04/25/24
April 23, 2006
Schuey edges Alonso to win at Imola: In front of the Italian Tifosi, Michael Schumacher beats world champion Fernando Alonso to win his first grand prix in nearly one year
By Mark Gero IMOLA, Italy- As humiliating as it was, Michael Schumacher was beaten on this track just one year ago by then-challenger Fernando Alonso. It was the beginning of the domination by the Spanish driver which led to his first world championship. However, in the back of the German's mind, it would be great if he could avenge the loss at the team's home Formula One track. Vengeance came Sunday, as the seven-time world champion got his wish by beating the Spaniard by two seconds to win his seventh Grand Prix of San Marino at Imola. For Schumacher, it was his first victory since the ill-fated race at Indianapolis nearly one year ago. The German wasted no time in taking the lead right at the start of the race after an accident involving Midland driver Christian Albers put out the only safety car period of the race, which the race resumed only two laps later. Despite the serious accident of Albers as the Dutchman's car went off the track end over end, Albers emerged unhurt. By lap 16, Schumacher held a huge 11.2 second lead ahead of his main rivals. But as the Ferrari number one made his first of two pit stops on lap 18, Alonso took over the lead and tried to make up some additional time as he still had plenty of fuel left after beginning the race with a full tank. Jenson Button, who put his Honda into second on the grid, ended his chances in the race when his fuel hose was broken following a mistake by his lollypop pit crew worker to go, when the fuel hose was still in the car. The pit crew worker dropped the sign on Button as the hose broke. Luckily, no fuel was spilled. Alonso finally pitted on lap 28 as Schumacher took over the lead. But the lead was not very far away for Schumacher to keep clear as Alonso managed to finally catch up with the German and get right on Schumacher's tail. Both drivers battled each other before the monotony was broken as Alonso finally came in for his final pit stop with 21 laps left in the race. Schumacher realized he too, had to fuel one more time, and came out just in front of Alonso with 20 laps left, as the battle continued one more time. However, Schumacher finally won the duel when at the Villeneuve chicane; Alonso over steered his Renault and shot wide. It was good enough to give the Ferrari number one a little more breathing space which with two seconds was enough to get his first win of the season in front of the Italian tifosi. Juan Pablo Montoya managed to get his McLaren to finish third, followed by another Ferrari, driven at the hands of Felipe Massa. Kimi Raikkonen put another McLaren in the points by finishing in fifth place, while Mark Webber led a three way fight with his Williams for sixth, followed by Button and the second Renault driven by Giancarlo Fisichella. “We worked really hard here and made some mistakes in the last race obviously, and to come here and perform the way we had to perform, we struggled, but we were very competitive.” stated Schumacher. Alonso had an idea what went wrong as well. "We tried to make an earlier stop, but it did not work. It would have been better for me to come into the pits like we normally do. But coming in second with eight points was good enough to gain on Raikkonen and Fisichella in the points." Read more coverage of the race on Formula1.Com.
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