Schumacher pole triggers uproar

Original report here: www.rediff.com

Ferrari's Michael Schumacher denied dirty tricks on Saturday after securing a Monaco Grand Prix pole that prompted rivals to question his sportsmanship.

The seven times champion stalled his car at the penultimate corner in the dying seconds of qualifying, preventing Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso and others from going faster.

Race stewards immediately called Schumacher in to explain his driving. A Renault spokesman said the team had not made a formal protest because an investigation was already in process.

Alonso, who leads Schumacher in the title standings by 15 points, was forced to slow on his final lap, losing at least three tenths of a second that would have put him on pole.

"I have my opinion and I won't tell it here," said the 24-year-old Spaniard when asked by reporters whether he considered it a sporting incident.

His team boss Flavio Briatore, who steered Schumacher to his first two titles at Benetton, had no such inhibitions.

"I think he is taking everyone for a ride," he told reporters. "Someone who was seven times a world champion wants us to believe that he didn't do it on purpose, it's fairyland.

"Whatever you do in certain moments, your enemies believe one thing and the people who support you believe another," he added. "Some people may not believe it, but unfortunately that's the world we live in.

"I don't care what other teams do. I know Flavio well enough," added Schumacher, who drove for the Italian when he was at Benetton.

The pole, if upheld, will be Schumacher's 67th of his career and third of the season.

Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella starts on the third row with McLaren's Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, the 2003 winner.

Two times winner David Coulthard qualified a strong ninth for Red Bull but fellow-Briton Jenson Button was a disappointing 14th for Honda.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa will start at the back of the grid after crashing in the first part of qualifying.

The Brazilian speared left into the tyre barrier on the blind crest of Casino Square, briefly stopping the session while the car was removed from the track.

2006 Drivers Championship

 
2006 Drivers Championship
 


































































































































   
     
       
Pos
       
Driver
       
Nationality
       
Team
       
Points
     
        
       
1
       
Fernando Alonso
       
Spanish
       
Renault
       
54
     
      
       
2
       
Michael Schumacher
       
German
       
Ferrari
       
39
     
      
       
3
       
Kimi Räikkönen
       
Finnish
       
McLaren-Mercedes
       
27
     
       
       
4
       
Giancarlo Fisichella
       
Italian
       
Renault
       
24
     
      
       
5
       
Felipe Massa
       
Brazilian
       
Ferrari
       
20
     
     
       
6
       
Jenson Button
       
British
       
Honda
       
16
     
     
       
7
       
Juan Pablo Montoya
       
Colombian
       
McLaren-Mercedes
       
15
     
      
       
8
       
Rubens Barrichello
       
Brazilian
       
Honda
       
8
     
      
       
9
       
Ralf Schumacher
       
German
       
Toyota
       
7
     
       
       
10
       
Nick Heidfeld
       
German
       
Sauber-BMW
       
6
     
      
       
10=
       
Mark Webber
       
Australian
       
Williams-Cosworth
       
6
     
       
       
10=
       
Jacques Villeneuve
       
Canadian
       
Sauber-BMW
       
6
     
       
       
13
       
Nico Rosberg
       
German
       
Williams-Cosworth
       
4
     
       
       
14
       
David Coulthard
       
British
       
RBR-Ferrari
       
1
     
       
       
14=
       
Christian Klien
       
Austrian
       
RBR-Ferrari
     
   
 

2006 Constructors Championship Table

Pos		Constructor	Points
1		Renault	78
2		Ferrari	59
3		McLaren-Mercedes	42
4		Honda	24
5		Sauber-BMW	12
6		Williams-Cosworth	10
7		Toyota	7
8		RBR-Ferrari	2

Alonso makes fine start in Spain

Thanks: www.rediff.com

Original Report here

Alan Baldwin | May 12, 2006 21:51 IST

Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso made a great start to his home Spanish Grand Prix on Friday despite picking up a speeding fine.

The 24-year-old began the opening day of free practice with a $2,000 fine for speeding in the pit lane and closed it as the quickest race driver in the second session.

With fans chanting his name and banners draping the grandstands, Alonso gave the crowd only a brief glimpse of his car in the morning with just two timed installation laps.

The afternoon was a more red-blooded session, with the drivers who had been saving their engines venturing out on to the track.

Even then the top two times were set by the unsung test drivers, with Briton Anthony Davidson quickest for Honda in one minute 16.533 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Dutch reserve Robert Doornbos.

Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa and seven times champion Michael Schumacher were fastest in the morning when only three of the drivers who will race on Sunday set times.

