Posted in Race Results on Oct 1st, 2006 No Comments »
Michael Schumacher produced one of the most brilliant pieces of driving combined with smooth strategy to win the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso came in second after leading for almost half the race untill a flawed decision to change his front intermidetes in his first pitstop. Giancarlo Fisichella came in 3rd to put Renault ahead of Ferrari in the constructors race.
The race started on a wet track which dried right thru the session throwing up more than a few surprises. The start was perfect for Alonso as by lap 15 he was leading way ahead in the distance followed by Giancarlo and Kimi. Micheal made a great start as well and the Bridgestones looked like they had got the intermidiates right.
Kimi looked really threatening as he stormed up to 3rd within the first 3 corners. Giancarlo felt the brunt of the challenge fending from side to side against a lighter Mc Laren. Kimi’s race came to an abrupt halt after the first pitstop with mechanical problems.
The Bridgstones by now were working perfectly and Michael was slowly reeling in Fisichella. Alonso on the head was still defiant and was the fastest man on the track. But all that was about to change. Alonso pitted after Michael and chose to swap his front tyres for new ones. This was his undoing as he lost over 3s a lap for 10 laps after that. The intermidiates needed to be worked over before they could perform and what normally took 3-5 laps took 10 laps and saw the champion’s lead squashed.
Fisichella and Michael did short work of Alonso and resumed thier battle on the head. Alonso decided to pit in to swap the inters for dry weather tyres and for a few laps again suffered firstly coz a wheel nut fell and cost almost 10 more seconds and the track was still too wet for dry tyres. Michael in the mean time was all over Giancarlo’s back. The next pitstop proved cruital as Michael pitted couple of laps before Giancarlo and ambushed him as he tried to negotiate corner 1.
Michael then ran away into the distance but Alonso’s fight back was only starting. Alonso resumed in 6th place and produced the best string of fastest laps(almost 3s faster than anyone else) to come back to 2nd. He was reeling in Schumi to only realize that the time was running out and ended only 3s shy of the german.
The only question running on each and every member of the Renault F1 team will be “How did we lose this one?”. They were the fastest at all times and yet they could not manage to get the maximum. Michael later descibed this victory as a ‘miracle’, well that was modesty from the multiple World Champ… The gesture later repayed back by Alonso saying:
The winner is Michael and he deserves the victory because he finished in front of the other drivers and that’s it.
Everything said and done that statement is what is important at the end of any race… finishing ahead of everyone. Renault managed to get there almost except that Michael took victory. With 2 races to go and the top two locked, the only way the championship can be decided in Japan is if Michael wins and Alonso finishes out of the points. In any other case we will have to wait till Brazil…
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Posted in Race Results on Sep 11th, 2006 No Comments »
Schumacher produced an inspiring drive in front of the Tifosi to win the 2006 Italian Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen kept close to Schumi for the entire race coming in second. Kubica’s superb drive saw him take the his first podium and the first podium for a Pole. Alonso’s fight back from tenth was halted after his engine blew giving him a DNF in the race.
Race Results
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Posted in Race Results on Aug 27th, 2006 4 Comments »
Massa brilliantly converted his pole to a win to become the 2nd Driver in 2 races to win their madien Grand Prix. Alonso was chased to the line by Micheal Schumacher but managed to hold back the 7 times World Champion. The race was dominated by inch perfect driving and then the odd mistake, It was a mistake that allowed Alonso to seal the second place.
Massa and Michael had a perfect start closing the door on the Renaults. Fisi took the brunt of pack as he spinned off the track and lost his front wing. He pitted to join in last and produced an aweinspiring comeback to finish 6th. Massa led every lap of the race and was never under pressure from either Alonso or Michael… but the real story was unfolding behind him…
A safety car caused the top cars to pit and Michael followed Massa into the pit. Alonso siezed the opportuninty to sneak past Michael as he waited for Massa’s stop to finish. The second stint saw Massa’s Ferrari pulling away and Alonso and Michael matching each other’s times. Towards the end of the second stint Michael broke under pressure to keep up with the World Champ running wide into Turn 8. The off track moment cost him around 4s.
