Michael Schumacher could have been beaten by young gun Fernando Alonso had it not been for the awesome straight-line speed of the Ferrari F2003-GA, writes CAR deputy editor John Bentley.
After a less than perfect start to the season, Michael Schumacher is back on a roll, scoring his second win in a row – and a début victory for Ferrari’s new F2003-GA. But the quintuple champ was forced to work hard for his Spanish Grand Prix win by one of the young guns of Formula One, 21-year old local hero Fernando Alonso.
The young Spaniard, whose performances this season have dramatically raised the profile of the series in his home country, might even have given the champion a harder run for his money if his nimble but less-powerful Renault had had the straight line speed to pass Ralf Schumacher after the second round of stops.
He lost a total of six seconds trying vainly to find a way around Michael’s younger brother on a circuit where, barring mistakes by the driver in front, the only overtaking point is at the end of the long straight.
The season is turning into a battle of the generations, with young championship leader Kimi Raïkkönen throwing it all away in qualifying and at the start to allow old hand Schumacher to close right up in the title chase.
But the rookies still featured strongly, with Alonso, as well as Cristiano da Matta (sixth for Toyota, the Japanese team’s first scoring finish of the year), Mark Webber (seventh for Jaguar) and Ralph Firman (eighth for Jordan) all making their mark on the points log. – John Bentley