Formula One news
Alonso clinches title as Massa wins
22 October 2006 / Results / PhotosIn the final race of the season, Massa converted his pole into a win, whilst Alonso secured the drivers' championship title with his second place. Massa, who was the first Brazilian to win in front of his home crowd since Ayrton Senna in 1993, took an easy victory, whilst his teammate Schumacher suffered some bad luck but still managed to finish fourth in his last ever Formula One Grand Prix, pulling off some fine manoeuvres.
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At the start, pole-sitter Felipe Massa managed to get into the first corner ahead of Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren, whilst Fernando Alonso cautiously clung to the inside line to hold off the swarming Rubens Barrichello in his Honda. The Brazilian refused to do his old teammate Schumi any favours and avoided contact.
However Schumacher was more than happy to take proceedings into his own hands and at his last race start was his usual aggressive self as he probed the rear-ends of the two BMWs for an opening. Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld almost seemed to get distracted by each other and this time said "Bitte Michael" when they let Schumacher slip through at turn four. Michael was then up against brother Ralf, who yielded quite easily. Just ahead Giancarlo Fisichella found a way past Barrichello to secure fifth and act as a potential shield behind Alonso, who had protected his fourth starting position.
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Meanwhile after the first lap, the safety car came out following a major shunt for Nico Rosberg's Williams on the final corner. He shunted on the exit, having damaged his front wing and probably the suspension after he went into the back of teammate Mark Webber at turn four. The incident meant a double retirement for the Williams team and a disappointing end for Cosworth in Formula One.
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Massa again held off Kimi Raikkonen at the restart on lap five, and powered ahead of the rest of the field lapping some 2.5 seconds quicker. Alonso was being frustrated by Jarno Trulli and a queue started to form behind the Toyota car, allowing Michael to get right up behind Fisichella. With nothing to lose, the German lunged past the Italian at turn one on lap seven. The move was a clean one but Schumacher's car started to twitch almost immediately after passing and it seemed that his last race might be coming to a premature end when he slowed down. Luckily he managed to steer the car back to the pits with what was only a puncture, which the Ferrari team later suggested was from picking up a piece of a debris and not caused by any kind of contact with Fisichella. This sent Schumacher to the back of the pack and ruined his previously strong momentum.
Meanwhile both the Toyotas had retired, freeing Alonso up to close on Raikkonen without Trulli in his way. By lap 13, Massa had built up a ten second lead from Raikkonen and was looking unstoppable. Jenson Button had impressively worked his way up to sixth position behind his teammate Barrichello from fourteenth on the grid and the Hondas were looking strong. David Coulthard in his Red Bull Racing car was also on the move in twelfth place having started eighteenth but then retired on lap 14 with a gearbox problem.
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At the first round of pitstops, Alonso, far from being conservative and pushing hard, got ahead of Raikkonen whilst Button was rewarded for his impressive pace by taking the places of Fisichella and Barrichello. He then charged past Raikkonen in a blaze of tyre smoke to take third place at turn one. The top eight at the end of the first pitstops were: Massa, Alonso, Button, Raikkonen, Fisichella, Barrichello, Kubica and Heidfeld.
Schumacher had charged back up the field and was just behind Heidfeld, who gave into his countryman as if he was being lapped. Schumacher then took the other BMW of Kubica with just as much ease.
With 24 laps to go, the second round of pitstops occured and Schumacher exited the pits after his last ever pitstop all guns blazing, lapping in the 1 minute 12 seconds bracket. After the second set of pitstops, the top eight were: Massa, Alonso, Button, Raikkonen, Fisichella, Schumacher, Barrichello and de la Rosa. Impressively Takuma Sato was up to tenth in his Super Aguri, lapping just a second and a half slower than the frontrunners.
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With nine laps to go, Schumacher's pace forced Fisichella into a mistake at turn one and he took a brief excursion across the grass allowing the German to cruise past into fifth. Elsewhere Heidfeld went off in dramatic fashion at turn one with what looked like a suspension failure. With three laps to go the Ferrari crew punched the air as their hero took his next and final victim. Raikkonen looked like he had completely closed the door at turn one only for Schumacher to squeeze through in what little room there was. Meanwhile Alonso just about managed to hold off the threat of Button to secure second place and the world championship.
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