The Complete 2006 Bahrain GP Review

Virtually every winter sees predictions that the forthcoming Formula One season will be more open than the last, and will feature a spectacular title fight between several evenly-matched teams.

And virtually every spring, this optimism is crushed when the pacesetting team leave their opposition gasping in the opening rounds of the championship.

But if the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix is a genuine reflection of what this season has in store, then perhaps the optimists will finally get their wish.

Fernando Alonso's victorious Renault and Michael Schumacher's narrowly defeated Ferrari lapped at an almost identical pace for the majority of the Bahrain Grand Prix. The difference in performance between the two cars looked no larger than the gap between their wheels as they went side by side into turn one on lap 39.

Some suggested that Kimi Raikkonen's progress from 22nd to third hinted that McLaren would have dominated the race had he qualified properly. But while he regularly matched the leaders' lap times, Raikkonen rarely beat them. Canny strategy, impressive tyre durability, and Raikkonen's physics-defying ability to drag speed out of a fuel-heavy car were the key to this result.

While a poor start and an ill-timed first stop left Jenson Button with too much ground to make up, his Honda also equalled Schumacher and Alonso's pace for much of the afternoon.

Williams showed winning potential, too. With Nico Rosberg setting the fastest race lap immediately prior to his second stop and Mark Webber going fourth quickest on his first flying lap after his first stop, the Williams/Cosworth/Bridgestone combination looks consistently competitive. Sam Michael's suggestion that "we had the fastest car out there" is well founded.

There was less joy in the next garage, as last year's early season surprise Toyota proved bafflingly awful in Bahrain. "The harder I pushed, the slower I seemed to go," Jarno Trulli lamented. "I don't know what the solution is, because there was nothing in particular going wrong, we were simply not quick." Cross Toyota off the list of contenders, for now.

While five teams may have been fast enough to win, the actual battle for victory distilled into a head-to-head between Alonso and Schumacher.

The reigning world champion took a remarkably cool approach to the whole weekend. Alonso completed minimal laps in practice, doing just enough to remind himself which way the circuit went and prove that his Renault was probably the fastest overall package.

The Spaniard left it until the latest possible moment in the first two segments of qualifying before sauntering out and going fastest. In final qualifying, he did more slow, fuel-conserving laps than anyone else, to make sure he could run as long as possible in his first race stint.

He shadowed Schumacher in the middle of the race, confident that he could emerge in front after the second stops - which he did, by the tightest of margins. Then he controlled the pace masterfully, keeping Schumacher just out of attacking range in the final stint, while saving his engine for Malaysia.

Afterwards, Alonso calmly used a TV camera lens as a mirror to check his hair prior to the podium, where he celebrated with a curious pelvic pout gesture that he promised to explain later in the season.

There was a time when second place would have only raised a grimace of dissatisfaction from Schumacher, but after the painful mediocrity of Ferrari's 2005 season, he looked relieved and refreshed on the podium. He may not be the undisputed king of F1 anymore, but at least he now has a fighting chance of reclaiming his crown.

Overall, F1 looked pretty healthy in Bahrain. The new qualifying format provided almost non-stop drama, marred only by the peculiar fuel burning cruise that the top ten contenders embarked on early in the final segment. But even with this perverse interlude, the system still earned widespread praise - BMW's Mario Theissen describing it as "the best qualifying format we have ever had," and many others concurring.

Perhaps it would have been preferable to see the ultra-tight lead fight resolved via an on-track passing move rather than in the pitstops. But there was no shortage of overtaking elsewhere in the field, suggesting that it was the absolute equivalence of Alonso and Schumacher's cars' performance that stopped them going wheel to wheel rather than anything as prosaic as dirty air.

Either way, Bahrain certainly bodes well for the rest of the season. Could this be the year when the optimists are finally rewarded for their patience?

Practice

With the rules forcing teams to go into tyre and engine conservation mode from the start of the weekend, the opening practice session of the 2006 F1 season gave the spectators a great chance to familiarise themselves with Yuji Ide and this year's roster of third drivers, but precious few glimpses of the likely front-runners.

