Formula One season gets underway - Renault, Ferrari, McLaren and Honda on the pace

A-

A+

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Image Gallery ( 40 images )

March 13, 2006 The 2006 Formula 1 season erupted to life yesterday with strong indications that four teams will contest the win at each Grand Prix, and three, maybe four drivers will contest the title. 2006 champion Fernando Alonso won the race narrowly in his Renault but it was the renewed pace of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher that gave everyone heart, with an all red front row on the grid for the first time since the 2004 Hungarian Grand Prix as the Scuderia Ferrari driver equalled the record of 65 pole positions set by the late Ayrton Senna. The performance of the day though was that of Kimi Raikkonen who drove through the field from dead last in his McLaren Mercedes to take third. Honda’s 2006 challenge appears credible after a year from hell in 2005, with Jenson Button missing the podium by just six tenths of a second.

The race saw the debut of the new qualifying format: to recap, all 22 cars go out for 15 minutes at the end of which the slowest six cars are eliminated and occupy the last six places on the grid. After a five minute break, the remaining cars go out again for another 15 minutes and again the last six drop out. Finally, the remaining ten, this time running the fuel load with which they intend starting Sunday's race, go on track for a final 20 minute shoot-out.

Designed to bring some excitement to the qualifying procedure after the previous one car at a time format proved a bit dull, today's effort suggests the rule makers have succeeded. Kimi Raikkonen suffered a suspension failure in the first part of the session which brought out the red flags with a few minutes to go. So once the track was open again, all remaining 21 cars rushed out on track at the same time, causing the sort of traffic jam that had not been seen on a Saturday afternoon for a many a year.

On race morning, the cars that took part in the final section of qualifying took on an additional amount of fuel calculated by the FIA, to bring them back up to the level with which they began the final stint. Those outside the top ten could do what they wished in terms of fuel loads, which resulted in an interesting variety of race strategies.

Though hardly an indication of outright competitiveness, the first starting grid of the season did indicate that Ferrari was back in the game, that Honda’s pace was viable in 2006, that Williams might fare better than expected with the Cosworth motors and that Toyota could have slipped off the pace slightly with the change in motors.

Final Qualifying positions:

Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:31.431 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:31.478 Jenson Button Honda 1:31.549 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:31.702 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.164 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:32.579 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:33.006 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:33.112 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:33.496 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:33.926 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-BMW 1:32.456 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:32.620 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:32.850 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:33.066 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:33.416 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:34.606 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:34.702 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:35.724 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:35.900 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:37.411 Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda 1:40.270 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes No time

The race In the race, it was reigning World Champion Fernando Alonso who led home Ferrari's Michael Schumaacher by a tiny 1.246s at the end of the exciting 57 lap series-opening Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver had led for most of the first 36 laps, but when Alonso emerged from the pits on lap 40, he and Schumacher both reached the corner at the end of the straight at the same time, with Alonso just grabbing the lead – had it gone the other way, the result would most likely have also done so as both drivers are clever enough to ensure their car wasable to hold on to the chequered flag. The pair were 18 seconds ahead of nearest challenger Kimi Raikkonen, who had started at the back of the grid.

...continued

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7