Schumacher withstands Alonso's pressure
The 2006 edition of the Imola GP resulted in an inverse race of what it was in 2005. Although Alonso was a bit down in the beginning of the race, he charged ahead and saw him in second place half way through the race. The Spaniard kept unbelievably close to the Ferrari until the very end of the race. JP Montoya finished the race in 3rd place while Massa and Raikkonen just missed uit on a podium spot.
As temperatures are higher than usual in Imola, at about 26°C, the San Marino GP starts with no incidents in the front of the field. At the back however, Albers is hit by Ide and flipped over several times before stopping upside down. The Dutchman is unharmed but the accident results in a one lap safety car. At the start, Barrichello fell back to 5th place. Webber on the other hand passed Raikkonen and moves up to 8th place. Villeneuve also gained a place as he took 11th from Fisichella.
Only one lap later Ide abandons the race as he rolls into the pitlane. Trulli is the second to give up with technical problems after having only driven 5 laps.
Quickly the top 4 drivers pulled away from the rest of the field. Barrichello seemed to have fallen asleep during the safety car and held up all the cars after him. Michael Schumacher put in one fastest lap after another while only Button, Massa and Alonso are able to follow reasonably. The difference between each of them is about 3s after 12 laps. Ide recommenced his race after 10 laps of rest in the pitlane.
In lap 14 and 15 both Honda cars already came in for their pitstop. While Button was fuelled with 23 laps of fuel, Barrichello was charged with 156 liters, equalling close to 43 laps, while at that time 47 remained in the race. Ralf Schumacher quickly followed suit when he entered one lap after Button. World champion Alonso kept on going and was happy to see Massa enter the pitlane in lap 19. Massa rejoins the track behind Jenson Button.
Only after 25 laps, Alonso entered the pitlane and managed to rejoin the track in second place, 6 seconds in front of Button and 12 seconds behind Schumacher. Montoya who also pitted late after a long first stint puts the pressure on Massa who is 4th with 33 laps to go. At the time that Fisico enters the pitlane at half way race, Alonso closes into Schumacher with more than one second a lap. 2 laps later Alonso is only 4 laps behind on Schumacher.
Meanwhile, the Honda chief mechanic lifts up the lollypop way too early during the stop of Button. Jenson departs while his crew is still refuelling. The power of the engine pulls off the refuelling hose while part of it is still attached to the car. Being notified of the problem, Jenson stops 10 meters further down the pitlane after which a crewmember removed the hose. Button rejoined the track in 7th place.
With 21 laps to go, both Alonso and Massa come in for their second stop. The first was already challenging Schumacher for several laps with only 0.2s in between them. Alonso didn't manage to pass Schumi during the stops as the German pitted just one lap later. Fernando didn't give up as he seemed glued to the leading Ferrari. Even after a little slip on oil lost by Coulthard, Alonso quickly came back on Michael.
4 laps from the end, Alonso's Renault started suffering from slipping away in about every corner and was not able to recover from a major slip in Tamburello. Alonso kept at 2s from the leader and finished second. After them, Montoya is just ahead of Massa and Raikonen. Moments later, Webber comes in in 6th place in front of Button and Fisico.
The complete results are as follows:
1 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:31:06.486
2 F. Alonso Renault + 2.096
3 JP. Montoya McLaren + 15.868
4 F. Massa Ferrari + 17.096
5 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 17.524
6 M. Webber Williams + 37.739
7 J. Button Honda + 39.635
8 G. Fisichella Renault + 40.200
9 R. Schumacher Toyota + 45.511
10 R. Barrichello Honda + 1:17.851
11 N. Rosberg Williams + 1:19.675
12 J. Villeneuve BMW + 1:22.370
13 N. Heidfeld BMW + 1 laps
14 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
15 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
16 T. Monteiro Midland F1 + 2 laps
Did not finish
17 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 15 laps
18 T. Sato Super Aguri + 18 laps
19 C. Klien Red Bull + 22 laps
20 Y. Ide Super Aguri + 39 laps
21 J. Trulli Toyota + 57 laps
22 C. Albers Midland F1 + 62 laps