While the big names only ventured out for a few late laps (at most), BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica and Williams's Alex Wurz battled for the honour of topping the first official timesheet of 2006. Impressively, it was the far less experienced Kubica whose 1:32.170 effort shaded Wurz by 14 hundredths of a second.

Anthony Davidson would probably have been fastest had a gearbox problem not forced Honda's number three to sit out the morning. He made amends by going quickest in the much busier afternoon session, ahead of Michael Schumacher and Wurz.

Raikkonen's early pace had been promising before an electrical glitch left him sidelined, while Juan Pablo Montoya complained about an "underpowered" engine that Ron Dennis insisted was completely healthy, just running on a conservative map.

The Saturday morning session was disrupted by a minor sandstorm that left dust strewn across the track initially. Ide acted as an involuntary roadsweeper until a clean line developed.

Button was the first serious contender to emerge, and he would end the session fastest of all, but only after Giancarlo Fisichella, Alonso, Felipe Massa and Schumacher had all taken a turn at going quickest. Intriguingly, both Ferraris pitted on laps that looked like being faster still.

The chances of Toro Rosso getting through the weekend without their V10 engines being protested looked slim when Vitantonio Liuzzi briefly took second before ending up sixth quickest in second practice.

Mercedes boss Norbert Haug had already predicted that an STR could finish on the Bahrain podium, and now BMW's Theissen and Ferrari chief Jean Todt joined the chorus of disapproval. Colin Kolles's objections also remained stoic. But the furore fizzled out when Liuzzi and Scott Speed slipped down to 19th and 20th on Saturday morning.

Toyota moved in the opposite direction. Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli spent much of Friday in the vicinity of the similarly powered Midlands, but rebounded to seventh and ninth on Saturday morning,

Practice round up

Sorted by total laps from all three sessions

Qualifying

Part one

Few expected the opening segment to offer much excitement. The front-runners would surely pop out for a relatively demure banker lap - enough to guarantee a top 16 place - and the bottom three teams would be summarily eliminated.

That theory was demolished after nine minutes, when Raikkonen's McLaren arrived at turn 10 minus its rear wing and with its right rear corner flailing - the consequence of an unnerving suspension failure.

While the red flags flew, Raikkonen somehow dragged his three-wheeled machine back to the pits, either in the misguided belief that he could rejoin qualifying, because he had received a Gilles Villeneuve DVD for Christmas, or because he was too furious to wait for a lift back. Whatever, the Finn would have to start his 2006 title bid from 22nd on the grid.

Few of the front-runners had got around to attempting flying laps prior to the stoppage. The Renaults and Ferraris were among those yet to set a time and in danger of making an embarrassing exit if they hit trouble when the session restarted.

With five minutes on the clock at the restart, the whole field (bar Raikkonen) poured onto the track knowing that they had just one chance to negotiate the traffic jam and put in a quick enough lap to proceed to part two.

Despite the chaotic circumstances, the pre-race favourites still found a way to rise to the top, with Alonso going quickest ahead of Button and Fisichella. Rosberg's sensational fourth place was less expected.

There was another surprise at the other end of the field. Ralf Schumacher could only manage 17th and was duly knocked out. The Midland and Super Aguri pairings would also be free to watch the rest of the session.

Part two

Most drivers adopted a less casual approach to the second 15-minute shoot-out and came out promptly for a banker lap. Button's conservative early effort was soon beaten by Christian Klien, before Montoya moved to the head of the list on 1:31.487 after 10 minutes. Michael Schumacher was on course to beat it until understeering through turn 14, a slip that allowed Massa to shade his team leader by 0.014 seconds.

With three minutes remaining, the Renault duo finally decided to cruise out of the pitlane, and duly took first and third positions, Alonso leading the way on 1:31.215. The world champions seemed to be taking this potentially stressful new format in their stride.

