Alonso broke with tradition

The Spanish pilot won his first home Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso's home victory at Circuit de Catalunya Montmello strengthened the reigning champion's lead in the individual competition. Michael Schumacher, who finished second, is 15 points behind the Spanish driver. Giancarlo Fisichella's third place brought Renault an additional six points in the team championship and allowed the French stable to create a good lead in the Constructors' Championship.

The Spaniards had been waiting for this event for a long time. Since 1951, 12 Spaniards have competed in Formula 1, and until yesterday not one of them could win the Spanish Grand Prix. Moreover, even in qualifying they were never able to please their fans. Fernando Alonso decided to put an end to both sad traditions at once. Already on Saturday, the stands were sold out, so the driver had to cope not only with pressure from his rivals, but also with the pressure of spectators who only expected him to win. But Nando had learned to cope well with both, and the sight of a crowded circuit gave him extra motivation. “After the winter tests, when you do laps in front of empty stands, you come to the Grand Prix, find yourself on a crowded circuit and experience completely different sensations,” Alonso shared his feelings at a press conference. “I don’t think that 66 laps of tomorrow’s race will be enough to fully enjoy this track.”

Michael Schumacher was ready to spoil the Spaniard's pleasure from communicating with the fans. He failed to do this in qualifying, although during morning practice the Ferrari’s speed noticeably frightened the Renault headquarters. On the starting line, Schumi was 6 km/h faster than Alonso, and Felipe Massa was 5 km/h faster than Michael. The team's technical director, Pat Symonds, expressed general concern about the speed of the scarlet cars on worn tyres: “The Bridgestone rubber seems to be very effective over the race distance, if the Ferrari is as fast at the moment when the tires are worn out, then we may have problems problems." But the Renault drivers won the qualifying races. The relative failure in the Scuderia was explained by the choice of strategy for the race. “We knew that we would be forced to sacrifice qualifying, but we have a very good pace in the race, and that’s what we focused on,” Schumacher reassured the fans. “We knew about it from the very beginning of the weekend, so it wasn’t a surprise.”

Be that as it may, starting from the first line in Barcelona is a 99 percent guaranteed victory. In 15 years, only once has a Spanish race been won by a driver not from the front row - in 1996, Michael Schumacher broke through to victory from third place. This was his first victory after joining Ferrari. Ten years later he had to accomplish a similar feat.

The start was relatively calm, except for the breakthrough of Kimi Raikkonen: the Finn rose from ninth place to fifth. Strict command chain of command was observed in all stables except Toyota. Jarno Trulli was ahead of Ralf Schumacher, which he did not like very much. Several times the German tried to regain the lost position, but the Italian stopped his partner’s actions. It all ended on the 16th lap after another attack from Ralph: the nose cone of his Toyota hit the wheel of his partner’s car and cracked. The German drove into the pits. After repairs, he returned to the track, but the Toyota apparently received too much damage, and halfway through the race the driver decided to stop fighting.

The expected surprise from Ferrari became less expected after Alonso's first pit stop. By this point, the Spaniard had already created a comfortable reserve from Schumacher. The Scuderia decided to postpone refueling until as late as possible, but this tactic only worked for one Renault driver: Michael returned to the track right in front of Fisichella. But that’s all - probably no one could catch up with Alonso, inspired by the support of the stands, on this day. At the finish he gave Schumacher a lead of 19 seconds. No one has won with such a lead this season.

Formula 1 World Auto Racing Championship. 6th stage. Spanish Grand Prix. 1. Alonso (Renault) - 1 hour 26 minutes. 22 sec. 2. M. Schumacher (Ferrari) - lag 19 seconds. 3. Fisichella (Renault) - 24. 4. Massa (Ferrari) - 30. 5. Raikkonen (McLaren) - 57. 6. Button (Honda) - 58. 7. Barrichello (Honda) - 1st lap. 8. Heidfeld (“Sauber”) - 1 lap. Pilots' standings. Alonso - 64 points, M. Schumacher - 39, Raikkonen - 27, Fisichella - 24, Massa - 20. Constructors' Championship . Renault - 78, Ferrari - 59, McLaren - 42, Honda - 24, Sauber - 12.

Dmitry SITNIK