That is not exactly the kind of subheadline that sends pageviews shooting up on site, but anyway. That is what happened. After tailing Alonso till the second pit stop, Schumacher took full advantage when Alonso flashed into the pits, ran an extra three laps flat out, and had the race in his pocket after his own excellent pitstop afterwards. Alonso, 2005 world champion, was more than 6 seconds behind, and despite his best attempts, could recover only 3 seconds or so by the end of the race.

This is Michael Schumacher's second straight win of the 2006 season.

Felippe Massa of Ferrari managed to hang on to his third place, despite a late charge by Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren who came to within half a second of the Ferrari in the last lap. Massa himself piled on pressure on Fernando Alonso in the losing stages of the game, demonstrating the newfound prowess of Ferrari in 2006. The Ferrari 1-3 on the podium definitely heralds a turn for the better in the team's fortunes.

Kimi Raikkonen, who finished fourth, seems to have an underperforming car this year - the blistering pace of 2005 is missing. He overtook Barrichello in the beginning, and took a further place when Button retired - and ran a consistent race. Consistency is what McLaren lacked last year - this year they seem to have done better there, while losing last year's pace.

Jenson Button's uneventful race ended with 31 laps to go with a smoking car. His teammate Rubens Barrichello who looks like he is finally coming to grips with the Honda took fifth position in the race. Jenson Button's performance this year has been a major disappointment, and Honda would be feeling the pinch after all the pre-season controversy with them having to pay their way to get Jenson Button out of his contract with Williams.

Team Williams, on the other hand, had a day of mixed fortunes when Mark Webber's race ended with a hydraulics problem, but his teammate Nico Rosberg did well to finish at 7th. Jacques Villeneauve picked up the final point.

Overall, this year seems to be disappointing many - except Ferrari. Their car seems doing well enough to give a podium to their junior driver Massa. Renault's no. 2 driver (I am sure Fisichella wouldn't like being referred to so) has been a disappointment in 2006 - so far. Alonso would be a little jittery at the non-performance of McLaren where is moving camp to in 2007. Honda has reason to be disappointed with themselves, Button and Barrichello. Kimi Raikkonen has no chance of a championship this year if the car performs the way it does now, and he has yet to make up his mind about his next year's drive. Unless he already has signed up with Ferrari, and has told no one yet.

Auto news for auto freaks! iDrive.in
DWS community! / Cricket blog
DWS F1 News