Monday October 02, 2006

The Chinese GP

During F1's three week break before this race there has been quite a lot happening.. Red Bull's test and reserve driver Robert Doornbos will contest the last three races of the season for the team, alongside David Coulthard. He replaces Klein. The final details about engine deals is still up in the air but it looks like a Renault engine will be in the back of one of the Red Bull team's cars. I imagine Newey would like to re-establish his relationship with them... Spyker MF1 Racing is the new new for the old Midland team with the cars sporting new livery. They have also signed for Ferrari engines too. Mike Gascoigne has been taken on as their new Technical Director The Imola race is back on the calendar provisionally with work to be started to improve the pits and paddock complex. saved, Turkey has only been fined for the podium behavior and keeps its place for next year. Lewis Hamilton had his first run in a F1 car and was faster than Pedro. There will be only one German race for the next few years with both this years circuits taking turns to host the race.

Qualifying. Massa had an engine blow up in free qualifying so would be sent back ten places from his final grid slot. Annoyingly depsite the qualifying being on at the start of our day ITV elected to not show it live but broadcast it in the mid afternoon.

Qualifying one, wet conditions - these would worsen throughout the session favouring early runners. Michelin are clearly the tyre to be on their inters working well as they did in Hungary. Renault are at the front in times and Mclaren also doing well. There is a red flag three minutes before the end then Toyota are out of further qualifying - so much for their theory they would go better here. Toro Rosso have made it through to Q2. Schumi was three seconds slower than his rival Alonso.

Qualifying two. In the early laps both the Toro Rossos spin and Button is initially fastest on inters following the slighly dryer line where cars before him had been. Soon Alonso picks up the pace after going wide with Schumi in danger of not making it into the final qualifying. However he just manages to squeeze in, Williams and Toro Rosso are eliminated.

Final qualifying - it now seems to be drying slightly. The usual fuel burn off starts and with a few minutes to go Alonso is easily the fastest. Button has an unscheduled pit stop after a wing mirror of another car hits his own car on its front wing. The only Bridgestone runner in this session is Schumi but he is 1.3 seconds off the pace. At the end Fisi hauls himself up the grid to be in P2 and both Hondas do exactly the same time to lock out the second row. Schumi manages to get into P6 - an amazing achievement given the lack of grip he was suffering from. It looks like the race may well be wet...

 1.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1'44"360  188.038 Km/h  
 2.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'44"992  186.906 Km/h  
 3. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1'45"503  186.000 Km/h  
 4. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1'45"503  186.000 Km/h  
 5.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1'45"754  185.559 Km/h  
 6.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'45"775  185.522 Km/h  
 7.  4  DE LA ROSA   McLaren Mercedes  M   1'45"877  185.343 Km/h  
 8. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   1'46"206  184.769 Km/h

The race was to start in wet conditions but it was not raining. At the start Kimi passes Rubens and Button grabs P3. Soon after though Kimi gets past Button and goes chasing after the Renaults. 53 to go and Alonso is flying at least six seconds ahead of his teammate. DC looks like a sitting duck as Kubica then Webber waltz past him. Soon after this Schumi gets past Rubens and on lap 45 he is faster than Button and catching him fast. Massa is also making progress up through the field so the track is now suiting the Ferraris. 43 to go and Schumi passes Button and Kimi passes Fisi.

41 to go and Button pits and his rear tyres are worn out his car having been setup for rainy conditions. Kimi pits a lap later then so does Rubens. Schumi is twenty seconds behind Alonso who must be praying for rain. Kimi then stops a mechanical failure of some kind. 36 to go Kubica is doing well and passes Pedro and Schumi pits only changing his front tyres. The BMW's are in P4/P5. Fisi pits and comes out ahead of Schumi, Alonso rear gunner intact. Kubica pits and puts dries on. This is clearly a mistake made worse by the fact he tip toes around the track loosing heat in the tyres which soon have him off. He pits and goes back to inters. Alonso is now very slow he changed his front tyres and Fisi did not and clearly this was a mistake. Later Fisi has no option but to pass him and get away from Schumi and try and make sure he does not bag the ten points.

21 to go Alonso pits and has problems with his one rear tyre that delays him terribly. Schumi is close to Fisi and with 17 to go Schumi pits. Fisi does so a lap later comes out ahead of Schumi but Schumi soon gets past him for P1. 13 to go Alonso is charging up to the back of his teammate his car now working well for him. Button is behind his teammate looking for a way past. Massa has an incident with DC and retires. 9 to go Alonso passes Fisi 13 seconds up the road is Schumi. Button goes wide and looses his place to Pedro. 4 to go Alonso has not given up; not to be satisfied with P2. He should remember that engine needs to do the next race in a week. 2 to go Button goes past Pedro and soon gets back behind his teammate. It is raining again. In a complex incident where Sato was eliminated from the race afterwards Heidfeld is blocked by the Japanese driver and in the last lap Button gets past his teammate and Heidfeld to grab back P4 his grid starting position. Very good race.

 1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1h37'32"747  187.645 Km/h  
 2.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   +  0'03"121  187.545 Km/h  
 3.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   +  0'44"197  186.238 Km/h  
 4. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   +  1'12"056  185.363 Km/h  
 5.  4  DE LA ROSA   McLaren Mercedes  M   +  1'17"137  185.204 Km/h  
 6. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   +  1'19"131  185.142 Km/h  
 7. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   +  1'31"979  184.742 Km/h  
 8.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   +  1'43"588  184.381 Km/h  

So another wet race that had plenty of overtaking. Schumi leads the championship not by points but by the fact he has won one more race than Alonso. Renault however claim back the lead in the constructors championship. Without the botched pit stop Alonso would have won the race but thats F1. Suzuka , Japan next week.