Official 2006 F1 Season Discussion

[Fourjays Veteran]

Those aren't the results - they are the qualifying positions.

Great race today between Schumacher and Alonso today. Good to see Schumacher have to race for victory. Juan did a great job too - he is easily the equal of Kimi in terms of skill, it's just a shame he had such bad luck last year.

Button was looking great for a podium if not a win. Button could easily win a race, but Honda always let him down one way or another - I'm not sure he will ever win as long as he is at Honda (unless they really get their act together). :no:

[CyberKewl]

Ide does it again, this time he crashes the back of Albers...when that happened i was like "stupid bu****". That guy really shouldn't be in F1, he's probably the WORST F1 driver I've ever seen. It's bad enough if you spin a few times but crashing into someone in the beginning of the first lap just takes it to a whole new level of stupidity. I bet that any of the current F1 test drivers (other than probably Super Aguri's own) can do a better job than Ide. That guy should be out!

[bayrider]

Going between Montreal and Los Angeles, it's impossible to keep a track of the F1 season unless im in Montreal. But I did catch the qualifiers for Imola on SPEED network, unfortunately the race was at 5am on Sunday :@

I should be getting my tickets to the Montreal GP soon though :)

[Galley]

I agree, Ide is by far the worst driver I have ever seen. :x

[satishsays.com]

And Ide is always some 4 seconds of the time which Sato sets in the same car. Which just goes to show his mediocrity.I think he's in Aguri only because he's a Jap.

That apart, here are the race resuults and a comprehensive summary of the whole race, for those who missed it.

San Marino GP as it happened

Final positions after 62 laps:

1 M Schumacher (Ferrari)

2 F Alonso (Renault)

3 JP Montoya (McLaren)

4 F Massa (Ferrari)

5 K Raikkonen (McLaren)

6 M Webber (Williams)

7 J Button (Honda)

Lap 62: Schumacher eases over the finish line for his 85th race win, ending Renault's dominance this season.

Schumacher's first victory for nearly a year sees Alonso take second as his team are left to rue a tactical error with the Spaniard's second pitstop.

Lap 58: Alonso does well to stay off the gravel at the Villeneuve chicane but seems to be losing grip on the track with the rear tyres giving way a bit. His error helps Schumacher edge further ahead and strengthen his stranglehold on success at Imola.

Lap 54: Alonso continues to swarm behind Schumacher with just 0.3 seconds separating them, while McLaren driver Montoya is 14 seconds further back, followed by Ferrari's Massa, McLaren's Raikkonen, Williams' Webber and Honda's Button.

Lap 49: Fisichella comes in for another stop enabling Button to move back up to seventh. At the front, Alonso is running out of time to find a way past longtime leader Schumacher. David Coulthard makes it a double retirement for Red Bull.

Lap 47: Raikkonen comes in for his second pitstop and manages to return behind sixth-placed Fisichella.

Lap 44: Race leader Juan Pablo Montoya comes in for his second stop, while further back Button makes his third pit. Elsewhere, Christian Klien confirms his retirement was because of hydraulic problems in his Red Bull car.

Lap 42: In response to Alonso's pit on the previous lap, Schumacher goes in for his stop and manages to get out ahead of Montoya and Alonso in what could be a race-deciding move.

Lap 41: Alonso comes in for his second stop in a tactical move to improve his tyres and make the most of his speed advantage over Schumacher. The Spaniard returns to the track in front of third-placed Montoya.

Lap 37: Alonso makes an audacious bid to overtake Schumacher at the Tosa corner, but the former world champion is able to hold him off on the Imola track, which is notoriously difficult to overtake on.

Lap 35: Alonso is tucked in behind leader Schumacher and waiting for his chance to overtake the struggling German. The clock indicates just 0.346-second gap between the two drivers.

Lap 32: Button is down to eighth after Honda's pit disaster.

Lap 30: Button's podium hopes suffer a major blow as the Briton comes in his second stop. The lollipop man fails to pull away his signal post fast enough and breaks the fuel host on the Honda as Button attempts to set off. The Briton is forced to stop again as the pit crew frantically take out the fuel host.

Lap 28: There seems to be a problem with the Ferraris as Alonso and Button are reeling Schumacher in.

Lap 27: Button is playing himself back into contention as he looks in control in third.

