2006 United States GP: Facts & Stats

No matter what the form book suggests from year to year, it seems nobody can touch Ferrari at the United States Grand Prix.

For the fifth time in seven US GPs at Indy, the Scuderia came home 1-2, and Michael Schumacher became the first man in history to win at this racetrack five times, breaking a tie with Rick Mears, AJ Foyt, Al Unser Sr and Jeff Gordon.

That doesn't even tell the whole story - but for his bungled photo finish in 2002 (when he accidentally gifted the race to Rubens Barrichello), it could be his sixth win. Even so, it's still his fourth consecutive win on American soil, and he also broke the tie for most consecutive races led at Indy. Gordon led six consecutive Brickyard 400s, while Mears led the Indy 500 for six years in a row, but by keeping up his run of leading every F1 race at this circuit, Schumacher has now exceeded that mark.

Felipe Massa scored his best career finish in second, and led a race for only the second time in his F1 career - the previous time was for Sauber, when he led two laps at the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix.

By snatching the lead from Schumacher on the first lap, Massa also ended a 17-race run of a pole-sitter leading the first lap of a race. Giancarlo Fisichella's third place was his first top-six finish on this racetrack, and he beat teammate Fernando Alonso in qualifying for the first time in seven races (and the second year running at Indy). It was also Renault's first podium in America since Alain Prost at the 1981 Las Vegas GP.

Jarno Trulli's performance mirrored his weekend at Indy in 2004. Back then, a mechanical problem in qualifying left him last on the grid, but he fought his way up to fourth place by the end. He finished in the same position on Sunday despite starting from the pitlane, and he's now finished fourth at Indy no fewer than four times, and not once did he stand on the podium.

In a lowly fifth, most of Alonso's various streaks were ended this weekend. His run of podiums came to end at 15, while it was also the first time he hasn't finished in the top 2 this year, and the first time in six races that he has not started on the pole.

However, it was the Spaniard's 20th consecutive finish, which puts him in touch of the record of 24, held by Michael Schumacher. He was also able to end Ferrari's run of consecutive laps led at the North American venue when he lead briefly on lap 30. Prior to that, no other team had led a lap since Heinz Harald Frentzen led on lap 48 at the 2003 race for Sauber.

Having had a win and three second places in the US GP in the past, sixth may not seem great for Rubens Barrichello, but it puts him level on points with his teammate Jenson Button, having overcome his rocky start at Honda. David Coulthard scored points for the third time in four races in seventh, while Tonio Liuzzi scored Toro Rosso's first ever point in eighth.

This is the third year the Toro Rosso franchise has finished in the points at Indianapolis - under the Minardi name, Zsolt Baumgartner was 8th in 2004, and Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher were fifth and sixth in last year's truncated event.

Liuzzi, the 2004 F3000 champion, took the final point ahead of Nico Rosberg, the 2005 GP2 champion, who was also the last man standing, as Indianapolis produced less than 10 finishers for the third year in a row.

Ralf Schumacher had yet another afternoon darting in and out of the pitlane - in the last two weekends, Schumacher has made a total of nine pitstops, probably not the way he wanted to celebrate his 31st birthday, which fell on Friday.

Christijan Albers made an additional four trips to the pits before his retirement, while Nick Heidfeld was eliminated at the first corner in an accident frighteningly similar to that suffered by Albers at the San Marino GP.

Jacques Villeneuve © LAT

Albers's Midland teammate Tiago Monteiro retired from a Grand Prix for only the third time in his 29-race career - perhaps the first bad thing that's happened to him at this track, after claiming a podium last year and being more competitive than usual throughout this weekend.

Having qualified in sixth, his best in a dry session since the Australian GP three years ago, Jacques Villeneuve's weekend of promise evaporated early on when his engine failed. The last time he started the US Grand Prix in 2003 (his final race for BAR), his engine failed at exactly the same point on the circuit as on Sunday. Another man who will be glum for the next few days is Jenson Button, who failed to score points for the fourth race in succession.

Two of the Red Bull-owned cars were eliminated in the first corner melee, and for both Scott Speed and Christian Klien it was even more frustrating than usual.

Speed had qualified 13th on the grid, the highest he's managed this season without drivers in front of him taking engine penalties, but in front of his home fans, he managed just one corner. For Klien this is becoming a familiar script - in his only previous start in 2004, he was also taken out at the first turn.

Unquestionably, McLaren were the big losers of the weekend. First of all, their double retirement snapped a 32-race consecutive points streak in races they've started (i.e. not including Indy 2005), but what really grabbed the headlines was losing both cars on lap 1. While not uncommon to others - Red Bull's drivers were both out on lap 1 in Hungary last year - it is the first time in McLaren's 40-year history that it has happened to them.

They've gotten close in the past, with their races over by the end of lap 2 at the 1987 Mexican and 1990 Japanese Grands Prix, and failing to qualify either car at the 1983 Monaco Grand Prix. If Speed and Klien thought they had it bad, the events of Sunday meant that in the last two years the McLaren team has traveled to the United States, none of their cars have made it past the first corner.

It was a microcosm of a bad weekend for Michelin, and with the French tyre company withdrawing at the end of this season, their 94-year wait for another major win at the Speedway looks set to continue for some time.