Alonso Conquers Canada

After what has been a very grueling and a dramatic Canadian GP, Fernando Alonso and the Mild Seven Renault Formula One Team took another victory to extend their dominance in the 2006 season of Formula One. Alonso finished ahead of Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen after 70 laps of the Canadian GP. This is the Spaniard’s sixth victory this season and his first podium finish at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, marking his 15th podium finish in a row.

What was supposedly an easy win for Alonso turned into a tight battle towards the final ten laps of the race, where Michael Schumacher was given an opportunity to revive what was seemingly a lost race for him and Ferrari. At the start of the order, Alonso had a perfect escape from pole position, but his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella jumped the start by a fraction of a second and going to a halt again, enabling Kimi Raikkonen to take his second place and attempt an attack on Alonso. Fisichella was later given a drive-through penalty for the incident. Raikkonen was vigorous in his attacks against the Spaniard, but Alonso was able to maintain a controlled drive and keep the Finn at his tail.

"Kimi was very, very quick at that point," Alonso explained, "One lap he was faster, then I was, and I don’t know why because I was really pushing hard. He even tried to overtake after I made a mistake in turn 10 and then he was only a second away through the whole first stint."

On the second lap, Nico Rosberg of Team Williams smashed his car into the wall after he came into contact with a furious Juan Pablo Montoya of McLaren, prompting the safety car to be deployed. The race resumed on Lap 4, with Montoya immediately taking Coulthard’s 17th place as he desperately tried to regain the positions lost through his McLaren’s nose change. But his attacks wouldn’t last long as his race would come to an end after he clobbered the wall at the final chicane.

It remained to be an intense battle between Fernando Alonso and Raikkonen, the two of them creating a huge gap from third placer Jarno Trulli who was being pursued by a speedy Michael Schumacher. Alonso was able to create a gap between him and the McLaren after the first round of pit stops due to a difficulty in changing the McLaren’s right rear tire, with the Finn losing seven seconds at the pit. Schumacher was able to overtake Trulli, but he was already way behind the front two runners. Alonso maintained his lead unchallenged from then on.

"But what was difficult was not making any mistakes. The track conditions were really hard today, and you couldn’t afford to go even a centimeter off line," Alonso said.

More drama was to come Raikkonen’s way at the second round of pit stops. A clutch problem made his engine stall as he was exiting the pit lane. Alonso was already a far 20 seconds ahead of the Finn at that point, with Schumacher 18 seconds behind. It seemed as if it was going to be a cruise for Alonso to the finish line but a late accident involving the BMW Sauber of Jacques Villenueve smashing into the wall nullified the Spaniard’s lead. The safety car was deployed for the second time, with ten laps remaining in the race and the gap that Alonso created was lost — the final leg of the Canadian GP was set to be a dramatic battle to the finish line.

There were lapped cars in between Alonso and Raikkonen at this point in the race. Alonso was able to re-start masterfully, creating a small gap between him and the rest of the pack when the race resumed. Raikkonen was not allowed to overtake the back-markers until they have crossed the green flag. Raikkonen had a renewed determination to attack Alonso at the closing stages. But he pushed a bit too hard at the penultimate lap, losing his second place to Michael Schumacher who was patiently sitting at third until the crucial error by the Finn. But it was clear that the day belonged to the Spaniard. Alonso once again dominated the field.

"The race was quite difficult," Alonso admitted. "Offline there was a lot of dirt from the tires, and you couldn’t make any mistakes. If you got a little bit offline you could lose one or two seconds. It was not easy to concentrate while I was leading the race with our nice gap, but it’s great to win again. It’s been perfect all weekend, and without the safety cars the gap was much bigger."

Fisichella was able to finish a strong fourth after a determined drive, despite the penalty he had early in the race. Felipe Massa crossed the line fifth for Ferrari. Jarno Trulli came home sixth, with Nick Heidfeld seventh and David Coulthard a brilliant eighth after passing Jenson Button in the dying laps.

"These last races haven’t been easy for us, but we are developing the car and the results keep on coming," Alonso explained, "We had a new package for Canada that worked really well, and we have more coming. That is the best defense we can do, to keep attacking and winning races."

The Mild Seven Renault Formula One Team has further extended the lead for the constructor’s championship with 121 points, ahead of Ferrari’s 87 and McLaren’s 65. Fernando Alonso continues to dominate the driver’s championship with 84 points, ahead of Schumacher’s 59. Formula One moves to the United States on July 2 for the Indianapolis Grand Prix, the 10th GP for the 2006 season.