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Alonso wins, Schumacher stars

When Rubens Barrichello’s F2005 drew into the pit garage to retire on lap 18 it looked like being another weekend of disappointment for the Ferrari team. It turned out to be anything but.

Michael Schumacher, who during the early stages of the race seemed to be some way off the pace, put in an amazing performance to take his car from a P13 grid spot to a second-place finish, passing the chequered flag just 0.2 seconds behind Championship leader Fernando Alonso. And it was only a very determined drive from the Spaniard which managed to keep the visibly faster Schumacher at bay during the closing stages of the race.

The F2005’s pace will have struck fear into the rest of the paddock, and few can doubt that if Schumacher had started in the third-place grid slot he occupied after the first qualifying session then he would have been almost certain to win the race. After his first pit-stop Schumacher was often running over two seconds a lap quicker than any of his rivals. He stayed out longer than his rivals during the first series of pit-stops, going from 10th to third. He then managed to pass Jenson Button on the track for second place with a brilliant passing move as the pair tried to negotiate their way past a couple of backmarkers.

McLaren seem to have inherited some of Ferrari’s bad luck – the unfortunate Kimi Raikkonen retiring from the lead after just nine laps after a mechanical failure – although team mate Alex Wurz (substitute for Juan Pablo Montoya) managed to bring his MP4-20 home in fourth place in what was his first race drive since 2000. Jenson Button’s gritty drive to third place marks a welcome return to form for the BAR team, especially as Takuma Sato managed a strong fifth place as well.

Jacques Villeneuve also had a good race, finishing in sixth place in his Sauber – his first Championship points of the season, and possibly enough to silence the critics who have been questioning his place in the Swiss team. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher took the final championship points in seventh and eighth places respectively.

It was another disappointing outing for the Williams team, Webber’s fourth place on the grid having become 10th by the end of the race – with team mate Nick Heidfeld finishing one place above him in ninth. And new boy Vitantonio Liuzzi will be relatively happy by his performance in his first race for the Red Bull team, ending up in 11th, two places ahead of more experienced team mate David Coulthard.