What the numbers say

The 2006 Bahraini, Malaysian and Australian Grands Prix have been three exceptional races for the Renault F1 Team, which made it three wins out of three – just like twelve months ago. With a 42 point total in the constructors’ championship, the team has a 19 point advantage over its closest rival, McLaren. A quick look at the key numbers from these opening races throws up some interesting details…

In three races, the R26 driven by Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella have completed just over 300 race laps, which equates to 1650 km. Of these, 700 km have been spent in the lead. The R26 already has 4 podiums, 2 front row starts and 1 pole position (Fisico in Sepang) to its name. The team has seen just one retirement, for Fisico in Bahrain.

As for McLaren, they have completed 270 laps – or 1500 km in race conditions. of which 27 were spent in the lead. The duo of Raikkonen-Montoya has scored two podium finishes, and one fastest lap. Raikkonen retired on the opening lap in Malaysia, while Montoya failed to finish in Australia. The team has scored 23 constructors points.

Ferrari currently occupies third place in the standings, on 15 points. The Scuderia suffered reliability problems in Malaysia, when both Massa and Schumacher changed their engines. Two weeks later in Australia, both drivers suffered accidents and failed to score. The team has scored one podium so far (Schumacher in Bahrain) and a single pole. They have run just 250 laps in race conditions, which equates to 1400 km.

Honda is the fourth-placed team, 2 points behind Ferrari. Jenson Button took pole in Australia, but failed to finish after an engine problem. His team-mate Rubens Barrichello dropped ten places in Malaysia, and did not get through the first qualifying heat in Australia. Honda have completed 330 race laps – more than the three teams ahead of them, and equivalent to 1800 km. However, performance has not matched reliability, with a single podium finish and pole in three races.

As the circus returns to Europe, all the teams will introduce updates to their cars and engines, and the balance of power could shift rapidly. So which is the team to watch? Ferrari, whose car has shown itself to be quick but lacking reliability. If that has been solved, Imola could see them back at the front. The Scuderia has always been quick on home ground, as we saw last year when Michael Schumacher chased Fernando all the way to the finish…