Formula 1
Schumacher repels Alonso attack at the San Marino Grand Prix
By
Apr 23, 2006, 14:05

A BBC Online sports story at http://news.bbc.co.uk

Michael Schumacher held off a challenge from world champion Fernando Alonso to win the San Marino Grand Prix and re-ignite his championship challenge.

The Ferrari driver led comfortably from the start but ran into tyre problems after his first pit stop and had to fight hard to repel Alonso.

Renault failed to grab the lead with an early final stop and Schumacher managed to survive in front to the end.

McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya was third, with Honda's Jenson Button seventh.

The Englishman was again unable to live up to his qualifying speed.

Button held on to his second-place grid position until he made his first stop on lap 15, five laps before Schumacher and 10 before Alonso.

 That put Button on a three-stop strategy compared to the two-stop plan of his major rivals, and he was not a factor in the battle for the lead thereafter.

His hopes were further hit at his second stop, when he pulled away from the pits with the fuel hose still attached to his car.

The nozzle tore away from the hose, forcing the Englishman to stop in the pit lane in order to have it removed before he was able to continue.

The delay cost him a probable third place, leaving him down in fifth and disappointed for the fourth race in a row.

Up at the front, Schumacher appeared to be heading for a comfortable victory until his first stop, after which he suddenly ran into severe tyre problems.

The lack of grip cost him more than a second a lap and meant Alonso was right on his tail by lap 34.

The Spainard tried in vain to find a way past Schumacher for seven laps on a track where it is notoriously difficult to overtake before Renault decided to make a tactical gamble in an attempt to grab the lead.

They brought Alonso in early for his final stop on lap 41, but Ferrari responded immediately by bringing Schumacher in on the next lap, allowing the German to retain his lead.

Had Alonso stayed out and used the extra laps he appeared to have available, he may have been able to build up enough of an advantage to keep the lead.

Instead, he was hit by slow traffic after emerging from his final stop, which allowed Schumacher to rejoin the track still just in front.

Alonso challenged hard for the last 20 laps but was unable to get past before a mistake on lap 59, when he ran wide at the Villeneuve chicane, gave Schumacher a relatively comfortable final three laps.

The seven-time champion held on to win his first race since last June's US Grand Prix and re-ignite his attempt to win back the world title from his rival.


San Marino GP as it happened

Final positions after 62 laps:

1 M Schumacher (Ferrari)

2 F Alonso (Renault)

3 JP Montoya (McLaren)

4 F Massa (Ferrari)

5 K Raikkonen (McLaren)

6 M Webber (Williams)

7 J Button (Honda)

Lap 62: Schumacher eases over the finish line for his 85th race win, ending Renault's dominance this season.

Schumacher's first victory for nearly a year sees Alonso take second as his team are left to rue a tactical error with the Spaniard's second pitstop.

Lap 58: Alonso does well to stay off the gravel at the Villeneuve chicane but seems to be losing grip on the track with the rear tyres giving way a bit. His error helps Schumacher edge further ahead and strengthen his stranglehold on success at Imola.

Lap 54: Alonso continues to swarm behind Schumacher with just 0.3 seconds separating them, while McLaren driver Montoya is 14 seconds further back, followed by Ferrari's Massa, McLaren's Raikkonen, Williams' Webber and Honda's Button.

Lap 49: Fisichella comes in for another stop enabling Button to move back up to seventh. At the front, Alonso is running out of time to find a way past longtime leader Schumacher. David Coulthard makes it a double retirement for Red Bull.

Lap 47: Raikkonen comes in for his second pitstop and manages to return behind sixth-placed Fisichella.

Lap 44: Race leader Juan Pablo Montoya comes in for his second stop, while further back Button makes his third pit. Elsewhere, Christian Klien confirms his retirement was because of hydraulic problems in his Red Bull car.

Lap 42: In response to Alonso's pit on the previous lap, Schumacher goes in for his stop and manages to get out ahead of Montoya and Alonso in what could be a race-deciding move.

Lap 41: Alonso comes in for his second stop in a tactical move to improve his tyres and make the most of his speed advantage over Schumacher. The Spaniard returns to the track in front of third-placed Montoya.

Lap 37: Alonso makes an audacious bid to overtake Schumacher at the Tosa corner, but the former world champion is able to hold him off on the Imola track, which is notoriously difficult to overtake on.

Lap 35: Alonso is tucked in behind leader Schumacher and waiting for his chance to overtake the struggling German. The clock indicates just 0.346-second gap between the two drivers.

Lap 32: Button is down to eighth after Honda's pit disaster.

Lap 30: Button's podium hopes suffer a major blow as the Briton comes in his second stop. The lollipop man fails to pull away his signal post fast enough and breaks the fuel host on the Honda as Button attempts to set off. The Briton is forced to stop again as the pit crew frantically take out the fuel host.

Lap 28: There seems to be a problem with the Ferraris as Alonso and Button are reeling Schumacher in.

Lap 27: Button is playing himself back into contention as he looks in control in third.

Lap 25: Alonso finally goes in for a pitstop but manages to come out ahead of Massa and Button to go second behind Schumacher. Renault's tactic of holding on for longer seems to have paid off.

Lap 22: Schumacher is just behind Alonso, who still has to come into the pits. Meanwhile Raikkonen makes his stop, showing he is not carrying as much fuel as first thought.

Lap 20: Having amassed a 13-second lead, Schumacher heads into the pits leaving Alonso needing to make up considerable time to close the gap on the German.

Lap 19: Massa goes into the pits, having held up Alonso and cost the Spaniard over five seconds as Schumacher stretches his lead to over 12 seconds.

Lap 17: Schumacher has yet to pit and further back Ferrari team-mate Massa, in second place, slows down considerably to hold up main rival Alonso

Lap 15: Button is next in the pits as he looks to making the first of three stops.

Lap 14: With the laps building up, speculation grows over who will pit first. Schumacher is believed to be making a three-stopper, but it is his former Ferrari team-mate Barrichello who goes in first.

Lap 12: A real gap has formed between the top four cars and fifth-placed Barrichello. The Brazilian is 5.6 seconds behind Alonso.

Lap 10: Schumacher has yet completely dominate the race, with a lead of just 2.4 seconds over Jenson Button after 10 laps. But it becomes apparent that Ide has come back into the race after it was originally thought that he had retired.

Lap 7: Trulli retires from the race after his steering column fails. He joins Ide and Albers on the sidelines.

Lap 5: Jarno Trulli is having a long pitstop, which will leave him struggling to make up the time. Kim Raikkonen has been squeezed out from eighth to ninth.

Lap 4: Schumacher clocks the fastest lap so far with 1:26.456 but is yet to streak away from chasing pack.

Lap 3: Racing resumes and the safety car pulls over. Yuji Ide is forced to come into the pit lane, having incurred damage after tripping Albers in the crash on the third lap.

Lap 1: Christijan Albers crashes out at the Villeneuve chicane with a dramatic roll on the Tosa corner, but emerges from the car unharmed. Meanwhile, Rubens Barrichello has fallen back to fifth as Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso take advantage.

1300: The parade lap is under way. The track temperature is 40C and rising.

1250: The teams are making their final preparations and the drivers are putting on their helmets as just 10 minutes remain before the start of the race.

1230: The pit lane opens and the cars begin to leave to form up on the dummy grid.

1220: With 40 minutes to go, the weather at Imola is warm and sunny, with low humidity and little apparent prospect of rain.




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