Life was rather more complicated for those in danger of being 11th or lower. Nick Heidfeld looked set to miss the cut until leaping to fourth just as the clock hit zero.

Ironically, his last gasp heroics proved costly for his BMW Sauber teammate Jacques Villeneuve, who was edged out of the top ten as a result. Webber and Rubens Barrichello scraped through to the final showdown in ninth and 10th places, a tenth of a seconds quicker than the eliminated Villeneuve.

Rosberg spun away his chances this time and ended up 12th. Also knocked out were the oversteer-troubled David Coulthard, Trulli - who felt that 14th was an accurate reflection of his Toyota's speed - and the Toro Rossos.

Part three

So far the new qualifying format had more than delivered, with parts one and two providing an abundance of action and tension. But the start of part three was a reminder of just how idiosyncratic F1 can be.

The same leading drivers who had barely turned a lap on Friday as they nursed their engines and tyres spent the first 12 minutes droning around Sakhir lapping between five and eight seconds off the pace as they attempted to burn as much fuel as possible, while putting minimal strain on their engines, and without exceeding 110% of their fastest time.

For the record, Barrichello set the initial pace before being usurped by Massa, but they lapped somewhere between Midland and Super Aguri performance.

Ferrari were the first to get serious. Schumacher's 1:31.5 lap with eight minutes remaining was 3.4 seconds quicker than the pack's previous pace and a clear statement of intent. Button's first real effort was a full 0.6 seconds shy of Schumacher, while the Renaults seemed happy to cut it fine once again and refused to show their hand.

Schumacher's previous Ferrari teammates have always given the German legend a particularly hard time in their first qualifying session together. Eddie Irvine outpaced him in Melbourne in 1996, and Barrichello came within 0.027 seconds of repeating the feat four years later. Massa seemed set to maintain this tradition, with his first flying lap beating Schumacher's provisional pole by 0.07 seconds.

He was put back in his place four minutes later, as Schumacher lapped in 1:31.431 and reclaimed pole by 0.047 seconds. He then retired to the pits and left his young challengers with just over a minute to usurp him, but none could. Button's best effort was only good enough for third, 0.118 seconds down. Massa felt he was on course to snatch pole before being baulked and restricted to second.

This time Alonso's eleventh hour effort was insufficient as well. He made a critical error on his best lap and, having taken the edge off his tyres, the world champion could only manage fourth on his final attempt.

Montoya was mildly surprised to be fifth, ahead of Barrichello, who was "struggling big time" with his set-up. Seventh looked fairly standard for Webber, but it turned out to be an excellent effort on a heavy fuel load. Christian Klien continued Red Bull's quietly promising weekend with eighth position.

Any hopes that Fisichella had of leaving his bad luck in 2005 appeared to have been dashed already. Having been close to Alonso's pace all weekend, the Italian suddenly found himself 1.7 seconds slower in ninth due to a perplexing engine problem. He still beat Heidfeld, who reckoned he had cost himself a full two seconds by running wide at turn 13 during his final shot.

Qualifying results

The Race

Although it was clear that Ferrari had made a great deal of progress over the winter, there was still a strong suspicion that their front row lock-out owed something to a light fuel load, and that the real benchmarks were the inhabitants of row two - Button and Alonso. But to make the most of their speed, they had to keep Schumacher within sight in the early stages.

The start was therefore critical. For Alonso, it could hardly have gone better, as he surged up alongside Massa's Ferrari before conceding the first corner and lining up an outside-line move into turn four instead.

This forced Massa onto the dirty line in defence. Unsurprisingly, he ran a touch wide, allowing Alonso to neatly nip up the inside on the exit and secure second place. The damage caused by Saturday's qualifying error had been rectified within half a lap, and now he could get on with chasing Schumacher.

Button's Honda was moving on the opposite direction. A dreadfully slow start (seemingly clutch related) saw at least five cars sweep past him on the charge from the grid, and although some late braking on the outside into turn one regained several of those positions, he was still only sixth behind Montoya's fuel-heavy McLaren and Barrichello.

