“To finish (first) in front of my people is the best feeling I’ve had so far in an F1 car”, 24-year-old Fernando Alonso said after winning the Spanish Grand Prix. Although the clinical Circuit de Catalunya didn’t dish up a riveting grand prix on Sunday, fans were treated to a majestic display by F1’s youngest world champion.
“To finish (first) in front of my people is the best feeling I’ve had so far in an F1 car”, 24-year-old Fernando Alonso said after winning the Spanish Grand Prix. Although the clinical Circuit de Catalunya didn’t dish up a riveting grand prix on Sunday, fans were treated to a majestic display by F1’s youngest world champion.
By Mike Fourie, Editor
There have been several memorable home victories scored by F1 world champions… Four-time world champion Alaim Prost won the French Grand Prix no fewer than six times, including his first ever F1 win at Dijon in 1981, and at Magny Cours in 1993, the year in which he retired. And who can forget Nigel Mansell’s domination of the British Grand Prix in 1992, when thousands of fans stormed the Silverstone circuit to mob the then soon-to-be-crowned champion?
More recently, Michael Schumacher became the first German to win his home grand prix since the 1930s when he dominated the 1995 event at Hockenheim. Amid scenes of jubilation from the vast German crowd – the 1994 world champion slowed his Benetton to wave to his fans on the slow-down lap – and then stalled his car! A tow truck hooked up Schumi’s Benetton, and when the procession returned to the stadium, Hockenheim’s grandstands went berserk.
Fellow F1 enthusiasts might appreciate the similarities between Schumacher’s 1995 victory at Hockenheim and Alonso’s famous win in Barcelona. Alonso’s much-sought home win came in the season following his first world championship title victory, and the Spaniard also won the race from flag to flag. He did not, however, fluff his lines by stalling on the slow-down lap – he wouldn’t have dared to keep King Carlos of Spain waiting on the podium, now could he?
Frankly, Ferrari could struggle to figure out why Schumacher and team-mate Felipe Massa were trumped in Barcelona… The Ferrari 248 F1 was the class of the field at last week’s European Grand Prix and, until the Spanish Grand Prix began, appeared to be the car to beat at the Circuit de Catalunya. Schumacher did not secure pole position, but the German suggested the team had strategised to stop later in the race and therefore qualified with a bigger fuel load than that of the Renaults. Furthermore, the 248 F1 was comfortably the fastest car in a straight line and seemed well-balanced for the technical nature of the sweeping Spanish circuit. So, what went wrong?
Alonso and Renault team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella made a perfect start to lead Schumi and Massa at the first corner. McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen vaulted from ninth to fifth by the first corner, beating Jenson Button’s Honda off the line, splitting the two Toyotas and driving around Rubens Barrichello’s Honda.
Alonso comfortably led the race from the onset – by lap 12, he was 8 seconds ahead of Fisi and ten secs ahead of Schumi. In what the Cologne-based team described as a “racing incident”, Ralf Schumacher embarrased his Toyota employers by making a dramatic lunge down the inside of his team-mate Jarno Trulli on lap 16. The German tried to sneak eighth place, but smashed his car’s front wing by colliding with Trulli instead.
Schumacher was ten seconds behind Alonso when the Spaniard made his first pit stop on lap 17. Meanwhile, Juan-Pablo Montoya’s wretched season hit a new low when the Colombian lost control of his McLaren and beached the MP4-21 on a kerb. While marshals craned the stricken McLaren away, Ferrari called Massa in for the Brazilian’s first pit stop, but Schumacher continued in the lead.
The German made his pit stop on lap 23 and rejoined the race in second place – ahead of Fisichella, who had refuelled on lap 18. While Schumacher tried to reduce Alonso’s ten-second lead, Fisichella went off at turn three but recovered in time to keep ahe