Chinese Grand Prix 2006: Dramatic Win For Schumacher

Ferrari's Michael Schumacher snatched a thrilling victory in the Chinese Grand Prix to take the top spot in the World Championship table. With just two races remaining, the season is heading towards a dramatic finish.

Schumacher silenced his critics with a commanding performance to claim his first victory in Shanghai. Fernando Alonso, who started on pole, had to settle for second place, after crucial errors in his pit stop effectively ended his chances for finishing first.

Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella was third, followed by Jenson Button, Pedro de la Rosa, Rubens Barrichello, Nick Heidfeld, and Mark Webber.

Race Report:

The Start:

Despite the weather forecast, it wasn't raining at the start of the Shanghai Grand Prix. The track was damp, and most cars were running on Intermediate tyres.

All eyes were fixed on Alonso, who was on pole, and Schumacher, who was on 6th place. Both drivers got off the line easily.

McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen had the best start as he drove around the outside to jump from 5th to 3rd. He temporarily lost his place while oversteering in Turn 1, but once he reached the back straight, he had secured his position.

There was some worry that the spray kicked up by the intermediate tyres would lead to visibility problems, but there were no casualties on the opening lap, save for Robert Doornbos, who had to replace the front wing on his Red Bull.

The Middle Laps: Strategy, Strategy, Strategy

Alonso had a couple of quick laps in the opening phase and had built up a huge lead. But Schumacher’s pace was relentless. On lap 8 he went pass Barrichelo, lap 13 he overtook Button and by lap 18 he was just 0.6 sec behind 2nd placed Fisichella. At this stage the gap between Alonso and Schumacher was 20 seconds.

And then things went horribly wrong for Renault.

On Lap 21, Alonso was bought into the pits and the team decided to change only his front tyres. Little did they know that this decision would cost him the race. When he emerged from the pits, he was still comfortably ahead of his rivals, but his lap times dropped dramatically. Alonso was suffering from major understeer from his front tyres. Within a few laps, Fisichella overtook him and on lap 31 Michael passed him by to take P2. Poor Alonso could only watch him disappear.

Alonso was struggling with his car, and the team called him into the pits on the 35th lap. Bad luck struck once again as his rear tyre refused to go back on. When Alonso emerged from the pit lane 19 seconds later, his chances of regaining the lead had all but evaporated.

The focus was now on the battle between Fisichella and Schumacher. Schumacher pitted in lap 40, while Fisichella followed in the next lap. Fisichella exited the pitlane a long way in front of Michael. But then, either his tyres were not upto the correct temperature, or God is simply a Schumacher fan, Fisi ran wide in Turn one. He was about to rejoin the racing line when Schumacher arrived, put two wheels on the kerb and blazed right past him.

The crowd went wild. Schumacher was on P1. From there on, he was never challenged.

The Ending Laps:

Alonso was 15 seconds behind Schumacher at that stage. His dry tyres were performing much better and he soon settled into his natural pace. He mounted a late challenge by blazing a series of Fastest laps as he whittled the gap to 12 sec, 8 sec, 6 sec. He overtook Fisichella with nine laps left. Alonso was narrowing the lead, but he just didn’t have enough laps. He finally crossed the finish line 3.1 seconds behind Schumacher. You got the feeling that had it not been for the 20 sec pitstop, Alonso might have pulled it off.

The race wasn’t over yet. Rain started to fall on the last lap and the drivers had to compromise between staying on track and maintaining speed.

5th placed Barrichello was closing up on Nick Heidfeld who had the slow Super Aguri of Takuma Sato in front of him. Sato braked and forced Heidfeld to slow down. Barrichello, who was right behind the BMW, hit the German's car and forced him into a spin. Jenson Button took advantage of this mayhem, and slid past from 6th to 4th place with de la Rosa following him. Barrichello took 6th with a livid Nick Heidfeld behind him.

Not surprisingly, the race stewards announced that they would investigate this incident.

Post Match Quote:

“Looking back some while ago, it's quite a miracle we are there,” Schumacher said at a televised news conference. “It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks and I am really looking forward to it.”

So are we, Michael. So are we.

Results :
01 M. Schumacher Ferrari
02 F. Alonso Renault + 3.100
03 G. Fisichella Renault + 44.100
04 J. Button Honda + 1:12.000
05 P. de la Rosa McLaren + 1:17.100
06 R. Barrichello Honda + 1:19.100
07 N. Heidfeld BMW + 1:31.900
08 M. Webber Williams + 1 laps
09 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 1 laps
10 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
11 N. Rosberg Williams + 1 laps
12 R. Doornbos Red Bull + 1 laps
13 R. Kubica BMW + 1 laps
14 T. Sato Super Aguri + 1 laps
15 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
16 C. Albers Spyker MF1 + 3 laps
17 S. Yamamoto Super Aguri + 4 laps
Did not finish
18 R. Schumacher Toyota + 7 laps
19 F. Massa Ferrari + 12 laps
20 J. Trulli Toyota + 18 laps
21 T. Monteiro Spyker MF1 + 19 laps
22 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 38 laps