Lap 25: Alonso finally goes in for a pitstop but manages to come out ahead of Massa and Button to go second behind Schumacher. Renault's tactic of holding on for longer seems to have paid off.

Lap 22: Schumacher is just behind Alonso, who still has to come into the pits. Meanwhile Raikkonen makes his stop, showing he is not carrying as much fuel as first thought.

Lap 20: Having amassed a 13-second lead, Schumacher heads into the pits leaving Alonso needing to make up considerable time to close the gap on the German.

Lap 19: Massa goes into the pits, having held up Alonso and cost the Spaniard over five seconds as Schumacher stretches his lead to over 12 seconds.

Lap 17: Schumacher has yet to pit and further back Ferrari team-mate Massa, in second place, slows down considerably to hold up main rival Alonso

Lap 15: Button is next in the pits as he looks to making the first of three stops.

Lap 14: With the laps building up, speculation grows over who will pit first. Schumacher is believed to be making a three-stopper, but it is his former Ferrari team-mate Barrichello who goes in first.

Lap 12: A real gap has formed between the top four cars and fifth-placed Barrichello. The Brazilian is 5.6 seconds behind Alonso.

Lap 10: Schumacher has yet completely dominate the race, with a lead of just 2.4 seconds over Jenson Button after 10 laps. But it becomes apparent that Ide has come back into the race after it was originally thought that he had retired.

Lap 7: Trulli retires from the race after his steering column fails. He joins Ide and Albers on the sidelines.

Lap 5: Jarno Trulli is having a long pitstop, which will leave him struggling to make up the time. Kim Raikkonen has been squeezed out from eighth to ninth.

Lap 4: Schumacher clocks the fastest lap so far with 1:26.456 but is yet to streak away from chasing pack.

Lap 3: Racing resumes and the safety car pulls over. Yuji Ide is forced to come into the pit lane, having incurred damage after tripping Albers in the crash on the third lap.

Lap 1: Christijan Albers crashes out at the Villeneuve chicane with a dramatic roll on the Tosa corner, but emerges from the car unharmed. Meanwhile, Rubens Barrichello has fallen back to fifth as Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso take advantage.

1300: The parade lap is under way. The track temperature is 40C and rising.

1250: The teams are making their final preparations and the drivers are putting on their helmets as just 10 minutes remain before the start of the race.

1230: The pit lane opens and the cars begin to leave to form up on the dummy grid.

1220: With 40 minutes to go, the weather at Imola is warm and sunny, with low humidity and little apparent prospect of rain.

Story from BBC SPORT:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi...one/4935820.stm

Published: 2006/04/23 13:37:38 GMT

? BBC MMVI

[Martyn]

I think some of you will be pleased that Ide is being replaced by Frank Montgomary, who used to test driver for Renault and did quite well if I remember correctly.

French racer Franck Montagny will make his grand prix race debut this weekend after replacing Japanese rookoeYuji Ide in the Super Aguri team at this weekend?s European Grand Prix.

Acting on the advice of the FIA, Super Aguri has demoted Ide to testing duties following his poor string of results so far this season.

Ide has struggled to get on terms with team-mate Takuma Sato in the first four races of the year and was given an official warning by the stewards after tipping Christijan Albers into a roll at the San Marino Grand Prix.

?We accept the advice offered by the FIA to allow Yuji to accrue the mileage he requires to improve in F1 during our testing days only,? said the team?s principal Aguri Suzuki.

?The team has made every effort to ensure that Yuji settled into his new F1 surroundings and I think that he has coped incredibly well under the circumstances.

?I wish that I could have given Yuji more time in the car before the start of the season, but with the team being put together so rapidly we were unable to allow him the proper testing that he should have experienced.?

?I will continue to look after Yuji's interests and support his continuing efforts within the team, including his path back to a F1 race seat.?

Montagny was already serving as the team?s test and reserve driver and had been expected to run on Friday at the Nurburgring.

The former Renault and Jordan test driver will be the first Frenchman to race in a grand prix since Olivier Panis in the 2004 Japanese GP.

[geek_rohit]

Thats a good decision. F1 cars are not toy cars, and you can't expect a novice to do well. Ide should do more testing and race in some other racing versions like F3, Formula Nippon. But this guy doesn't have enough time to make it into F1. He is already 31 years old, too late for a rookie to make his mark.

