2006 Canadian GP: Facts & Stats

While Fernando Alonso's triumph in the Canadian Grand Prix hardly came as a surprise to most observers, it is perhaps fitting that the Spaniard should be the one to take Michelin's 100th Formula One victory.

It was at Silverstone in 1977 that Michelin made its first F1 appearance, supplying the same Renault factory team as on Sunday. Alonso's 14 victories have all come on the French rubber, and it looks like Michelin will emulate its 1983-84 seasons, when the company won back-to-back titles before pulling out of the sport.

Joining Renault on the podium were Ferrari (who scored Michelin's first Grand Prix win with Carlos Reutemann at Jacarepagua in 1978) and McLaren (who won Michelin's last titles before that first pull-out at the end of '84).

For the third time in nine races the podium, in order, was Alonso, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen, and Alonso has been on every podium since last year's Hungarian GP - he is now just four behind Michael Schumacher's record of 19 straight rostrum visits. This came after taking his 14th pole position for Renault in qualifying, tying Rene Arnoux's team record.

Raikkonen appeared set for second place until running wide at the hairpin with just two laps remaining, allowing Schumacher to pass. This is significant, as it means Schumacher has now finished 7 consecutive Canadian Grands Prix in the top 2.

Moreover, the German has now scored over 1,000 points in his Ferrari career, a staggering 23% of the team's entire total since their debut in 1950. Raikkonen has the "consolation" of keeping his streak of scoring points in all 6 of his Montreal races.

In fourth place came Giancarlo Fisichella, ensuring the top four in this race was exactly the same as at Silverstone. The Italian has only finished on the podium once in the last seven races, despite scoring in all of them.

The sole driver to one-stop on Sunday, Felipe Massa, had a so-so weekend, with 10th on the grid being his best ever Montreal start. Fifth place finish in the race, however, is lower than he managed for Sauber last season.

At long last, Jarno Trulli will come away from a race with something to cheer, having ended his 12-race streak without a point. Sixth place was his reward after qualifying fourth on the grid, his best start since Spa last season, while Nick Heidfeld ensured BMW-Sauber finished in the points for the fifth race in a row, just one shy of Sauber's best ever streak, which they've done on two occasions (Germany-Portugal 1995 and Hungary-Brazil 2004).

David Coulthard ended the day eighth, at the circuit where he scored his first career points twelve years ago. He took the point away from Jenson Button after a wheel-to-wheel battle, and Honda are now pointless in two consecutive races, after scoring in the previous 17.

Scott Speed had a pretty good afternoon, with a tenth place finish for the Toro Rosso team, and the V10-powered cars of Speed and teammate Tonio Liuzzi were third and fifth fastest down the straights on race day. The Ferraris were quickest in the traps for the sixth race running, showing that the new wing regulations made no tangible difference to their performance.

Midland drivers Tiago Monteiro and Christijan Albers collide in the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix © XPB/LAT

Tiago Monteiro finished after surviving the second collision with teammate Christijan Albers in three races - not a great birthday present for sporting director Johnny Herbert, who turned 42 on Sunday. Albers had further reason to be annoyed with his teammate after the race, as his Dutch side was eliminated from the football World Cup by Monteiro's Portugal.

Hometown favourite Jacques Villeneuve could be reasonably satisfied with his pace, despite failing to score points in Montreal for the ninth consecutive time when he smashed into the wall 12 laps from home, while Ralf Schumacher pitted six times through the afternoon, the last visit proving terminal for the Toyota driver.

The most wayward driver over the weekend was undoubtedly Nico Rosberg. After baulking teammate Mark Webber and Honda's Rubens Barrichello in qualifying, he later survived a brush with the wall on his way to sixth on the grid. After passing Schumacher at the start, his collision with Juan Pablo Montoya made it the third time this year that Rosberg has retired within the opening seven laps of a race.

A legacy of being held up by Rosberg at the crucial moment in Q1, Webber found himself 17th on the grid for the second straight race - although he was then promoted to 16th - having been on the front row at Monaco. He vaulted up to tenth by the second lap, but a lack of pace saw him slip to 12th by the chequered flag.

Not many people realized it, but Rubens Barrichello's retirement blew the Brazilian's shot at tying Michael Schumacher's all-time record of 24 consecutive race finishes. The Brazilian's run began at last year's Spanish GP, but his chance of a place in the record books was gone after just 11 laps on Sunday.

Schumacher's run began at the 2001 Hungarian GP (in which he won his fourth world title) and ran until the 2003 Malaysian GP. After spinning out from the 2003 Brazilian GP, he then finished every race before retiring from the 2004 Monaco GP, giving him a staggering run of 42 finishes in 43 Grands Prix.

At the back of the field, Franck Montagny has now started five Grands Prix for the Super Aguri team but has never been last on the grid. He would have finally lined up 22nd this weekend, only for Red Bull to change Coulthard's engine, relegating him behind the Frenchman.

Safety car periods are practically an annual tradition in Canada, and there were two more in this race, giving us 13 safety car periods in the last 10 Canadian Grands Prix, despite the 2000, 2003 and 2004 races being uninterrupted.