Australian Grand Prix posts another $40 million loss in 2009. The 2008 Grand Prix also suffered a record $40 million loss, funded by the Victorian Government.
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2006 F1 season finale
The 2006 F1 season is over and Alonso defended his World Champion title at Sao Paulo, Brazil by finishing the Brazilian GrandPrix in second. Felipe Massa drove a faultless drive from pole position to take the chequered flag at his home GrandPrix. Ayrton Senna was the last countryman to have won at Interlagos, where Massa grew up. But the day belongs to the F1 legend, Michael Schumacher who demonstrated why he is still the best out there in his final Formula one race. Schumacher, the only man who can deprive Alonso started 10th on the grid after technical problems prevented him from setting a time in important final qualifying. To win an eighth World title, he must win the race, with Alonso failing to score. Even though its tough ask from 10th on the grid, no one dared to rule out the possibility as Ferrari dominated all weekend. (more…)
Schumi single-handedly delivers for Ferrari at Monza
Michael schumacher wins the Italian Grandprix at Monza, the Temple of Speed. With Alonso retiring from the race, Schumacher is now just 2 points behind in Drivers Championship, while Ferrari move ahead of Renault in the Constructor’s championship. Ferrari’s future driver Kimi Raikkonen came home second after starting from Pole.
Schumacher almost lost his 2nd place in to the first corner but regained it immediately. Kubica moves to 4th but soon Massa passes him and Alonso in 7th tries to cut the chicane to pass Heidfeld for P6, but was lucky to escape with it. Till lap 16 the order at the top remained same as Raikkonen pits from the lead and the Schumachers stop on lap 17 has got him just ahead of Raikkonen. This was the defining moment and Schumi held on to the lead to win from there. But the main question is where is Alonso and how many points can Schumi take away from him.
On lap 20 Alonso and massa pits from 4th and 6th place with couple of drivers on single stop before them on the track. Nothing dramatic happened yet and it continued untill the second round of pitstop as usual. On lap 39 Raikkonen pits from P2 and joins infront of Kubica and Massa comfortably. A lap later Schumacher pits from the leap for a 7 second quick stop and rejoins comfortably ahead of Raikkonen in 1st place. On lap 40 Massa pits from 5th place and Alonso gets clean air to have a look at Kubica. On lap 42 Kubica and Alonso pits together and they emerge side by side down the pit lane with Alonso holding the lead. Most importantly they both came out infront of Massa which means Alonso has brilliantly managed to get himself into a podium position after his P10 grid slot.
At this point it looked like Schumi gonna cut the lead by just 4 points. But the most defining moment of the race and Word Championship happened on lap 45 when Alonso is out of the race with a mechanical failure. This made Massa who is behind him ran over the chicane amid the smoke from Alonso’s car. If the order stays at it is, Michael Schumacher will close to within 2 points of Alonso in the fight for the Driver’s Championship. Massa pits for tyres as a result and dropped back to 9th place and out of points.
It means Michael schumacher is alone to deliver for ferrari and he starts his final lap with Tifosi erupting all over in celebration already. And the man at the center of attraction all weekend crosses the line to take his 90th Grandprix win. With World Champion and Championship leader Alonso’s car in air held to the crane, Schumacher completes the lap of Honor.
Check the Ferrari’s official website frontpage from before the race, which shows how confident they are about today and the master of speed, Schumacher delivers it perfectly at the temple of Speed, Monza.
Note: The moment Schumacher won the race Ferrari’s official website went down, may be due to heavy traffic with people checking for Ferrari’s and Schumacher’s future decisions.
Ferrari on roll at Istanbul as Massa claims his maiden pole
Massa has done it, the first pole position of his Formula One carrer at Turkish GrandPrix. Michael Schumacher dominated saturday’s third and final practice session of the Turkish Grand Prix weekend, but his team mate Massa was the man who beat him in the Qualifying. It looked all day that no one can stop Schumacher and Ferrari this weekend, but Schumacher who was up all the time in Qualifying went mysteriously slow in his final lap of the session to claim 2nd behind his teammate. With Alonso and Fisichella behind Ferrari in the second row, its looks all good for Ferrari and schumacher. Mclaren who looked strong in the previous 3 races had a difficult session with Raikkonen 8th and his team mate in 12th. Ferrari lock out the front row and with their title rivals Renault behind them, it looks like the Race is going to be a fascinating one. As usual, I will try to review the complete Race tommorow.