At least he avoided the minor first corner chaos. Rosberg thought he saw an opening on the inside going into the turn, but it was soon filled by Heidfeld's BMW. Contact was made, wrenching the front wing from the Williams and spinning Heidfeld down to last.

Although Button had been comfortably faster than teammate Barrichello all weekend, he made rather heavy weather of getting past him. The initial move down the inside of turn 1 on lap two was perfectly successful, but then Button ran very wide at turn 4 and handed the place back again.

Next time around, Barrichello resolutely hugged the inside line through turn 1, and although he finally had to yield on lap four, by then Button was 8.5 seconds behind Schumacher, and with Montoya, Massa and Alonso still to catch and pass.

Alonso may not have had slower traffic to contend with, but he did have a few Ferrari-shaped problems. Not only was Schumacher edging away - leading by 2.3 seconds after five laps - but Massa was looking menacing in third place.

The Brazilian's challenge didn't last long, though, as he locked a rear brake approaching turn 1 on lap seven. The Ferrari arrived at the apex of the corner broadside and in a cloud of tyre smoke, and came within inches of collecting Alonso, The surprised world champion not realising that Massa had made an unforced error, thinking that he had actually been trying a particularly flamboyant passing move...

"He overtook me, but only for a tenth of a second, because he passed really quickly and dangerously," said Alonso. "There was nothing I could do. Basically I was lucky."

Massa's day immediately got worse. His error had left him with four very square tyres. Ferrari brought his first pitstop forward, but he was stationery for an excruciating 46.8 seconds after the right rear tyre changer's airgun failed. In the space of a single lap, Massa had gone from chasing Alonso for second, to chasing Ide for 20th.

The incident may have freed Alonso of Massa's pressure, but its immediate effect was to delay him further. The momentum lost as he braked to avoid the wayward Ferrari, coupled with the string of fastest laps that Schumacher had been churning out, left Alonso nearly five seconds down after eight laps. He responded to engineer Rod Nelson's exhortations and trimmed Schumacher's lead a little, only for the German to rebuild his advantage by setting four consecutive fastest laps, the last of them a jaw dropping 1:32.7 - 0.7 seconds quicker than his previous pace.

By now Button had reclaimed his original third place, diving past Montoya into turn 1 on lap 11, running wide but aggressively securing the position on the outside line into turn 4. Barrichello had rapidly dropped away from Button after being passed, and went into absolute freefall when his Honda lost third gear around lap 20.

The Brazilian would soldier on, 4-5 seconds off the pace. Prior to this problem, he ran a lonely fifth, ahead of the charging Klien, who passed Webber and Fisichella early on. For the latter, this weekend was turning into an unpleasant reminder of his 2005 tribulations.

Renault had changed as many auxiliary parts as permitted in an attempt to resolve Fisichella's qualifying problems without a full engine change. At first their efforts seemed successful, but the Renault V8 wilted again after a few laps.

Klien and Webber soon cruised past Fisichella, and Villeneuve and Raikkonen then queued up behind the Renault, eager to do likewise. Eventually an unrelated hydraulic leak put the Italian's car out of its misery on lap 22.

One of Raikkonen's most impressive skills is his seemingly magical ability to shrug off a massive fuel load (see Monza 2005 qualifying for a particularly stunning example). Sakhir provided another demonstration, as the one-stopping McLaren moved briskly through the midfield.

Although Raikkonen lost 32 seconds to the leaders while in traffic, with one less pit visit on his schedule, he was clearly in contention for a podium if he could get some clear air. By lap 16, he was eighth.

Heidfeld's early progress was similarly eye-catching, as he made it back from last to 10th before his first pitstop on lap 16. His moves on Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard were particularly physical, with the latter earning him a reprimand from the stewards.

With tyre changes back on the agenda, the pitstop sequence was no longer a straightforward matter of the driver who pitted latest emerging on top. Schumacher stopped on lap 15, but with fresh tyres fitted he was able to lap almost as fast immediately after his stop, frustrating Alonso's hopes of extending an advantage in the four clear laps before his own first pit visit.

