Formula 1 Jam

The Phoenix has risen… Ferrari confirmed its comeback with a thumping 1-3 at Michael’s home track. It was Michael’s amazing skill combined with Ferrari’s flawless strategy which took the race away from the current World Champ.

The race unfolded to what would be a series of deciding laps between Alonso’s and Michael’s second pit stop and those brilliant laps allowed the 7 time champ to lead the rest of the pack to the chequered flag. Massa’s superb race saw him seal 3rd place just seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in a charging Mc Laren. The Mc Laren’s strategy for the first time this season showing decent results.

The race started with Alonso, Michael and Massa pulling away from the pack. Michael kept to the tail of Alonso at all times and never once let the Spaniard get away. Alonso pitted a lap earlier than Michael giving Ferrari the time to rethink and fuel Michael a little more. This would turn out to be a major advantage as they got 3 more laps than Alonso in the second stint.

When Alonso pitted Michael upped his pace to the maximum throwing the best laps of the race. The Spaniard emerged out of the pits and looked different… For some reason the Renault was not handling well… I wont go and call it bad luck but coincidence of Alonso’s slowest laps and Michaels fastest was more than enough to give the German the lead. Yet it looked obvious that the 7 times champ had clearly outsmarted his Spanish heir.

The race was heating up all the while behind the top two as Kimi was making a bid for the final spot of the podium. Massa drove a great race and pulled his Ferrari to hold on to the 3rd spot. Kimi looked really strong in his race and shows signs of a Mc Laren revival.

Fisichella followed Barrichello to salvage 6th after starting at 11th. He looked strong towards the end but Rubens was adamant to hold on to the 5th spot. Button, Montoya lead the list of retirements in the race which saw two Honda engines blown to smithereens. Roseberg drove a brilliant race from 22nd and last to 7th right behind the Renault.

Next stop Spanish Grand Prix again Schumacher country but Alonso had told last year that for him winning at Barcelona would be equivalent to winning the championship. He came in second last time in Catalunya and made up by Winning the World Championship. This time… will he be the toast of Spain or will the dream run of Ferrari continue and claw away on Alonso and Renault’s lead… Guess we all hv to wait a week to know

Results:

Pos Driver   		 Team     	  Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1   Michael Schumacher   Ferrari   	  60   1:35:58.765   2   10
2   Fernando Alonso  	 Renault   	  60   +3.7 secs     1    8
3   Felipe Massa  	 Ferrari   	  60   +4.4 secs     3    6
4   Kimi Räikkönen  	 McLaren-Mercedes 60   +4.8 secs     5    5
5   Rubens Barrichello   Honda   	  60   +72.5 secs    4    4
6   Giancarlo Fisichella Renault   	  60   +74.1 secs   11    3
7   Nico Rosberg  	 WilliamsCosworth 60   +74.5 secs   22    2
8   Jacques Villeneuve   Sauber-BMW   	  60   +89.3 secs    9     1
9   Jarno Trulli  	 Toyota   	  59   +1 Lap 7
10  Nick Heidfeld  	 Sauber-BMW   	  59   +1 Lap 13
11  Scott Speed  	 STR-Cosworth     59   +1 Lap 17
12  Tiago Monteiro  	 MF1-Toyota   	  59   +1 Lap 18
13  Christijan Albers  	 MF1-Toyota   	  59   +1 Lap 16
Ret Ralf Schumacher  	 Toyota   	  52   +8 Lap 10
Ret Juan Pablo Montoya   McLaren-Mercedes 52   +8 Lap 8
Ret Takuma Sato  	 SuperAguri-Honda 45   +15 Lap 20
Ret Franck Montagny  	 SuperAguri-Honda 29   +31 Laps 21
Ret Jenson Button  	 Honda   	  28   +32 Laps 6
Ret Christian Klien   	 RBR-Ferrari   	  28   +32 Laps 15
Ret Mark Webber  	 WilliamsCosworth 12   Hydraulics 19
Ret David Coulthard  	 RBR-Ferrari   	   2   +58 Laps 12
Ret Vitantonio Liuzzi  	 STR-Cosworth      0   +60 Laps 14  

Fastest Lap: Michael Schumacher 1:32.099