Turkish Grand Prix on the outskirts of Istanbul on Sunday. He led almost throughout the 58 lap race, held in 36 degree heat to establish himself in third place in the championship, and move Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro to within two points of the championship lead.

But teammate Michael Schumacher was beaten into third place by championship rival Fernando Alonso, the pair finishing just 0.081s apart as Michael made a late lunge for the finishing line. The seven time World Championship had been overtaken by Alonso when the leading cars all pitted for fuel and tyres when the safety car came out after 14 laps. Massa came in first, requiring Michael to wait for service which allowed Alonso to overtake. His deficit to the Spaniard in the championship grew by two points to 12.

At the start, Michael's fears of the dirtier inside line were realised in the charge down to the first corner, allowing Massa to lead although Michael just grabbed second from Alonso who was pincered by the Ferraris. He backed off which surprised teammate Giancarlo Fisichella who spun causing chaos. The Renault driver, Ralf Schumacher, Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen were among those who had to pit at the end of the lap for damage, which allowed Webber up to fourth from ninth on the grid, Jenson Button up one place to fifth, Nico Rosberg up from 14th to sixth, Tonio Liuzzi up from 18th to seventh and Robert Kubica who remained eighth.

During the opening stages, Massa opened up a 3.2s lead by lap three but there it stayed, until dropping to 1.9s on lap 13. Michael remained consistent in second place, but Fernando Alonso dropped away in fourth. Button had disposed of Webber to claim fifth place, the Honda driver briefly catching Alonso, while Webber was soon challenged by Kubica until his challenge faded, having overtaken Rosberg.

On lap 14, the safety car came out after Liuzzi, who had also faded, spun at the first corner and his Scuderia Toro Rosso needed to be removed. All the leaders dived for the pits, the Ferraris arriving in race order: Massa ahead of Michael. While the German driver waited, Alonso swept passed into second place, and when the safety car went in a few laps later, Alonso was on Massa's tail, if only briefly.

Michael was back in third place now ahead of Button, with Rosberg, who didn't stop, in fifth place. Christian Klien was soon to be overtaken for sixth by Pedro de la Rosa, both non-stoppers. Then came Jarno Trulli having a massive battle with Rubens Barrichello.

During the next 20 laps, Massa gradually eased away from Alonso, while Michael wasn't far behind until he ran wide at turn eight and lost four seconds. Button was now close behind Michael, but not quicker. De la Rosa was next after Trulli, Klien and Barichello all pitted. De la Rosa pitted on lap 30 as did Fisichella close behind him.

The first four were in a class of their own, with three of them making another pit stop on lap 39, leaving Michael ahead for three laps before he came in on lap 43. When he emerged, he was now just behind Alonso and the pair of them ran nose-to-tail for the remainder of the race, Michael hoping that Alonso might make a tiny mistake, but he was to be disappointed. Massa led the pair by 13s but he eased up in the closing stages to win by 5.5s. Alonso was just ahead of Michael, with Button in a safe fourth place.


Fifth place eventually went to de la Rosa, 33s further back, but he was pushed by Fisichella in the closing stages and then came Ralf Schumacher just winning his Japanese battle from Barrichello. Trulli was ninth, again pushed hard by Webber.

Alonso now leads the Drivers' championship by 108 points from Michael's 96, while Renault are two points ahead of Ferrari, 160 to 158 pts.


- Ferrari Press Office

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2006 Hungarian GP

Jenson Button has won his very first Grand Prix at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix after a chaotic race in which de la Rosa finished second with Heidfeld third.

With heavy rainfall in the morning, this was always going to be a tricky race to call… and so it proved. As the lights went out Kimi Raikkonen made a perfect getaway from pole as Barrichello slotted into second and de la Rosa third as Massa was swamped following a poor getaway. Michael Schumacher was showing he meant business with an incredible start had taken him from 11th to 4th, with Fernando Alonso taking sixth from 13th on the grid, just behind Giancarlo Fisichella in fifth.

Fernando was on a mission, dispatching first his team-mate before harrying Schumacher for fourth. On lap four he made his way past the Ferrari in an epic move around the outside of turn five. As the rain still fell and conditions remained treacherous Webber slid off the track, while Raikkonen continued to pull away up front.

But Jenson Button was also on a move, passing Schumacher for fourth having started 14th after Barrichello had stopped incredibly early on lap 5. Schumacher was losing pace, and before the first round of pitstops he and Fisichella were locked in an intense battle which was resolved in the Italian’s favour at the first turn when the Italian flew past and the German appeared to side swipe him as he struggled for grip offline. All this served to do however was annihilate his own front wing. The German stopped for fuel and a front nose assembly, while the Italian spun as he chased after Fernando.

All the leaders were in for pitstops when a safety car period raised its head, the result of Raikkonen driving straight into Liuzzi’s gearbox as he attempted to lap the Toro Rosso driver. With the leader out, Alonso inherited first place on a track that was drying fast as the sun came out.

Button by now was second, on merit. His Honda team had pulled something out of the bag and the car was running brilliantly. Schumacher meanwhile had been lapped by Alonso and was having a nightmare.

The safety car had bunched the field up, but Button was flying and had pulled the gap to Alonso down to under half a second. The Briton came in for his second stop and changed onto dry tyres. He emerged in second and the onus was now on Alonso to move. He did so almost immediately, emerging just behind the Briton.

But an apparent problem with Alonso’s front right caused his tyre to wobble and for Fernando to leave the track at Turn 2, bringing an enthralling battle between him and Button to a premature conclusion.

Somehow, and nobody could quite figure out how, Schumacher now sat second and was looking odds on to improve his position in the fight for the championship with Alonso now out of the running. The German had been pretty well off the pace for most of the race, but some smart driving in tricky conditions had left him well up the order.

But all of a sudden de la Rosa was on Schumacher’s tail, and just a handful of laps from the end the Spaniard was through and Schumacher was slowing, eventually pulling into the pits to retire.


Nick Heidfeld had driven a solid race to finish third, as Barrichello came home fourth to give the Honda boys even bigger grins. David Coulthard was 6th for Red Bull, while Robert Kubica came home 7th on his F1 debut despite taking his front wing off after a number of early spins, Felipe Massa picked up a single point and Fisichella failed to finish after a disappointing day for both championship contenders.

- Renault F1 Team

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