2006 Chinese GP: Facts & Stats

Despite his imminent retirement, it was business as usual for Michael Schumacher as he took the 91st victory of his career in the Chinese Grand Prix.

On his final appearance in Shanghai, Schumacher was able to amend his record on this circuit, which was easily the worst of all the tracks he has raced on in F1. Prior to this year, he had started both previous Chinese races from the pitlane, never scored a point, and never ran higher than sixth at any time.

The Chinese GP is the 22nd different event that has been won by Schumacher at some time in his career, which leaves Turkey as the only active event in which has not taken victory. He also never won the South African, Mexican and Luxembourg GPs.

If Schumacher is to win this year's championship, it is unlikely to happen at Suzuka as it would take a win, with Alonso failing to score. So failing such a radical scenario, the title would go to a last-round decider, and if Schumacher should clinch at Interlagos, he would be the first man in nearly 50 years to win a title in his last ever race. Mike Hawthorn remains the last person to do such a thing, ironically for Ferrari, at the 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix.

The only man who can stop him now is Fernando Alonso, and the Spaniard was a frustrated second after taking Renault's 50th pole position as a constructor on Saturday. This was a race that slipped through his fingers, although not as dramatically as in Budapest, when he retired from the lead. At one point, Alonso was 25 seconds ahead of Schumacher, and his fastest lap was 0.967s quicker than anybody else.

It's the first time Alonso has set a fastest lap since Silverstone, following on from his first pole since Canada, suggesting that Renault have finally found a response for the recent Ferrari resurgence. The team hadn't been on the front row since that Montreal weekend, but Giancarlo Fisichella completed a team 1-2 in qualifying.

Fisichella then found his way on to the podium for only the third time in the 14 races since winning the Malaysian GP - despite scoring in 13 of them. All this meant that Renault reclaimed the lead in the constructors' championship, one race after losing it. The same scenario happened in 2005 when McLaren took the lead with three races left, but Renault ultimately came out on top.

Jenson Button survived an action-packed ending to emerge in fourth place, having begun the final lap in sixth. He became the first man this season to overtake for position on the last lap, although he was swiftly followed by teammate Rubens Barrichello and McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa at the expense of Nick Heidfeld, who was punted into a spin at the hairpin.

Hungary aside, Button hasn't grabbed many headlines lately, but you have to credit his consistency - in the last five rounds, only Schumacher (37 pts) has outscored the Englishman (29 pts). The six-race pointless streak in mid-season has scuppered his chances of claiming third in the world championship, something which he managed two years ago.

De la Rosa kept McLaren in the points after Kimi Raikkonen's retirement. The team haven't got both their cars to the finish of a race since the French GP back in July.

The aforementioned Heidfeld was set for another terrific result for BMW-Sauber, running in a genuine fourth place until his harsh treatment on the final lap. Both he and teammate Robert Kubica had a sniff at what would have been BMW's second consecutive podium, something the team (as Sauber too) have never achieved before. It's a sign of recent progress that the team will be frustrated with "only" two points.

While BMW can rue some late misfortune, Mark Webber and the Williams team had genuine cause to celebrate, after they took their first point since way back at the Nurburgring - the gap of 10 races being the longest since Frank Williams and Patrick Head first began working together in 1978. Even more surprisingly, both Williams cars finished the race, something that hasn't happened since the Spanish Grand Prix.

Mark Webber (Williams FW28 Cosworth) © LAT

It was a close-run thing for that final point, as Webber beat 2007 teammate David Coulthard to the line by just two tenths of a second. That may prove vital in the constructors' championship, as the two teams are vying for seventh place - a difference in prize money, if not pride.

As for retirements this week, Felipe Massa failed to score points for the first time in Shanghai, after a collision with David Coulthard broke his suspension. Massa has only led his teammate on the track for 110 of a possible 987 laps this year, the lowest total of any regular driver in the field, and lower than the amount of laps Robert Kubica has led Nick Heidfeld in his four races (111).

Toyota had a shockingly bad weekend, with neither Ralf Schumacher nor Jarno Trulli making it out of the first period of qualifying, and both retiring from the race. That snapped a surprising seven-race run of points finishes for the team, which was second only to Ferrari. Driving the Spyker-MF1, Tiago Monteiro's finishing record is now ancient history. China was his fifth retirement in the last seven races, and he was also disqualified at Hockenheim.

With two races to go, Schumacher and Alonso are neck-and-neck in the points, as the record for closest championship finish looks in jeopardy. Niki Lauda and Alain Prost could only be separated by half a point in the 1984 standings, and it is possible that results count back could decide the destiny of the 2006 crown.

The closest possible outcome would be if Alonso should take a win and a third place, with Schumacher finishing second in both remaining races. That would leave them both tied on points (124), wins (7), seconds (6), thirds (1) and fourths (0). However, Alonso has two fifths compared to Schumacher's one, which would give the Spaniard the title.