Month: June 2006

Renault’s Fernando Alonso won a exciting and dramatic Canadian Grand Prix. This was the Spaniard’s first win in Montreal and Michelin’s 100th Grand Prix victory. The Renault driver led from pole position to notch up his fourth straight win and stretch his championship lead to 25 points. Alonso is looking the favourite to win this year’s Drivers’ championship if he continues this impressive form.

Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher recovered well and I think will be pretty satisfied to finished second ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Schumacher took advantage of a mistake from Kimi to steal second on the penultimate lap (who ran wide at the hairpin and onto the loose rubber ‘marbles’).

Britain’s David Coulthard (Red Bull Racing) also overtook Jenson Button (Honda) in the final stages of the race to snatch eighth from his compatriot. A good result for DC despite complaining of balance.

I do feel sorry for Kimi Raikkonen as he had problems throughout the 70-lap race. In his two pit-stops, there was that issue with the right-rear tyre and later on, he stalled (due to a problem with the clutch). The Finn was unlucky to run wide at the hairpin as second place was his.

Giancarlo Fisichella took a creditable fourth after he clawed his way back after a drive-through penalty. The Italian had started alongside Renault team-mate Alonso at the front of the grid but jumped the start and was consequently penalised.

Felipe Massa gathered more points for Ferrari in fifth while Toyota’s Jarno Trulli claimed his first points of the season in sixth. Finally, Trulli has scored some points after a bad start to this year’s Formula One season. Shame his race pace wasn’t that great compared to qualifying.

BMW-Sauber had showed promising pace in practice (especially in Kubica’s performance) but Nick Heidfeld could only manage seventh ahead of Red Bull’s David Coulthard.

But there was disappointment for Canadian Jacques Villeneuve on the track named after his late father Gilles and in front of his loyal home fans. The former World Champion was initially in P7 before he ploughed into the wall at 90mph behind Ralf Schumacher’s troubled Toyota.

Juan Pablo Montoya also made a dramatic exit from the race when he slid into the ‘Wall of Champions’ on lap 14. The McLaren driver had earlier ended the hopes of Nico Rosberg, who had qualified in sixth place for Williams. Montoya tried to squeeze past the German on the opening lap but instead he spun the 20-year-old into the wall and out of the race.

So a good result for Fernano Alonso and Renault this weekend. The next race is at Indianapolis next Sunday and hopefully we won’t have a tyre situation unlike last year’s fiasco US Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso dominated the British Grand Prix with a lights to flag victory. The Spaniard was in the ‘zone’ and simply drove away into the lead and recorded his fifth win of the year.

The Renault star shook off an early challenge from his two main rivals, Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher, taking control at the first round of pit stops before disappearing into the distance.

Kimi and Michael was left trailing in the wake behind the winning Renault so it was a battle between second place. Initially, Kimi held the track position but during the second round of pitstop, despite taking less fuel than the McLaren, Michael got ahead in his Ferrari. The German was able to do this by setting faster laps than Kimi and thanks to an early call by Ferrari’s strategist Ross Brawn, he made it into P2.

McLaren was shocked to see Michael ahead of Kimi. But in the end, the car was simply not fast enough to challenge Renault and Ferrari. Kimi had no answer over Michael and gradually lost touch during the final stint of the race, almost falling into the clutches of Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Renault. But the Finn held on for the final podium spot to move ahead of the Italian into a clear third place in the Drivers’ standings.

Felipe Massa finished fifth after a solid drive in the second Ferrari, while Juan Pablo Montoya brought a slightly damaged McLaren home in sixth. The Colombian had been hit by Jacques Villeneuve’s BMW Sauber at the Copse corner, damaging his right-side sidepod, and spent the first stint bottled up behind the other BMW of Nick Heidfeld. Heidfeld finished ahead of his BMW Sauber team-mate in seventh with Villeneuve the last point scorer.

As for Jenson Button, he had a race and weekend to forget. After suffering the embarrassment in qualifying, his Honda developed an oil leak and he was out within ten laps… Oh dear. Button was deeply disappointed to let down his home fan at Silverstone. Even though he started 19th on the grid, Jenson made good progress in the early stages of the race and was behind David Coulthard’s Red Bull ready to overtake. But alas, he is suffering so much bad luck recently and another non-finish will hit hard on Jenson’s confidence.