Michael Schumacher notched up his 85th Grand Prix win and broke the late Ayrton Senna’s record for the number of pole positions at the San Marino Grand Prix. But history will also record that Ferrari’s seven-time world champion beat Fernando Alonso on Sunday because Renault contrived to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
By Mike Fourie, News Ed.
Michael Schumacher notched up his 85th Grand Prix win and broke the late Ayrton Senna’s record for the number of pole positions at the San Marino Grand Prix. But history will also record that Ferrari’s seven-time world champion beat Fernando Alonso on Sunday because Renault contrived to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Though not everyone will agree with me, the result of the fourth round of this year’s championship was a shot in the arm for Formula One racing. On Sunday, Schumacher took revenge on his Spanish rival, who had fended off a sustained attack from the German master to win at Imola last year. Since that race in San Marino (let’s ignore the result of the farcical six-car US Grand Prix!), Schumi had not come close to seeing the chequered flag first. The season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix marked the first time that Ferrari had seemed truly competitive since the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix.
Before Schumi became F1’s dominant force in 1994, three-time champion Senna had been the man to beat. Since the Brazilian’s death, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen could only get their hands on the crown by defeating the German. The mediocre performance of Ferrari gave Alonso’s 2005 title triumph a hollow ring (if somewhat unfairly so), because Schumi was never a threat. But after Bahrain, and now Imola, Schumacher is a force to be reckoned with once more. Let’s hope, for F1 sake’s, that he will maintain this form in 2006.
“It feels so great to win again,” said Schumacher. “At last we have done it and it is especially good after our last race when I crashed out – we all wanted to put that behind us. It wasn’t easy to win, but we had to keep a close eye on Fernando and keep him back behind. This time it worked out.”
Schumacher got a lambasted by the media after his spectacular crash at Albert Park. It seemed that after Bahrain, where Renault’s superb race tactics helped Alonso streak to victory ahead of the pole-setting German, the Scuderia was floundering again. But even though Ferrari clearly did not have the fastest package (especially in the middle part of the race) at Imola, Schumacher drew on his vast experience to make his 248 F1 impossible to pass on the tight Italian circuit. The German held his nerve despite sustained pressure from Alonso and did not crack. In fact, Renault blinked first…
Starting from pole position, Schumacher had a ten second lead by the first round of stops as team-mate Felipe Massa held up Alonso’s R25. Schumacher’s second stint, however, saw him drop off the pace and Alonso was able to close in on the Ferrari and at that point of the race, it seemed that the Spaniard had the race in the bag.
With Alonso stuck behind Schumacher, Renault gambled by calling the Spaniard in for a pit stop despite the fact that he did not yet need to refuel, rather than be delayed by the Ferrari. It was decision that cost the French team the race… Ferrari immediately called Schumacher in for his second stop and the status quo was restored. Alonso continued to trail Schumacher, but never made a serious attempt to pass the German. In the closing stages, Alonso ran wide at Villeneuve bend and then cruised to the flag.
“It is always very difficult to overtake here and I tried, but then I had to give up because it was too much to do,” Alonso said. “But this is a good result for me for the championship and I am glad to take eight points. The car was on the limit in the closing stages.”
With Schumi and Alonso taking the top two steps of the rostrum, Juan-Pablo Montoya made the best of his longer stints to move up from seventh place on the grid and claim his first podium of the season. But Imola was a low-key race for McLaren Mercedes – Kimi Raikkonen was unable to pass Massa and settled for fifth place.
After the race, McLaren team boss Ron Dennis blamed Raikkonen’s poor performance for the team’s failure to finish in the top two.
“Kimi should have been three or four tenths quicker in qualifying (the Finn was eighth fastest, one place behind Montoya) and was capable of it,” Dennis said. “It would have put him on the second row and I think it would’ve been a very different race.”Fourth was a reasonable result for Massa, who helped his German team-mate by first delaying Alonso and deftly holding off Raikkonen in the closing stages of the race. Mark Webber had a solid race in his Williams Cosworth to claim sixth position at a circu
