Three weeks have passed since the victorious Monza-Ferrari-Schumacher weekend early in September. In the meantime, Schumacher announced his retirement from Formula 1 competition and the international motoring press had unabatedly made the best out of the Schumacher - Alonso rivalry after the latter had referred on Spanish radio to Schumacher as the most “un-sporting” driver of all times. Schumacher was now trailing Alonso by 2 points in the driver’s championship and Ferrari had built up a minimal advantage over Renault Benetton in the constructor’s championship.
During the past three weeks the Ferrari had looked strong in private practices in Italy where Schumacher set a new record at the Ferrari’s test track; last changes were made to the Ferrari’s aerodynamics – reportedly much in line with the earlier solutions exhibited by the rival Renault Benetton team - and the suspension system was improved by introducing a dampening system that included shocks that could automatically adjust to changing track conditions. Meanwhile, Renault Benetton had, during the three weeks that followed Monza, tried to get a grip on engine reliability. It tested in England and reported the cause of the Monza engine failure as solved; Alonso had not tested due to a knee injury incurred during the Monza weekend.
Hence, the Shanghai weekend was highly anticipated by the Formula 1 fans. Yes, it was probably the most anticipated Formula 1 weekend thus far in 2006. The question on everyone’s lips was whether Schumacher would be able to outclass Alonso once again and get ahead of the Spaniard in the driver’s championship. Schumacher had not been lucky in the first two editions of the Grand Prix of China - as a matter of fact last year he drove one of the most disastrous races of his illustrious career that ended in a DNF after crashing.
The Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend in Shanghai started off as usual with the Friday practice session. From this very first practice it was clear that Ferrari would once more face ultra-stiff competition. Weather was wet during most of the practice session and it was soon evident that Ferrari’s intermediate and wet weather Bridgestone tires were no match to the omnipotent Michelins. The situation got even more complicated for Ferrari after it became evident on Friday that Massa’s Ferrari required a fresh engine. Any hopes that the second Ferrari driver could be of strategic relevance during the main event thus quickly became history -- Massa would suffer a 10 spot grid penalty.
Ferrari Club Shanghai. Chairman Mao must be turning over in his grave.
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Saturday’s practice, run in even wetter conditions than Friday’s practice session, saw all of Schumacher’s hopes for the pole position vanish. Alonso and fellow Renault Benetton driver Fisichella dominated (he was about 1.5 seconds faster than Schumacher's fastest qualifying when he took pole position) and what was even worse for Ferrari, the Hondas of Barichello and Button, as well as Raikkonen’s Mercedes-McLaren all beat Schumacher’s time. Massa ended up at an abysmal one place from last qualifier. By the end of final qualifying the entire motoring press concurred with former World Champion Niki Lauda who stated that Renault Benetton was highly superior and that Schumacher’s hopes for victory were zero.
And then came Race Day, equally rainy. The Renault-Benetton boys, Alonso and Fisichella as well as their Team Boss Flavio Briatore were all “cocky” about their chances to beat Schumacher and the Ferrari Team in this particular race. In one of the last interviews before the start Alonso referred to Schumacher as “The Poor Old Man.” After all, at the time of the interview the track was still very wet and the Renault Benetton’s confidence levels were sky-high. As it appeared after the warm-up lap, all teams had opted for intermediate (wet) tires, even though it appeared that the outlook for severe rains might have been superceded as the cloudy sky brightened up a little.
From the very start of the race it was clear that the Renault-Benettons were off to great things. Both Alonso and Fisichella made a lightning start followed closely by the rest of the field. Their strategy was clear: Alonso was to build up an impressive lead while Fisichella was to play second fiddle and hold off any contenders for the lead and possible final victory. Initially the 2005 world champion’s team strategy seemed to work. In a few laps Alonso built a huge lead over his teammate Fisichella, who was followed closely by Raikkonen in the Mercedes-McLaren, who in turn was followed by a group that comprised the two Hondas, the Ferrari of Schumacher, the BMW-Saubers, the second Mercedes-McLaren and the surprisingly fast – on this occasion - American Scott Speed in a Red Bull Ferrari.
