Posted in Race Results on Apr 23rd, 2006 4 Comments »
In what can be described only as a replay of the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher led a come back of sorts for Ferrari by holding back Alonso and winning the Grand Prix. The German sealed Ferrari’s first victory in about 2 seasons(excluding 2005 US Grand Prix where only 6 cars ran.)
On a day which was exactly opposite of the one last year where Michael in a faster car was fighting the defiant Alonso all the way… saw Alonso in a clearly faster car fighting Michael tooth and nail to the finish. The brilliance of the two drivers was undeniable and in probably their respective best races of their careers which truly seen by the cheers of the Tifosi when Michael took his trophy and the Boos that echoed the track when Alonso picked up his trophy.
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Posted in Qualification on Apr 22nd, 2006 No Comments »
In what can be described only as probably the most dominant qualification this year saw the Ex-World Champ take the record breaking pole in Ferrari’s backyard. Michael’s lap of 1:22.795 was the fastest in the 3rd segment sealing the pole ahead of the pair of Button and Barrichello.
The first section of qualification saw Michael struggling thru traffic for a 8th postion performance and his determination was clear as he destroyed the times in the 2nd and 3rd parts of qualification. Alonso was the fastest in the first session but somehow looked like he lost the plot in the 2nd segment(or maybe there was traffic his lap was not clearly shown). He managed to qualify only 5th behind Massa who produced a brilliant effort only to be bettered by the Honda drivers.
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Posted in Formula 1 on Apr 19th, 2006 No Comments »
Feeling : impressed
If you are a Michael Schumacher or a Fernando Alonso fan or simply a fan of great racing, 2005’s San Marino Grand Prix would hv been special to watch. Michael fighting tooth and nail with the Spaniard for over 12 laps was possibly the best driver to driver fight in 2005.
The Renault Engineers recently reveled that the victory was much tougher than it ever appeared on the screens. We all hv seen the times from friday and saturday… we saw the race on sunday but how many know about the critical meeting Renault F1 teams across the globe had on thursday…
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Posted in Formula 1 on Apr 19th, 2006 No Comments »
The Laureus World Sports Awards announced the nominations for the year of 2006 recently. Fernando Alonso is nominated for the first time in the “World Sportsman of The Year” and Renault F1 team for the “World Team of the Year” awards.
Previous winners include:
Michael Schumacher: 2004 and 2002 (Sportsman of the Year)
Juan Pablo Montoya: 2002 (Newcomer of the Year)
Alonso was nominated for the “Newcomer of the Year” in 2004.
No Formula One team has ever won the award for the “Team of the Year”, Ferrari was nominated everytime for the award in the last 3 years.
The winners will be announced on May 22, 2006. All the best to the team in Blue and Gold.
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Posted in Formula 1 on Apr 6th, 2006 3 Comments »
A lot of people refer to Michael Schumacher as the “God” of Formula 1, and why not his impeccable record speaks for itself… But the last year and a half as seen the fortunes change and the new (proclaimed) “era” screams the end of the “Domination of God”.
The last 22 Grand Prix (19 in 2005 and 3 in 2006) have seen possibly the worst results of the German’s career and on the contrary Fernando Alonso and Kimi hv had the best races of their comparatively short careers.
Here are some of the Stats that speak for itself
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Posted in Race Results on Apr 4th, 2006 No Comments »
Alonso made sure it rained on Button’s parade by taking the lead of the race as early as lap 3 and holding it to register his 10th win and 2nd win of the season. Button’s sad day had just started… The incident packed day saw as many as 4 safety car periods and 2 incidents even before the lights went green.
Montoya started the fiasco of a race by spinning in the warm up lap. Giancarlo was the next casualty when his engine stalled and he was forced into the pitlane to start at the back of the grid. The race start was perfect for Button as he held his place to a charging Alonso… Alonso was clearly the faster of the two and was pushing Button to the edge… Behind them the two Mc Larens fought tooth and nail and Raikkonen held his place to Montoya.
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Posted in Qualification on Apr 1st, 2006 No Comments »
Jenson Button put up a scorcher of a lap with hardly 2 min left on the clock to seal his career’s first pole. He will have to watch out for the two hot starting Renaults who will be right behind him. Fisichella tipped Alonso to take second and push the Spaniard to 3rd at the very end of the final session. Kimi and Montoya will lineup behind the Renaults in 4th and 5th place respectively.
The two major shockers of the day was Rubens getting cut in the first session of qualification and Michael Schumacher being cut in the 2nd session. Rubens will start from 17th and Michael will start from 10th(Villeneuve who qualified 9th will move to 19th thanks to the penalty of changing the engine.)
As for predictions… firstly Michael, I find it hard to believe that the Ferrari was so slow… I smell strategy, he will now start with an unknown amount of fuel and that is great as he can top-up and out last most of the other top runners and then use the pitstops to gain track position… This is great save one detail, If it rains(in the middle before his first pitstop) MSc is pretty much screwed… he will then have to pit before time and will lose a lot of advantage. Again if it rains it gets really hard to predict the results…
My prediction for the race…
1) Fernando Alonso
2) Giancarlo Fisichella
3) Kimi Raikkonen(or Michael Schumacher)
Qualification Results
Pos Driver Team First Second Third
1 Jenson Button Honda 1:28.081 1:26.337 1:25.229
2 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:27.765 1:26.196 1:25.635
3 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:28.569 1:25.729 1:25.778
4 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.193 1:26.161 1:25.822
5 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.079 1:25.902 1:25.976
6 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:28.007 1:26.596 1:26.612
7 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:27.669 1:26.075 1:26.937
8 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:27.796 1:26.014 1:27.579
9 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-BMW 1:28.460 1:26.714 1:29.239
10 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:27.748 1:26.327
11 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:28.228 1:26.718
12 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:28.408 1:27.023
13 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:28.999 1:27.219
14 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:28.757 1:27.591
15 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:28.351 1:29.422
16 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:28.868
17 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:29.943
18 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:30.226
19 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:30.426
20 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:30.709
21 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:32.279
22 Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda 1:36.164
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