Eighth win for Schumacher in French GP
Michael schumacher won the French Grandprix for the 8th time with a dominating and record breaking performance at Magny cours. With massa taking the third place on the podium, this should silence everyone who thought that Ferrari’s Indy’s pace was because of Michelin’s cautious approach. Schumacher set another new standard as he became the first driver in the history of the sport to win eight grands prix at a single venue. Schumi even managed to have an extra pitstop compared to Alonso withought loosing the lead. Schumacher was never really challenged as he controlled the pace in his Bridgestone shod Ferrari and took the chequered flag with a comfortable gap over Fernando Alonso with Felipe Massa coming home third. (more…)
Alonso does it again in dramatic Canadian Grandprix.
Alonso takes his maiden Canadian GrandPrix win, with seven time canadian GrandPrix winner, Michael Schumacher taking second and Raikkonen in third. Only 14 out of 22 drivers crossed the line as everyone suffered or struggled for rear grip at the hairpin which is just covered in marbles at the end. With just 10 laps to go, Villeneuve went hard into the wall at turn 1 and the safety car was deployed, which enabled Schumi to come close to Raikkonen and eventually pass him at the hairpin to claim the extra 2 points. Raikkonen was really unlucky with heldups at both the pitstops and finally loosing 2nd place.
On the whole its a boring first half and the second half was little bit exciting with some overtakings. Ferrari and Schumacher have lot of work to do to catch up Renault in the next weekend’s United States GrandPrix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (more…)
Brilliant Schumi and Ferrari Victorious at Imola
Michael Schumacher won the San Marino Grand Prix after withstanding the pressure from Championship leader Fernando Alonso in the second half of the race. While Schumacher took the chequered flag, it really was a case of a race lost for Renault as much as a race won for Ferrari. The result was Schumacher’s 85th Grand Prix success, the first competitive win since Suzuka 2004. Michael Schumacher ended the Renault’s winning streak, holding off the fast charging Renault of Fernando Alonso for almost final 26 laps. (more…)
Drama filled 2006 Australian Grandprix
Aborted start! 2 Formation laps! 4 Safety car sessions!. Incident, accident and drama and though it all came Fernando Alonso walked away with his 1st Australian Grand Prix and his second of the season to strengthen his early stranglehold on a second straight drivers’ title. The only thing missing is rain on a perfect day of Formula1.
It was not such a good day for Giancarlo Fisichella and Juan Pablo Montoya in the second Renault and McLaren as both had their own drama even before the race had got underway. Montoya, who qualified in fifth position, was bust warming up his brakes and tyres as he exited the final turn to approach the starting grid. The Colombian lost control of his McLaren and it seemed he was in for a long day from the back of the pack. Fortunately for him Giancarlo Fisichella inexplicably stalled his Renault on the front row of the grid. This forced another formation lap and Montoya was able to regain his position and Fisichella started the race from the pit lane. (more…)
Button stuns with Australian pole
Honda’s Jenson Button beats both Renaults to pole position in Melbourne. Second fastest in qualifying this afternoon was Giancarlo Fisichella followed by teammate and reigning world champion Fernando Alonso. Australia’s Mark Webber will start in seventh place after a personal best lap of Albert Park in his Williams. Most of the session had been about the Renaults and McLarens until Button put that stonking lap time in. Montoya looked most likely to take pole position and set the mark for much of the 20-minute final session. But a spin on one hot lap and then a curious drop in the final sector of what would have been Montoya’s quickest tour rendered him fifth overall.
Ferrari’s World Champion Michael Schumacher failed to make the top 10 for the final shootout as rain ruined Michael Schumacher’s flying lap in the final minutes of the second knock-out session. His team-mate Felipe Massa caused the second red flag of the day when he crashed out at Turn 9. The Ferrari driver lost out on the entry to the chicane and skated across the gravel before smaking the wall and ripping off the right rear corner.
Rubens Barrichello has been knocked out of Australian Grand Prix qualifying after the first 15-minute segment. The Brazilian Honda driver, who has once again been struggling with the handling of his car, left his fast lap very late in the session and was then baulked half way through it by Yuji Ide. Check back for more details.
Fisichela and Renault all the way
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella won the Malaysian Grand Prix from pole, making this a 1-2 for Renault. World Champion Fernando Alonso finished seven seconds behind, while British driver Jenson Button came home in third place in his Honda some 12 seconds behind the leader.
Juan Pablo Montoya finished in fourth place in his McLaren-Mercedes, followed by Ferrari team mates Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher in fifth and sixth.
Jacques Villeneuve finished in seventh place, with Ralf Schumacher in the Toyota finishing in the final points paying position.