The 2006 Chinese Grand Prix

[Ed]

Gap down to 7.8 seconds! 2 laps!

[Ed]

Button takes de la Rosa and is back fighting with Barrichello!

[Ed]

Final lap!

[Ed]

Button takes Barrichello!

[Ed]

Michael wins. He is 3.1 seconds ahead of Alonso!

[Ed]

Drama behind them though!

Button passes Heidfeld while they are lapping a Super Aguri. Behind them Barrichello and de la Rosa were fighting. Barrichello and Heidfeld ended up touching. They all finished though!

[Ed]

Michael wins the race ahead of Alonso and Fisichella. Button, de la Rosa, Barrichello, Heidfeld and Webber make the top 8.

So we have a level championship with 2 races to go!

Full Race Results

[F1greyhound]

Very poor finish by NICK, he got himself into problems even if SAKON wasn`t helpfull. From 4th to 7th, pity for BMW.

JENSON is a potential WDC....

Well done MARK

PEDRO will hopefully be replaced by LEWIS after a boring performance.

FERNANDO must be worried about the reliability of his future car while KIMI already sees RED

[F1greyhound]

Actually it was TAKUMA who got a bit in NICKs way, but there is no way this would have happened to a champion. NICK can be so good - and so bad. RUBENS didn`t necessarily have to hit him though..

MICHAELs manoevre against FISICO was top class. "Poor old MICHAEL" (PAT SYMONDS after Qfg.) is leading the tables for the first time since 2 years!!

[Ed]

A great race from both Champions. Michael Schumacher managed to stay with the Michelin runners early on and even push them at times. He was very quick on the drying track too.
Fernando Alonso had superb 1st and 3rd stints. Why he struggled in the second stint is yet to be known but the long second stop pretty much ended his chances. He had a great recovery though!
Fisichella had a good second stint but overall didn't really impress!

There were intersting fights everywhere, the fight between Button, Barrichello, Heidfeld and de la Rosa was exciting! Also Coulthard, Webber, Rosberg and Kubica!

It was unfortunate for Massa to go out after tangling with Coulthard!

Michael now leads the Drivers' Championship by virtue of the number of wins while Renault lead the Constructors' Championship by 1 point.

Japan and Brazil remain!

Your thoughts and your driver of the day

[Snowy]

Actually it was TAKUMA who got a bit in NICKs way, but there is no way this would have happened to a champion. NICK can be so good - and so bad. RUBENS didn`t necessarily have to hit him though..

Oh yes he did...del a Rosa's front right made contact with Ruben's back left tyre causing him to straighten up and consequently over run. Poor old Nick and Ruben's were innocent victim's of Pedro's impetuosity

[Snowy]

Drive of the day has to go to Michael, however save of the day should go to Jenson, he started well had an abominable 45 laps then suddenly came back to life and managed to go from seventh to fourth in 4 laps which is not bad in my book.

[Ed]

Selected Quotes following the race

Drivers:

Michael Schumacher - Winner

I am so happy! I want to thank the team for this result, as they did a fantastic job. After the start, I was surprised to find that I could match the pace of those ahead of me, which was better than I had expected. After a while, I was able to close up on Fisichella. I thought that if I could pass him, even if I could not win, then at least I would only lose two points to Fernando and given where I started that would have been a good result.It was very important to reduce the gap to the Renaults when the track began to dry. The crucial moment came with the switch to dry tyres. I knew that even if Fisichella managed to stay ahead of me after his stop, I would have the chance to pass him going into the first corner as he would be in trouble with the temperature of his tyres and that is what happened. In the final laps, I drove very carefully. I had a good gap but the track conditions were getting difficult, however, I was never worried about getting caught. Now we go to Suzuka, a track that I love. But it is difficult to make any predictions and as usual, tyre performance will be crucial.

Fernando Alonso - 2nd

This was a difficult race for the team because we lost a very good opportunity today. I built up a good lead in the first 20 laps, but my front tyres were badly worn ? and the conditions were difficult as the track was drying very slowly. We made the decision to change the fronts for a new pair, and it was the wrong one ? as we saw with Fisi and Michael, who kept all four tyres on the car and were much quicker. After that, the only thing we could do was go to dry tyres as early as possible ? and hope to catch up the time to Michael. In the end, there were not enough laps left. So it was a bad day, but this is a fantastic fight for the championship, and I go to Japan feeling really confident. We had the quickest car today, and we have two more good chances to win. I believe we can do it.