The final pitstop saw Michael pushing to the max and yet coming out behind the Spaniard. The difference was less than 4s. That mistake cost Michael a 2nd place finish. Alonso did not relent to Michael’s pressure towards the end and calmly took 2nd at the flag.
This will explain to you the race:
1. Massa: 0 mistakes
2. Alonso: 0 mistakes
3. Michael: 1 big mistake
No matter what anyone says Alonso is not the one under pressure and he showed it. After the last 2 races I have a sinking feeling that Michael cannot make the final distance… These 12 points will be the toughest of his carrer and I frankly dont see him getting there. Of the last 4 races 3 will clearly help the Renault and Considering the mistakes Michael has been making (Tried to defend a positon which was undefendable and ended up out of the race in Hungary)… Alonso already looks like World Champion for 2006.
But 4 races still to go and anything can happen… Keep cheering your favourite driver 
Race Result
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Posted in Race Results on Aug 6th, 2006 2 Comments »
FIA had most of it right… It turns out to have a brilliant race you need just one extra component, nope not the mass dampers … Its just H2O good ole water and a lot of it.
Button drove flawlessly coupled with brilliant strategy coupled with amazing timing for switching tyres to take his maiden victory at the Hungaroring. There were a Spaniard and a German in the top 3 but they weren’t Alonso or Michael. Pedro produced a brilliant recovery drive(including an overtaking move on Michael) after teammate crashed out in an unfortunate incident to take the second step of the podium. Nick Heidfeld’s drive for BMW Sauber was perfect and carried him to a superb 3rd.
A drenched Hungaroring was the place to be as the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix started. Kimi started clean with Massa in his tail losing time fast, the Brazillian was heading for possibly his worst race for Ferrari in a long time. The biggest gainers were Michael jumping from 11 to 5th. Alonso stayed at 14th for the first corner but half way across the lap he was behind his teammate’s tail. The Spaniard was unstoppable overtaking Massa, Fisichella and Michael Schumacher within the next 2 laps.
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Posted in Race Results on Jul 31st, 2006 No Comments »
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.
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Posted in Race Results on Jul 3rd, 2006 No Comments »
If there was a way to respond to 5 consecutive poles and 4 consecutive victories, it was shown in Indianapolis. Michael Schumacher produced a scintillating performance to get pole,the fastest lap and win ahead of his teammate. The biggest statestic in the race is clearly Michael Schumacher - 10 points and Fernando Alonso - 4 points.
The race did not start perfectly for Michael but it was far better than 7 other cars whose American adventure ended within 5 seconds of the start lights. The incident involved Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, Nick Heidfeld, Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Scott Speed, Christian Klien and Franck Montagny. Button managed to continue but only for another lap after which he retired.
Up front Massa and Alonso had impressive starts getting ahead of their teammates. Massa would lead the pack of cars behind the safety car till about lap 6. So far there had been only 3 corners of racing and in it Alonso nearly upset Michael’s race by brilliant move into the first corner. The Ferrari’s held their nerve and dominated once the restart happened.
Alonso was clearly holding up Giancarlo whose car was clearly the faster of the two. At lap 15 Giancarlo got ahead of Alonso and replays indicated that Alonso gave way so as to not spoil his teammates race. Alonso had little to do with the race result after that.
Michael was only a second off Massa and in the first set of pitstops went ahead in a blaze of fastest sector times. He went on to put the fastest lap of the race and there was nothing he was worried of after that. Massa held his position comfortably as Fisi in third could only at best equal the Ferrari’s pace and that happened only once every 5 laps or so.
The race was prefect for Trulli as he started in the pit lane and with a well controlled single pitstop strategy. He managed to get past Alonso when the Spaniard pitted for his second stop.
The pace of the Ferraris was so incredible in this race that fingers have been pointed to Michelin. Most ppl think that they might hv gone for a conservative tyre compound to make sure last year’s incident does not repeat. The fact that four of the top five fastest laps were from Bridgestone runners indicates the same.
Renault will look to answer back to Ferrari’s warcry in a couple of weeks as we head to Renault’s home Grand Prix in France. Michael will be looking to gain more points as the teams head for Europe and Ferrari will be itching for more success.
