2006 German Grand Prix – Race – Scarlet all the Way…
Jul 31st, 2006 by Haas
Ferrari dominated the German grand prix with a brilliant 1-2. Michael’s spirited race win saw him cut the lead in the world championship to 11 points with six races to go. From now on if Michael wins every race he will become the first ever Eight time World Champion.
Massa’s brilliant drive saw him tail Schumacher from the start to the end of the race. The Ferraris controlled the race from the 16th lap onwards when race leader Kimi pitted. The scarlet cars were hardly ever 5s separate and had an astounding lead of about 40s going into the end of the second stint.
The most important statestic was that Alonso finished 5th. The Spaniard looked out of sorts after both Renaults suffered blistering tyre problems. This was possibly the worst weekend for the French Outfit since 2005.
Mc Laren sounded its comeback with an amazing performance by Kimi Raikkonen who despite a bad pitstop managed a podium. Kimi was clearly the driver of the race with his relentless persuit of the Ferraris. Mark Webber also drove a brilliant race until his engine gave up on him, he looked poised for a podium finish before retiring.
Renault is clearly facing a crisis and how quickly they rise from it will determine if they can hold on to their championships. Alonso has to get back to his winning ways if he has to put pressure back on Michael. At this moment and looking at the sheer performance of the Ferraris Michael is clearly the favorite to take the championship.
Over to Hungary, for the Hungarian Grand Prix which happens next weekend. Last year Alonso had the worst race of the year in Hungary where he finished 11th but back in 2003 when Ferrari dominated every single race in the calender, a certain Spaniard rose to fame with a spectacular race win… Alonso became the youngest driver to win a Grand Prix lapping the then World Champion Michael Schumacher with ease. Can Alonso do it again? Will Michael and Ferrari continue to dominate? Can Kimi repeat last year’s race win? Can Button and Honda provide some surprises? I guess we need to wait just a week to get those questions answered.