Giancarlo Fisichella - 3rd

This was a good race for me ? and a good result for myself and the team. Finishing third means I go ahead of Massa in the drivers' championship, and the team is leading the constructors' championship again. I started with the biggest fuel load of any car at the front, so the first laps were quite tough ? but the conditions came to me really well as the circuit dried. We kept the same set of tyres at the stop, and I was able to be very competitive and pull away from Michael. But when I came out on dry tyres, the track was so slippery ? and the tyres weren't at temperature yet. I slid wide, and Michael got past. After that, we turned the engine down to save it for Japan, and made sure of the podium finish. After seeing how the car performed today, we know that we have the performance to win both titles, beginning next weekend in Japan.

Jenson Button - 4th

I'm really pleased to have finished where I started in 4th position. Initially the car felt really good; I was pulling away from the field well and staying in touch with the cars in front. Then I started to struggle with the rear tyres which were practically bald so I had to come in early for my first pitstop. I had no rear grip and because of that I was losing 3 seconds or more a lap. In the dry there was only one line and from that point I was just in my element really! It was a lot of fun and reminded me of the karting days when I won the European Championships back in 1997. Into the last corner I was in front of Rubens and De La Rosa and I came down the inside of Heidfeld, turned into the corner and when I looked into my mirrors I could see the people behind me were going straight on and into each other. There are a few areas where we are weak which we need to work on, but we are still fired up for our home race in Japan next weekend.

Pedro de la Rosa - 5th

A difficult race for everybody. I made a wrong call after the first stint when I asked my engineer for a different set of intermediate Michelin tyres. In hindsight I should have stayed on the ones I had, like Kimi, as the track was drying, and I suffered from graining. This lost me a lot of time but apart from that our pace was good. I didn?t see much of what happened towards the end of the final lap. It had started raining slightly again, and we were all on dry weather tyres coming into what is a hard braking area. I was lucky to stay out of trouble and gained two places as a result. Our car seems to be on the pace. I'm sure we will win a race before the end of the year.

Rubens Barrichello - 6th

My race was OK, although my car was better on the wet tyres than the 'slicks'. It was a real shame that my last lap was ruined and there were some problems with the backmarkers so I lost time and two positions. Heidfeld was forced to make an avoiding manoeuvre in turn 2 but I was there on the track already and we touched, which damaged my front wing. With the resulting loss of front downforce, I lost more time over the remainder of that final lap. There was more confusion at the hairpin, and again Heidfeld and I came together, but I managed to recover to finish the race. 4th and 6th is another good team result. We are looking competitive for our home race next weekend when I hope we can secure another good team result in front of the Japanese crowd.

Nick Heidfeld - 7th

This was the most disappointing race of my career - not only in F1 but in my entire life. Right up to the end I was certain I would be fourth, but then a few backmarkers caused trouble. The first one was Albers, who stayed on the dry line and didn?t let me pass. I had to brake on the wet, almost spun, went on the grass and lost a few seconds. Then Super Aguri Honda driver, Sato, blocked me for almost a lap. He was fighting, although he was a lap behind, and using an advantage he had at this stage of the race due to his Bridgestone tyres. Because of this, the other two Hondas caught me and Albers and Sato were in the way. Barrichello crashed into the back of me and after this I had to be happy to make it to the finish. Before all this happened I was very quick today.

Mark Webber - 8th

I had a reasonable start to the race and I got into the groove okay and started to catch David (Coulthard). Once I had got past, I started to think about when I should change to dry tyres, but the track took a long, long time to dry, so we decided to leave the same tyres on in the first stop, which was the right thing to do. However, I did have a spin and it took an age to get the traction back on the synthetic grass. When we eventually did stop for dry tyres, I had another 360 spin but pushed hard to keep the gap from Coulthard behind me right to the end and make sure we finished in the points, which is great for the team.

