F1 Finale 2006 Brazilian GP Results-Top 10

2006 Brazilian Grand Prix Top 10 results:

Pos       No      Driver     Team      Laps

1       6      Felipe Massa     Ferrari        71

2      1      Fernando Alonso    Renault        71

3      12      Jenson Button    Honda        71
4      5      Michael Schumacher   Ferrari     71

5      3      K Räikkönen     McLaren     71

6      2      Gi Fisichella     Renault      71      +

7      11      Rubens Barrichello   Honda     71

8      4      P dela Rosa     McLaren     71

9      17      Robert Kubica     Sauber     71

10      22      Takuma Sato Honda     71


Fastest Lap: Michael Schumacher 1:12.162

Race Notes:

Tyre suppliers Michelin completed a clean sweep of this year's world championship titles at Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix. In their final scheduled Formula One appearance, they saw six of their cars score points, with Fernando Alonso and Renault wrapping up the drivers’ and constructors’ crowns.

Six seasons after returning to Formula One racing, the result ensured that Michelin bow out of the sport with their heads held high. After the Interlagos race, Michelin CEO, Michel Rollier, thanked his staff and paid tribute to his predecessor, Edouard Michelin, who was tragically killed in a boating accident earlier this year.

Michelin did not have the fastest tyre at Interlagos - Bridgestone took a comfortable victory courtesy of Felipe Massa and Ferrari - but the early safety-car period and Michael Schumacher’s puncture played into Michelin’s hands, leaving F1 director Nick Shorrock delighted with the outcome.

"Today's higher temperatures caused us a few concerns before the race, because they were some way beyond the ideal operating window of certain partners' tyre choices,” said Shorrock. “As things turned out, though, we had no problems at all. The tyres held up very well and were extremely consistent throughout the race.

Formula One racing will feature a single tyre supplier - Bridgestone - from 2007.

Congratulations Alonso & Renault!

French team ecstatic after retaining both titles in Brazil

Last season they survived a late surge from McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen. This year it was Michael Schumacher and Ferrari applying the pressure. Yet again, however, Fernando Alonso and Renault rose to the challenge and held their nerve to become world champions - drivers' and constructors' - for a second time in succession.

“Renault's achievement in becoming double world champions, twice in a row, has nothing to do with luck,” said team President, Alain Dassas, after Sunday’s season finale in Sao Paulo. “We have done it because we were quicker and more reliable than our rivals - and because we were able to raise our game compared to 2005 by scoring more points and finishing more races.”

Renault have indeed not had the fastest car of late - they’ve won just one race from the last nine - and in the title decider at Interlagos Alonso was again powerless to stop a runaway victory for Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

However, reliability and consistency once more won through - Alonso’s second place secured his second drivers’ championship, and with Giancarlo Fisichella finishing sixth, it was enough for Renault to stay ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ standings, much to the delight of team principal Flavio Briatore.

“It was an incredible fight with Ferrari this year,” he said. “But we have done the job, and we deserve these titles. The whole team, from Fernando to all our colleagues in Enstone and Viry, have had a very difficult time this year. There have been many ups and downs, but we have never backed down, we never gave up and we are champions.

“As a team, we made fewer mistakes than our rivals, and Fernando made fewer mistakes than Michael. We must not forget Giancarlo, who has had a very strong season, and his points have made the difference between finishing first and second.”

Sunday’s Interlagos race was Alonso’s last for Renault and the team admitted they will be sad to see their star driver go as he heads off to new employers McLaren for 2007, taking the coveted Number One with him.

“As for our departing champion Fernando, he deserves this second title like no other,” commented Dassas. “He has been an extraordinary part of our team, and we will miss him. However, Formula One is all about reacting to change, and meeting new challenges. We will begin a new adventure next year, and that is the thrilling challenge of this sport.”

Renault’s driver line-up for their 2007 title defence will be Giancarlo Fisichella and Finnish newcomer Heikki Kovalainen, currently a test driver with the team.

Schumacher goes out in style in Sao Paulo

22 October 2006

He didn’t win the title or even the race. Indeed he didn’t even make the podium. However, Michael Schumacher’s farewell drive in Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix illustrated the grit, skill and determination that has made him the greatest driver Formula One racing has ever seen.

The odds were stacked against the Ferrari star from the outset after technical problems in qualifying at Interlagos left him only tenth on the grid. However, an excellent start saw him up to sixth place by the time the safety car intervened following Williams’ Nico Rosberg’s early accident.

Soon after the race restarted, Schumacher dived down the inside of Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault to seize P4, but as he exited the Senna S he appeared to lose the back end of the car, the Italian promptly regaining the position. The cause of the slide quickly became clear - a left-rear puncture thought to have been caused by debris on the track.

Schumacher limped back to the pits to take on fuel and fresh rubber, but when he rejoined he was running 19th - and last. However, he was immediately back up to speed, slamming in fastest sector times and slicing his way past backmarkers. His progress slowed somewhat when he once more found himself behind Fisichella in the closing stages, but the Renault driver was eventually forced into a mistake by Schumacher’s relentless pressure, running wide at Turn 1 and surrendering fifth place in the process.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen - the man who will replace Schumacher at Ferrari - was the next target, and the Finn defended aggressively to maintain fourth place. It took a special move from Schumacher, the pair going side-by-side into Turn 1 just inches apart, with the seven-time champion ultimately emerging ahead.

That left him chasing Jenson Button for a podium, but with just two laps remaining there simply wasn’t time to catch the Honda, despite Schumacher's penultimate lap being the fastest of the race, over half a second quicker than team mate Felipe Massa’s best.

Schumacher’s competitive Formula One career may be over, but true to form, the great man entertained us to the last. Thank you Michael.