It was after this stop, and a small front wing adjustment, that the world champion began to turn the tables on Schumacher. A rapid out-lap was followed by a new fastest lap, and that alone carved 1.4 seconds from the Ferrari's advantage. It was not long before they were nose to tail.

A late-stopping plan temporarily paid off for Montoya. He stayed out until lap 23, assuming the lead in the process, and rejoined in front of Button once again, the Honda driver's lap 18 stop having deposited him in the thick of the lower top-ten crowd.

It didn't take Button long to catch and pass Montoya (down the inside into turn 1 again), but by now he was 20.4 seconds away from the lead pair, who had Raikkonen (yet to stop) just 5.9 seconds behind them and matching their times.

Coulthard was also one-stopping and had risen to sixth, just ahead of Webber and Klien (who swapped places during their own stops), prior to pitting on lap 30. Raikkonen came in on the same lap, and rejoined fifth behind teammate Montoya - who he proceeded to outpace throughout the next stint despite carrying significantly more fuel - and Webber, who was also matching the leaders' times now.

At the front, Alonso was shadowing Schumacher and clearly waiting for the final round of pitstops. They were 1.2 seconds apart when Schumacher peeled off on lap 36, but far from being free to pull out a lead, Alonso had to lap the mildly obdurate Speed and Heidfeld. Meanwhile, Schumacher was pushing hard on his out-lap and actually gained a little before Alonso came in for his critical pitstop on lap 39.

The Renault was stationary for 7.7 seconds - a second less than Schumacher had been - and rejoined the track absolutely parallel with the Ferrari. Schumacher clearly had the momentum, but the pit exit placed Alonso on the inside line for turn 1, and he braked late enough to claim the apex and ease Schumacher towards the kerbs, as he tried to drive around the outside. The lead belonged to Alonso, or at least it would do once late-stopper Button came in a lap later.

Although Button had continued to match the leaders' speed, this was not enough to get him ahead of the relentless Raikkonen when the Briton emerged from his final stop. The Finn proved a tougher obstacle than Montoya had done, and there would be no way through.

Unhappy with his set-up, Montoya remained a muted fifth, eight seconds behind Button and just in front of Webber, whose Williams teammate Rosberg became the centre of attention in the final part of the race.

Rosberg's recovery drive had been low key initially, but the combination of clear air, determination and a very competitive Williams allowed him to produce some astonishing lap times. He set fastest lap immediately prior to each of his pitstops, and the second of these stood as the quickest of the race. He ran ninth after his second stop, but Rosberg wasn't willing to settle for that.

His first target was Coulthard, who was nursing a badly flat-spotted tyre after locking up during a second gung-ho confrontation with Heidfeld on lap 35. Rosberg caught the Red Bull at a rate of 1.6-2.0 seconds per lap and eased past to take eighth on lap 48.

The German rookie then produced a repeat performance on Klien, claiming seventh from the Austrian on the penultimate lap. Not only had Rosberg scored points and set fastest lap on his debut, but he had done so using the kind of flair and aggression synonymous with his revered father, 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg.

Coulthard also lost out to Massa in the closing laps, as Ferrari's new signing picked up the pace in the second half of the race and started to recover some of the lost places.

Liuzzi and Speed took uncontroversial 11th and 13th places, split by the disappointed Heidfeld, who dropped back after his second stop. Villeneuve's promising run in the second BMW ended in a massive engine failure while running ninth.

Toyota endured a dismal afternoon. Ralf Schumacher's three-stop strategy worked better than Trulli's two-stopper, allowing the German to take 14th while Trulli followed the hobbled Barrichello home for 16th, but the team was baffled by their total lack of speed.

Tiago Monteiro finished 17th, occupying a no-man's land between the main pack and Super Aguri, his Midland teammate Christijan Albers having broken a driveshaft at the start.