Teams

Ferrari - Jean Todt

This was an incredibly intense race in which Michael?s genius, the team?s talent and the exceptional Bridgestone tyres all made this extraordinary result possible. It was a shame for Felipe who was staging an exceptional climb up the order from the penultimate row of the grid. A collision with Coulthard put him out of the race, which prevented him from picking up any points that would have been so important for the Constructors?championship. However, this can do nothing to detract from the joy of such a fantastic victory, obtained here inShanghai in the face of very stiff opposition. Now, both the titles will be decided in the space of two races. If we lookback to where we were after Montreal and to the fact that Michael has now caught up his closest rival and that we are only one point down in the Constructors? classification, it is further confirmation that one should never ever give up!

Renault - Pat Symonds

We are making no excuses today. This is a race we should have won, because the Renault and its Michelin tyres were dominant in all conditions. The fact we did not do so is intensely frustrating for the entire team. Fernando drove brilliantly from the start, and as we approached the first stop, told us on the radio that his front tyres were very badly worn. In consultation with Fernando and Michelin, we decided to change them ? and leave the rears on. It soon became clear that the track was drying quickly, and that the decision had been the wrong one. As a result, we took the risk of stopping very early to switch Fernando to dry tyres ? in the hope he would be able to gain time on the leaders. A delay in that pit-stop cost us more time: we know that the nut fell out of the wheel gun, but not yet why. Afterwards, Fernando once again drove fantastically to close in on Michael, but we simply ran out of laps. Giancarlo drove well at the critical points of his race, and was unlucky to lose the lead after his second stop ? when he was caught out like many others this afternoon by the slippery track while running a set of dry tyres that were not yet up to temperature. His podium finish, though, gave us the means to re-take the lead in the constructors' championship, and that fact shows that we have the performance to win both titles. The Michelin tyres were superior in the wet and the dry today, and it was easy to get the best out of the car in the changing conditions. We now go to the final races with renewed confidence. Today showed that the Renault is the fastest car out there. We fully intend to make use of it in the final two races of what is proving to be a thrilling title showdown.

Honda - Gil de Ferran

What an exciting race! Although we didn't get the podium we were hoping for, having Jenson and Rubens in the points again is a good result for us considering the unpredictable and difficult conditions. After a good start from both drivers, the first issue we encountered was when Jenson started suffering an imbalance which was costing him a lot of time towards the latter half of his first stint. As a result we brought him in earlier than scheduled to change the tyres. Rubens wasn't suffering with the same issues and we retained the same set of tyres on his first stop. The track was taking a long time to dry out and we just about hit the right time to change to dry tyres when both drivers had to come in for their second stop. From then on, Jenson and Rubens were not only fighting each other but they were also challenging Heidfeld ahead as well as being pursued by De La Rosa. This fight culminated in a very exciting last few laps when it started drizzling with rain and they all shuffled positions. In the end this was a good result for us and hopefully we can go one step further in front of our home crowd in Japan.

McLaren - Ron Dennis

Obviously an action packed Grand Prix. Kimi's strategy and car set-up were more than capable of winning the race. Unfortunately a failure of the engine throttle mechanism forced him to retire. Pedro struggled with front-end grip and had a spin following his pitstop. However he did well to finish fifth, and the entire team now looks forward to the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka next weekend.

BMW Sauber - Mario Theissen

This race result is extremely disappointing for us. Nick was clearly on his way to fourth. In the final stages of the race he was slowed by lapped competitors and lost a four second advantage to the cars behind. One of these guys even hit the rear of his car. These incidents are under investigation by the Stewards. Robert was pushed off in the first corner, dropped back to 21st and then caught up in a very impressive way to fifth. At his first stop he asked for dry tyres, we took the risk but it was a mistake. The necessary second tyre stop threw him to the back of the field. Technically both cars ran without problems.

Williams - Sam Michael

It was good to break the points drought today. Mark drove a great race in the wet and then in the drying conditions. Nico drove well, but he was stuck in traffic after the first stint and it was difficult for him to make any ground. The variable conditions aside, the car has definitely improved both in reliability and performance and we will go to the last two races with a target to score some more points.