[Martyn]

Alonso good pole :)

Looks like it would be a good race between Alonso and Schumacher tomorrow! It was funny when Fisichella flipped on Villeneuve :rofl:

[digitalsoft]

alonso, damn!, nevermind he's gotta deal with the 2 ferraris up his rear :D

[Oktoberfest]

nice first podium for Massa

good win for Schumacher in front of his home crowd

[geek_rohit]

A very exiting race, superb strategy won the race for the Ferrari, a great result for them. 10/10 for Massa. He did a solid job to hang in with Alonso and Michael, and then soaking up the pressure from Kimi in the end. McLaren though, their troubles are far from over. JPM retiring meant that only Kimi had to score points for the day. Renault didn't have a very bad day. Alonso's 2nd and Fisi's 6th place meant 11 points for them. Rosberg is a star in making, a superb drive from him. A well deserved 7th place finish, considering he started from the last on the grid. JV took the final point, well he still does drive pretty well. The first corner as expected did cause trouble for some, but still its an interesting overtaking corner. Rubens finally manage to have a good race with his 5th place. Bad day for Button, another engine failure.

[ahmz]

Rubens finally manage to have a good race with his 5th place.

5th place but nearly a lap behind =/

Ferrari are finally back in the hunt :)

[satishsays.com]

Lots happening this week at Catalunya.

Yuji Ide's license has been revoked.

Toyota got a new chief

and Honda got a new aerodynamicist.

[.mcman]

damn, whats wrong with McLaren. Raikkonen just 9th, Montoya not even in top ten.

I hope they have a LOT of fuel in their cars...

[.mcman]

Spanish Grand Prix Results

I'm so disappointed. :(

[Fourjays Veteran]

I'm so disappointed. :(

You maybe, but the Spanish crowd definitely wasn't. Alonso drove a brilliant race and thoroughly deserved that win.

Both Honda and McLaren really need to get their act together though. They are just awful at the moment. :no:

[geek_rohit]

A good race for Renault and Ferrari. Ferrari took their home win (Imola) Schumi took his (N?rburgring) and now Alonso take his home win (Catalunya) So all are happy, Alonso was lucky that the Spanish race director didn't get the safety car out:pp (During the JPM Spin, which was quite seriously a safety hazard), his first stint made all the difference. He got a decent lead, enough to safety emerge ahead of Schumi after his pit stops. Ultimately Renault was a better car because of their superb chassis. Catalunya is a very technical circuit. Which asks for a mechanical grip. The corners require a decent downforce at the apex, but too much downforce can hamper the top speed on that long straight. So Renault are benefiting from their chassis. Ferrari did a good job in bringing Michael ahead of Fisico. Splitting the Renualts and with Massa right behind Fisico, Ferrari were good in the race. Kimi did a good job in finishing 5th. JPM is making too many errors these days, he isn't making his situation comfortable at McLaren. Honda's finally had a good race, i believe Button is a happier man now. Midlands again made themselves a difficult cars to overtake. Toyota could have a good race, dunno what went wrong. Ralf though overdid that TAKE on Trulli. Sauber - BMW had a good race too. JV came 12th from last place on the grid. Williams had a simple race. All is all not a very exiting race, just some occasional goofups (They better fix that timing glich , which nearly made all Ferrari fans faint). In the end it was Alonso's day. Next is Monaco, interesting circuit it is. Qualifying always decides the winner there. Not at all easy place to overtake. Renault will again be strong, with their superb chassis. And Ferrari should be strong, as they always have been at Monaco.

[Martyn]

A good race for Renault and Ferrari. Ferrari took their home win (Imola) Schumi took his (N?rburgring) and now Alonso take his home win (Catalunya) So all are happy, Alonso was lucky that the Spanish race director didn't get the safety car out:pp (During the JPM Spin, which was quite seriously a safety hazard), his first stint made all the difference. He got a decent lead, enough to safety emerge ahead of Schumi after his pit stops. Ultimately Renault was a better car because of their superb chassis. Catalunya is a very technical circuit. Which asks for a mechanical grip. The corners require a decent downforce at the apex, but too much downforce can hamper the top speed on that long straight. So Renault are benefiting from their chassis. Ferrari did a good job in bringing Michael ahead of Fisico. Splitting the Renualts and with Massa right behind Fisico, Ferrari were good in the race. Kimi did a good job in finishing 5th. JPM is making too many errors these days, he isn't making his situation comfortable at McLaren. Honda's finally had a good race, i believe Button is a happier man now. Midlands again made themselves a difficult cars to overtake. Toyota could have a good race, dunno what went wrong. Ralf though overdid that TAKE on Trulli. Sauber - BMW had a good race too. JV came 12th from last place on the grid. Williams had a simple race. All is all not a very exiting race, just some occasional goofups (They better fix that timing glich , which nearly made all Ferrari fans faint). In the end it was Alonso's day. Next is Monaco, interesting circuit it is. Qualifying always decides the winner there. Not at all easy place to overtake. Renault will again be strong, with their superb chassis. And Ferrari should be strong, as they always have been at Monaco.