Massa, fresh from the first podium finish of his career after taking third place at the Nuerburgring last weekend, claimed the quickest lap of the day in 1:15.796.

Schumacher, winner of the last two races and 13 points adrift of Alonso in the championship after five rounds, clocked 1:16.099.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, last year's winner in Barcelona, did not leave the garage in the first session and was only 15th in the second.

Alonso, winner twice this season and runner-up in the other three races, will start Sunday's grand prix with the same engine he used at the Nuerburgring.

Schumacher and Massa have fresh engines.

Schumacher king of the Ring again

Thanks: www.rediff.com
Original Report here

Ferrari's Michael Schumacher won his home European Grand Prix on Sunday to put himself firmly back on the title trail.

Roared on by an ecstatic crowd of red-shirted German supporters, the seven times champion saw off Renault's Fernando Alonso to celebrate a record 86th victory of his career and second in a row.

Alonso, the 24-year-old champion, started on pole position for the first time this year and finished second for his 11th successive podium placing but with his overall lead over Schumacher cut to 13 points after five races.

Brazilian Felipe Massa, Schumacher's team mate, stepped up to the podium for the first time in his 58-race career with third place.

Alonso has 44 points to Schumacher's 31. McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen has 23. Renault remain leaders in the constructors' championship with 62 points but Ferrari leapfrogged McLaren into second place with 46.

Those who had suggested that the 37-year-old German's victory at Imola two weeks ago was merely a Ferrari flash in the pan at their home circuit had to eat their words in the Nuerburgring sunshine.

Schumacher, who finished 3.7 seconds clear of Alonso, took the lead definitively after the second round of pitstops when he came in three laps after the Spaniard and came back out still ahead of him.

"If you finish first, what can you say?," declared Schumacher. "That's the way it makes everyone happy who wants to see us win...it was a great race, great strategy, great performance all the way through."

MCLAREN STRUGGLE

Alonso, who can now turn his thoughts to his home Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona next weekend, said second was good enough in the circumstances.

"Second place I think is a fantastic result for us here. I think we were a little bit down compared to Ferrari's performance this weekend," he said.

"Also I think tyres were not working perfectly okay this weekend. So even with everything, to get the eight points means we have everything okay and we should win again."

McLaren, the team Alonso had flagged as his main rivals and that he is joining next season, were never truly in the reckoning in their 600th grand prix start despite Raikkonen overcoming his German jinx to secure a close fourth place in Massa's slipstream.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was fifth for Honda, ahead of Alonso's Italian team mate Giancarlo Fisichella and German rookie Nico Rosberg, again impressive in his Williams after starting from the back of the grid.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve was eighth for BMW Sauber.

Fisichella, furious after being impeded by Villeneuve in Saturday's qualifying, spent most of the afternoon behind the former champion before getting past at the second round of pitstops.

Briton Jenson Button suffered his first retirement of the season, trudging back to the pits after his engine gave up the fight on lap 29.

"I think it was the engine. The gear was tightening up when I crossed the line and there was a lot of smoke out of the rear of the car," he said.

Compatriot David Coulthard had an even shorter race, the Red Bull driver caught in a collision with Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi on the first lap.

Franck Montagny became the first French driver to start a race since Olivier Panis retired in 2004 but his debut for struggling Super Aguri lasted barely half distance.

There was also disappointment for Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli, finishing ninth in his Cologne-based team's home race and still without a point this year.

Brawn adamant Ferrari wing is legal

Ferrari's Ross Brawn has dared his rivals to lodge a formal protest against the allegedly illegal rear wing on the 248 F1.

With FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting currently in the possession of a new letter from Honda counterpart Geoff Willis, Technical Director Brawn challenged his accusers to go beyond finger-pointing.

“If someone (officially) protests against us,” the Briton told Auto Motor Und Sport, “then we would immediately protest against them.”

Brawn scoffed at Willis' claim that he has 'video evidence' of Ferrari's rear wing, which allegedly still flexes at high speed. Ferrari modified the design of its front wing ahead of the Melbourne race, following similar complaints.

Brawn insisted: “We have videos of every car in the field, showing that aerodynamic devices bend.

” “If all you look at are videos,” Brawn continued, “then every car out there is illegal.”
But Honda principal Nick Fry backed-up Willis' informal letter to Whiting as a means simply to 'register our concerns' about the Ferrari.

He told News Of The World: “There is something Geoff has been aware of and it is in the hands of Charlie now.” But the FIA is siding with Ferrari. A spokesman for the governing body explained that the 248 F1 is 'completely within the regulations'.

E.A.Source GMM