Red Bull - Christian Horner

In very difficult conditions, we got the strategy right for David today. He was on the right tyres at the right time. He was very quick in the middle of the race on worn intermediates and we changed to slicks at the right time to get him out ahead of Massa and Webber. Unfortunately, Massa had a collision with David at the hairpin, which damaged his steering. As a result, David locked up a couple of laps later and lost a place to Mark. Robert was the victim of a first lap incident and had to change his front wing, but after that he drove very well. He was quick on worn intermediates, but lost some time, as did others, after changing to new intermediates at his first pit stop. Once on slicks, he set some very competitive race laps and, apart from the first lap incident, it was a good job by him today.

Toro Rosso - Gerhard Berger

Tenth place for Tonio is not exactly reason to have a party but it is an okay result and nothing to be disappointed about. Both guys made a good start in the wet, making up some places. Tonio had what we can call his "usual" spin, but otherwise everything went fine. His pit stop was well
timed and congratulations to the team for getting him at just the right time to switch to dry tyres. We were the first to catch that precise moment. As for Scott, he didn't get his tyres working and I'm not
sure why at this moment.

Super Aguri - Aguri Suzuki

I am very happy because we have once again achieved a two-car finish and Sakon has finished his first F1 race. Taku's lap time was very good and he drove a solid race in difficult conditions. The Chinese Grand Prix was very important to the team as it is just before we travel to Suzuka. Our car has shown reliability here, which is extremely important and we have had a very good race today so I am very happy indeed

Spyker MF1 Racing - Dominic Harlow

We didn't think the weather conditions were in our favour for this race - it felt more like Spa than Shanghai! The drivers struggled for grip under the wet conditions early on and although we made good decisions with regards to tyre changes we weren't able to capitalise on these. Tiago went to dry tyres at just the right time but unfortunately spun and for Christijan the problems continued throughout the race

Toyota - Tsutomu Tomita

Starting from where we were on the grid after our bad luck with the weather and the red flags yesterday, we knew it was going to be hard to make up ground. So we had to be aggressive to try and salvage something from the day. The first part of the race the pace of the car was okay, but we were blocked behind Coulthard who was apparently on a different strategy. From then on we had to take a risk to try and catch up otherwise we would have ended up far from the points. We were fuelled quite long for the first stint just to be able to wait for the track to dry out. When we were about to pit the conditions were still not perfect for dry tyres, but still we went for it because it was the only possibility to come away with a good result. It was a risk that did not pay off but we had to try it and I still think it was a good decision. Both drivers performed well but later in the race we had some issues on both cars, Jarno with a pneumatic consumption problem and Ralf with oil pressure so we had to retire both cars. I'm very sorry for the problems to the fans and to the drivers but we will now work hard for a result at Suzuka next week.

[Julian Mayo]

Very poor finish by NICK, he got himself into problems even if SAKON wasn`t helpfull. From 4th to 7th, pity for BMW.

JENSON is a potential WDC....

Well done MARK

PEDRO will hopefully be replaced by LEWIS after a boring performance.

FERNANDO must be worried about the reliability of his future car while KIMI already sees RED

Jenson will never be WDC, until, like Alonso, Webber, MS, Senna, GV, et al, he can cope with a car that is less than ordinary.
Kimi was seeing ice blue.....the colour of the gallon of Vodka he will drink tonight.
Alonso will go to bed and cuddle his WDC trophy, and pray it won't be his only "child".

[Julian Mayo]

Driver of the day? Sheesh
In the first 20+ plus laps there were 6 drivers out there who shone.
Alonso, Kimi, MS, Webber, Kubrica, Nick. Sorry Matty, but Speed is out of his depth, Ralf shouldn't be trusted with a shopping trolley, Trulli has been found wanting, Button cannot deal with a less than perfect car, The Barra can, Fisi should go fishing
In the last 20 laps of the race, Alonso was blindingly quick, but that engine has to do Japan
When is the FIA going to revoke Sato's licence. Talk about dejavu all over again
Driver of the day?
MS/MW. That is using the, ......."where is my team mate/positions gained" formula