It was a good race. This season is building up to be very good with the war between Renault and Ferrari, Honda and McLaren are not really in the fight for the title as we thought they would both be at the start of the season. The "quartet" has now been split!

Even though I do not really like Michael Schumacher I believe that if he wins the Championship this year he will retire, he will want to leave on a high rather than a low. Which would be a fitting ending for a great race driver, but I still believe that had Ayrton Senna still been alive then Schumacher would not have been as successful as he has been.

Fernando Alonso is a great driver, he is a young driver with a lot of techinique and keeps his feet on the ground. The youngest pole sitter, the youngest grand prix winner, the youngest championship winner, the guy will undoubtably go on to become a legend.

I am dissapointed with McLaren as they are my favourite team, Alonso is going to McLaren next year which will be great for them but if they dont have a good enough car for him he cant really show his magic. Raikkonen is a very good drive and I really like Montoya simply because he entertains me, like when he said "**** happens" in a press conference, his overtaking manouvers are very good as well. The rumours are that Raikkonen will be leaving to go to Ferrari but I dont really want him to as I think McLaren is the team for him and he should follow in Hakkinen's footsteps.

Monaco is always a great race, filled with prestige. Ferrari normally do quite well at Monaco, as do McLaren and Honda. It should be a good race.

[bayrider]

A good race for Renault and Ferrari. Ferrari took their home win (Imola) Schumi took his (N?rburgring) and now Alonso take his home win (Catalunya)

Yes and Villeneuve is going to take it home in Montreal!!! I'd love to see it, but I know it wont happen. I'm still waiting for word on if my friend got us some tickets. They're so outrageously expensive. If I cant get tickets, im going to 'try' and get into the Casino and watch from there (the track goes around it), but i'm sure it going to be packed, and I'll probably ending up spending more money there than I would on tickets lol.

Congrats to Alonso, he must feel on top of the world right now. I couldn't imagine a bigger achievment in his career except winning the championship.

[bayrider]

So you guys think Schumacher deliberately stopped his car to not allow Alonso to grab 2nd spot? I didn't see whether or not Schumi changed his tires, but Alonso was right on his tail, fighting for first spot when Schumacher stalled his car and caused that build up not allowing the other drivers to pass.

Personally I think it was deliberate. He has a history of doing such things, especially in F3. He looked to have control of the car the entire time and jerked the steering wheel both ways to slightly throw out his rear.

[Fourjays Veteran]

It looked deliberate to me too. From the external shot, it didn't even look like he lost control, at all - looked more like he just came to a stop. Most of the other drivers think it was deliberate, even those who stand to gain nothing. It wasn't just Alonso's lap that was ruined either - Mark Webber, and even Kimi Raikonnen looked set to beat his time. Plus all those who were fighting for the last 5-6 places had their laps ruined (although none would beat Schumachers time). As Villeneuve said, "I hope it was deliberate, because if that was a mistake he should not even have an F1 superlicence".

[Fourjays Veteran]

Schumacher has been "found guilty of deliberately bringing his Ferrari to a stop and causing yellow flags in the dying minutes of qualifying" and has been sent to the back of the grid.

Full story isn't up yet, but you can find it here: http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=36078.

[bayrider]

confirmed. Schumacher stripped of his pole position

http://f1.racing-live.com/f1/en/headlines/...527232055.shtml

[cjb1118]

All Ferrari back-row, after Massa crashed in Qualifying.

[Martyn]

Justice was done in my eyes, he deserved to be stripped of his pole. It will be a good race though with two Ferrari's coming through the grid, especially at a circuit like Monaco!

I love Monaco, lets hope the McLaren's do well, although I would not mind if Alonso won as I like the guy (Y)