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Posted in Race Results on Jun 26th, 2006 No Comments »
Alonso extended his dominant lead in the Formula One World Championships with a flawless performance to win his maiden Canadian Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen flanked the World Champ on the podium finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The on-the-edge race became apparent after Nico Rosberg and Montoya collided right after the start of the race. Both were fighting for 5th place after getting a slip ahead of Michael Schumacher on the start. Giancarlo Fisichella was the other loser at the start as Kimi overtook him into the first corner. The incident became clear after replays showed the Renault jumpstarting and stopping and then moving again. He was given a drive through penalty ending his hope for a podium.
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Posted in Race Results on Jun 11th, 2006 No Comments »
There was no point in the race where anyone could have doubted Alonso winning(ok maybe the first lap 
). The brilliance of the victory was in the dominant fashion that he did it. Firstly qualification where Alonso mastered the circuit in a heavier car than both Michael and Kimi. Then he went on to lead every single lap of the race to the finish ending the Grand Prix 13.9s ahead of the next racer.
This race will be remembered for the magical drive from Alonso but the fight between Michael and Kimi was probably the most exciting part of the race. Kimi finally overtaken by a flying Michael during the second pitstop. That lap right after he pitted had the best 2nd and 3rd sector times and that was enough for the German to pull ahead of the Finn.
The race started disastrously for Webber as Ralf whose car was touched by Scott Speed moved into his path. The 3 drivers retired and the Safety car was scrambled. The restart happened a few laps later and Alonso was pushed by Kimi in the start of the stint and that was the only time he was on pressure. Micheal was in Kimi’s slipstream right from the restart and he would continue to have that view until his second stop.
Nick Heidfeld was the big loser after his first pitstop… he was in 2nd place and could easily have come out in 4th when his clutch failed and was pushed into gear costing him around 15s. He ended up 7th ahead of Villeneuve as BMW took the last 2 point scoring points.
In the second best battle on the track Fisi slipped past Massa in the second set of pitstops after chasing him all day. The Ferrari looked strong in the first and second stint but towards the end of the second one Fisi did some hot laps gaining the position. He chased Kimi to the flag finishing 1.3s behind the Mc Laren in 4th.
Button looked good until his engine blew ending his British dream to be a local GP winner. The Briton had gained a lot of places before his engine caught fire. Trulli had a decent race finishing in 11th after starting in 22nd… Toyota strategy has to be talked about as they started with the lowest amount of fuel which probably cost them a bunch of points.
Renault look stronger than ever and Alonso more and more dominating as each race passes by. Alonso in the post race press conference said “(from now on) The best Defense is to Attack.” As they head to America for the next two races Alonso would like to set things right in Canada after he retired from P1 last year gifting the victory to Kimi. The others will hope that misfortune strikes the World Champ as it looks close to impossible for anyone to beat him on track with his current form.
Btw, I got my prediction perfectly right
Race Results
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Posted in Race Results on May 14th, 2006 No Comments »
Fernando Alonso became the first Spaniard to win the Spanish Grand Prix and joined an exclusive club of drivers who have won their home Grand Prix. In a race which saw the fastest lap in Qualification being posted by a Ferrari(Michael Schumacher Session 2- 1m 14.637s) and a Ferrari posting the fastest lap of the race (Felipe Massa), Fernado Reigned supreme being fastest on 90% of the laps. The grit and the determination by the Spaniard helped him seal the most dominating victory in a very long time… more importantly at home.
Michael Schumacher could not reply to Alonso’s pace the German in comparison was faster than Alonso only for a handful of laps(not considering the laps Alonso pitted). Michael had no choice but to settle for the second spot. His strategy in the pits helped him leapfrog the other Renault and helped him keep the damage in the world championships to the minimum. Fisichella came in with a much better performace than he managed earlier in the year save the one occasion where he went into the gravel while lapping the midlands.
Massa came in 4th close behind the Renault. Kimi followed the top two teams in a Mc Laren that clearly needs to improve to give Kimi a shot at the world championship. The two Hondas lead by Button finished 6th and 7th with Heidfeld picking up the last point.
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Posted in Race Results on May 7th, 2006 1 Comment »
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.
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