Felipe Massa had a simply miserable weekend and is not yet a viable number #2 driver.
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By lap 14 Alonso had increased his lead to 27 seconds over Schumacher and shortly thereafter it became evident that the track was drying up. The Spaniard slowed down and was later called in for a refueling stop, while it was decided by his crew to forgo the tire change, even though the front tires were showing already at that time excessive tread wear. Fisichella took the lead, and after Raikkonen suffered a technical knockout on lap 19 it was evident that Schumacher was firmly in second and closing in. Then Schumacher, Fisichella and Alonso pitted again for what would be their last stop. Schumacher only refueled, whereas the Renault-Benetton opted for a refuel and new tires on both of their cars. Fisichella came out of pit lane ahead of Schumacher, but the Italian on cold tires could not hold off the German who passed him dominantly and brilliantly in the first corner not impressed by Fisichella’s attempt to “close the door” on him. Alonso lost a lot of time in the pits when it appeared that there were difficulties in securing the right rear wheel; that made him lose another 10 seconds. Once back on the track Alonso checked out things on his car and suffered from graining of his new set of tires that slowed him down for another 10 laps. Alonso worked extremely hard in a car that progressively got better and set fast lap after lap to catch up with his teammate who finally, most likely following a preset strategy, let him by to secure second place. The race for the top spot of the podium was not over yet as it had meanwhile stopped raining.
Now it was Schumacher’s turn to worry about his tire situation; in an attempt to preserve his rubber the German slowed down considerably and carefully administered the last part of his race to end up first in the 3rd Grand Prix of China, his 91st career win in formula one!
Lauda proclaimed Schumacher's chances as zero--before the race. After the race, he changed his tune. Here, Lauda is saying, "One of the Best
races that Michael drove up till now (or thus far)!"
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As former world champion Niki Lauda would later state: “Michael Schumacher drove one of the best races of his entire career on this weekend in China!” It was clear the Formula One world and China had just crowned a New Emperor (or “Kaiser”) in Schumacher! Alonso came in second, and Fisichella completed the podium by ending third. The Saubers appeared at times competitive as did the Hondas of Button and Barichello, who finished respectively 4th and 6th, while the Mercedes-McLaren of Pedro de la Rosa finished 5th after a rather anonymous race. Heidfeld finished 7th in the BMW-Sauber, Webber 8th in the Williams-Cosworth (next to Schumacher the best result for a Bridgestone equipped car), Coulthard 9th in the Red Bull Ferrari and Liuzzi grabbed the 10th place and final points paying position in his Toro Rosso-Cosworth. Massa never played a role of relevance in the race, but in one way or another, helped by the misfortunes of other drivers, managed to get in the points range... were it not for the fact of his collision with Coulthard’s (a notoriously difficult to pass driver!) Red Bull and had he not been forced to retire subsequently with a failing suspension. A disastrous weekend for the Toyota team. The Spyker ex-Midland did not show any improvement other than a new color scheme, and Super Aguri-Honda team performed as bad as ever!
Soon-to-be-retired-Schumacher still radiates happiness when he wins.
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With two races to go, Schumacher and Alonso are now standing both at the top of the point earners list for the 2006 season, each with an equal 116 points; the German should at this point however be awarded first place as he has now won 7 Grand Prix as compared to Alonso’s 6 wins. In the Manufacturers Championship Renault-Benetton took once again the lead over Ferrari and now has 179 points compared to Ferrari’s 178 points. The season is not yet over, and therefore it is too early to conclude who will win in an undoubtedly very tight final shootout. As Schumacher put it after the race when interviewed by the RAI (Italian Television): “We made a miracle happen. A short while ago we were that far back and trailing while now we are on top of the World Championship. Now we have to go for the very end!“
See you next at the Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka in a week’s time.
Race Results
