It was a commanding victory for Fernando Alonso, the 12th Grand Prix win of the Spaniard’s glittering young Formula 1 career and his fourth of the 2006 season.
With Michael Schumacher at the back of the grid, Alonso had a new challenger to battle with for the race win, McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen.
The pace of Kimi and Fernando at the front was impressive. Lap after lap, the two cars were trading fastest times. Initially Mark Webber in the Williams couldn’t keep up, but after the first rounds of pit-stop, the Australian was soon on their tail as the leading Renault slowed down his pace.
It looked like we would have a three-way battle for the race victory, but unfortunately Webber’s Williams suffered an engine failure. Then during the safety car period, Kimi’s McLaren experienced an engine problem as well!
That left Alonso in the lead, with Juan Pablo Montoya in second position. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli should have finished third but he too suffered a problem, just five laps from the end. Honda’s Ruben Barrichello was initially in P3 but had a drive-through penalty after speeding in the pitlane.
So a dream result for Red Bull’s David Coulthard, who finished third. It has been quite a while for DC to finish in a top threee position and it was nice to see him wearing a Superman cape on the podium!
What about Michael Schumacher? He drove a solid race from the back and managed to finish fifth! Just behind his ex-Ferrari team-mate Barrichello. Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella pulled off some exciting overtaking moves during the race and the Italian finished sixth.
So what happen in qualifying? Well, Michael Schumacher ‘stopped’ his Ferrari at the La Rascasse corner… Later that eventing, the race stewards concluded that he deliberately blocked the track in the closing stages of qualifying, preventing rivals from beating his time. And so the seven-time World Champion started the race right at the back. In the race, he got the job done and finished in the points.