The Class of 2006

Even before it kicked off in Bahrain on 12 March, the 2006 season seemed set to be one of transition, of drivers seeing out their old contracts before moving on to fresh challenges. We already knew that Fernando Alonso would be at McLaren in 2007, Kimi Raikkonen was rumoured to leave McLaren for Ferrari, and seven-time WDC champion Michael Schumacher was reckoned by many to be on the brink of retirement.

For once, the rumour mill was spot-on, as all two events came to pass exactly as predicted. What couldn't have been foreseen, however, was the departure of two more of the sport's established stars - Juan Pablo Montoya from McLaren and Jacques Villeneuve from BMW.

Although, in hindsight, neither departure was particularly shocking. The second half of Villeneuve's career was marred by regular contractual wrangles, while Montoya's 'all or nothing' tendencies got him into too many unnecessary incidents for a team of McLaren's expectations.

Speculation on the prospects of Schumacher, Villeneuve and Montoya - three of the most widely-supported drivers on the grid - has been a feature of every off-season for years. In a break with tradition, the 2006 winter recess will pose no such questions. However, the retirements and departures didn't mark the only break from the established traditions.

One of the sport's long-held beliefs was that he who wins in Brazil (or, later, Australia) would go on to win the WDC title. It wasn't so much superstition as simple timing. At the time, Brazil and Australia were among the first two races on the calendar. Any driver or team who won there had got their winter preparations just right and had hit the ground running when the season started. With F1 so often a sport of utter dominance by one package, it's small wonder that so many went on to win the championship.

Fernando Alonso didn't win in Brazil but, with Interlagos shifted to the final weekend of the season, that didn't matter. Like so many champions before him, Alonso won the important season opener in Bahrain. In fact, if he hadn't suffered from a refueling mistake during qualifying for the next GP in Malaysia, Alonso could have recorded a clean sweep of the three non-European races that opened the season.

Even after the Malaysian error and being outsmarted by Michael Schumacher at Imola, Alonso was in imperious form, racking up the best first half of a season in F1 history. Over the opening nine races, he gave away a stingy six points from a maximum of 90, via three second places and six wins.

Statistically, it was even more dominant than Schumacher's 2004 effort with Ferrari, although the on-track comparison didn't mirror the maths. In 2004, Schumacher won eight of the first nine GP, with the retirement at Monaco (the result of another Montoya incident) the only blemish on an otherwise perfect record. Alonso, by contrast, was beaten three times on track during the first half of 2006. Crucially, Michael Schumacher was the victor on two of those occasions.

In 2004, Schumacher went on to utterly dominate the championship, winning 68 points ahead of the nearest non-Ferrari driver. If Alonso had any expectations of emulating that feat, the resurgence of the Bridgestone and Ferrari package dashed his hopes. Instead, he had to drive the best season of his career to cling narrowly onto what had, at one stage, been a 25-point WDC lead.

Michael Schumacher overtakes Kimi Raikkonen in the Montreal hairpin © LAT

The resulting power struggle brought out the very best in two exceptional drivers, and marked 2006 as one of the most exciting in recent history. It wasn't just the thrilling on-track battles between the two protagonists, most notably in San Marino and Turkey. Even when one of the two was dominating, the other was impressing with damage limitation efficiency. Alonso and Schumacher were the class of 2006, not just for their raw speed but their race craft and ability to maximise each opportunity.

Schumacher pipped Alonso with an outrageous sleight of hand trick at Imola, before seizing on a Raikkonen mistake to turn third into second in Canada. Twice (in France and Turkey), Alonso managed to get between the Ferraris, when the Renault shouldn't have been a match for them. Schumacher came right back at him in China, not only matching the Renaults but eventually beating both.

Alonso again responded at Suzuka, squeaking past Felipe Massa and putting himself in prime position to capitalise on Schumacher's blown engine. Even with the championship out of his hands, Schumacher was still not done, turning in yet another stunning drive to blitz his way through the field in his last F1 appearance at Brazil.

It was the sort of dominant rivalry last seen during the Senna-Prost era, and at times during the Schumacher-Hakkinen years. The downside of two such competitive and focused rivals is that they render the rest of the field anonymous. While Schumacher and Alonso were creating masterpieces and rewriting history, the rest had to battle for the scraps from the 2006 table.

Even with Alonso and Schumacher taking 14 of the 18 GP wins and putting 40 points of championship daylight between themselves and the chasing pack, there were some successes among the also-rans. Giancarlo Fisichella recorded his third career GP victory and enjoyed at least a couple of weeks in which he believed he could match his younger teammate over the full course of the year.

Felipe Massa surprised with the rate of his development during the season, culminating in a deserved maiden win in Turkey followed up by emotional success on home soil at Interlagos. However, the Ferrari/Bridgestone package was so fast during the second half of the season that many drivers could have won with it. So Massa could be pleased with his output, but not as much as Honda's Jenson Button.

It may have taken almost eight seasons for the Honda outfit (formerly BAR-Honda) to win, and it took Button 113 starts (longer than many F1 careers) to finally stand on the top step of the podium. Button and Honda will also admit that the win was the result of unfortunate mechanical problems for Fernando Alonso. Still, of the 21 other cars in the field, Button was the one to put himself in position to benefit from the Renault's wheel nut problem.

Jenson Button, Honda RA106 © LAT

The win must also be seen in the context of Button's late-season performance. Having scored just 16 points over the first dozen GP, Button reeled off a string of seven excellent race performances to close out the year. The streak included the Hungary win, a podium finish at Brazil and four fourth places.

To put the value of that streak in its championship context, Button was level-pegging with Honda teammate Rubens Barrichello up until Hungary. By the end of the year, Button had opened up a 26-point cushion, almost doubling the points tally of his vastly experienced Brazilian teammate. Late in the year, most other drivers were casting envious glances at Alonso and Schumacher, as they racked up yet more plaudits. Button was one driver who could feel quietly satisfied with his own progress during the season.

The retirement of a seven-time champion will leave a gaping hole in any sport. For F1 in 2006, the loss of Schumacher was exacerbated by the early departures of an ex-champion in Jacques Villeneuve and the sport's most aggressive driver in Juan Pablo Montoya. Yet the class of 2006 has left F1 in a better state than might have been anticipated.

The contractual moves during the year have set up an intriguing battle for 2007, with Alonso moving to a less competitive McLaren and Raikkonen stepping into the plum Ferrari drive vacated by Schumacher. Felipe Massa, Jenson Button and Robert Kubica cannot match the top two currently, but they may continue to close the gap next year. There is also the hope that Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen and possibly Lewis Hamilton may deliver on the potential shown in the junior formulae.

On the teams front, Williams may have dropped out of the top tier and Toyota continue their frustratingly slow quest for success. Yet McLaren could easily rejoin Ferrari and Renault at the top, with Honda and BMW threatening to turn it into a five-way battle for supremacy.

When the teams and drivers recommence battle in March, it will seem strange to see only one Schumacher name on the timesheets, and to recognise that there is only one champion driver left in the field. Yet there is plenty to look forward to in 2007.