SCHUMACHER WOWS TIFOSI ONE LAST TIME
(Image taken from Yahoo)
Italy. Monza. One of the classic circuits, certainly the fastest of the traditional circuits in Formula One, home of Ferrari's tifosi, arguably the most passionate fans around. In the circumstances, a cinch for the red cars though either way the weekend started with the possibility of history being made with the possible bowing out of Michael Schumacher after the race - Ferrari wanting to confirm their '07 line upbefore the weekend was out.
In qualifying, both Brits survived the first round with Webber the highest profile driver to get booted early. The Red Bull still had no straightline speed though and that condemmed DC to 14th. The first guy to seriously hit the front in the final session was Massa, before Raikonen outgunned him then Schumacher took pole but the German only held it for seconds before Raikonen snapped it up. In the meantime Alonso had qualified fifth...only for Ferrari to claim he'd blocked Massa in the final round! Apart from Max Mosley no one believed a word of it but the championship leader still had to start from 10th.
In the race itself, it was another midtable jaunt for DC. 12th...13th...14th...15th...yeah...this is getting to be a bit repetitive for the Scotsman, as is duelling with Torro Rossos. He did finish 12th but the fact is that as a guy who has won a load of Grand Prix, consistantly finished in the points last year and hit the podium earlier this year the back end of 2006 should be seen as 'not good enough'.
As for Jenson, well he slipped back to 6th at the start only to take advantage of a sludgy Heidfeld to regain fifth and though he was in fourth at one point, in the end he was only able to finish fifth due to Alonso crashing out. Honda reckoned that their Brit would have done better had the car not had power issues costing him a crucial few more mph. Points are points though I guess.
So could Raikonen get his first win of the year? Well he eld on to the lead at the start only for Ferrari's pit min to beat their opposite numbers at McLaren in tyre changing and Michael to get his sixth win of the season. From there the question was 'who's going to get third' and the answer to that turned out to be Robert Kubica! And if you'd told any Polish F1 fan at the start of the season that one of their own would make at F1 podium this year they'd have ordered you another vodka, Kubica started the season as a test driver!
The last word though was always going to belong to Michael, and though I have always belived the man to be a dirty git, even I have to admit 2006 is going to be the end of an era. Schumacher has pretty much defined Formula One, the majority of fans have simply bowed down to him for over a decade. So 2007 will be one of the most interesting seasons for ages.
That's still to come though. In the meantime, Alonso still leads the '06 championship with 108 points, Michael's in second with 106, Massa's in 3rd with 62, Fisichella's in 4th with 57(and a win in Malaysia), Raikonen in fifth, also on 57(but no wins) and Jenson in 6th on 40 with DC down in 12th with 14.
Three flyaways to go. Two points in it. Hold on tight.
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