Fuel rig problems and miscommunication meant that Takuma Sato made six pitstops, but he was still pleased to finish, albeit four laps down. A best lap 4.7 seconds off the pace was no disgrace for a team that six months ago was nothing more than an ambition in Aguri Suzuki's mind. Ide had more tribulations, including drive-through penalty and a 10-minute pitstop, and he eventually stopped on track with electrical issues.

No such worries for Alonso. He controlled the pace over the final 18 laps, keeping Schumacher at arm's length. A loss of momentum in traffic on lap 52 gave the Ferrari a sniff of an opportunity into turn 1, but Alonso simply dipped into his reserves of speed and edged away to safety. His final victory margin was 1.2 seconds, approximately equal to the time difference between Alonso and Schumacher's final pitstops.

"I knew that if I was in front of him at the exit of the pits, the race was for me," said Alonso. "I really pushed with a good in-lap and a perfect pitstop from the mechanics and thanks to this I was in front of him. Very close, but in front."

"Quite honestly, if you think where we were last year, if you see what has happened over the winter time, if somebody would have told us we would finish second in this race, we would have been absolutely happy about it," said Schumacher. "It's eight points, just two down..."

Race results

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time        
 1.  Alonso        Renault             (M)  1h29:46.205
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)  +     1.246
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  +    19.360
 4.  Button        Honda               (M)  +    19.992
 5.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes    (M)  +    37.048
 6.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)  +    41.932
 7.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B)  +  1:03.043
 8.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  +  1:06.771
 9.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  +  1:09.907
10.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)  +  1:15.541
11.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  +  1:25.997
12.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)  +  1 lap
13.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)  +  1 lap
14.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  +  1 lap
15.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)  +  1 lap
16.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  +  1 lap
17.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)  +  2 laps
18.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  +  4 laps

Not classified:

Driver         Team                    On lap
Ide            Super Aguri-Honda   (B)   36   (mechanical)
Villeneuve     BMW-Sauber          (M)   30   (engine)
Fisichella     Renault             (M)   22   (hydraulics)
Albers         MF1-Toyota          (B)    1   (driveshaft)

Fastest Lap: Rosberg, 1:32.408

World Championship standings, round 1:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        10        1.  Renault            10
 2.  M.Schumacher   8        2.  McLaren-Mercedes   10
 3.  Raikkonen      6        3.  Ferrari             8
 4.  Button         5        4.  Honda               5
 5.  Montoya        4        5.  Williams-Cosworth   5
 6.  Webber         3        6.  Red Bull-Ferrari    1
 7.  Rosberg        2
 8.  Klien          1

Team by Team

RENAULT

A qualifying error leaves Alonso a slightly disappointed fourth on the grid. He immediately jumps to second in the race and hounds Schumacher until taking the lead - by a very narrow margin - when he makes his second stop on lap 39. Holds on to claim his ninth GP victory.

Fisichella is on the pace until a sudden loss of power strikes at the end of qualifying, leaving him ninth on the grid. The same problem plagues him in the race, and he ultimately retires from 13th on lap 21 with hydraulics failure.

Verdict: Alonso flawless, Fisichella forlorn - it's business as usual for Renault.

MCLAREN-MERCEDES

Raikkonen suffers electrical problems in practice and a dramatic suspension failure early in qualifying, leaving him 22nd on the grid. But he makes excellent use of a one-stop strategy to progress to third in the race. Unhappy with his set-up, Montoya is overshadowed all weekend. He starts and finishes a muted fifth.

Verdict: Fast enough to win, in theory at least.

Schumacher and Massa form an all-Ferrari front row in qualifying, the first since August 2004. The former champion then leads most of the race, but just loses out to Alonso on the final round of pitstops. He settles for second, thrilled to be back on the pace.

Massa attacks Alonso before spinning on lap seven. He pits to change his flat-spotted tyres but is stationary for 46.7 seconds due to airgun failure, dropping to 21st place. A late charge takes him to ninth at the flag.

Verdict: Firmly back in contention.

Both drivers are off the pace in practice and then qualify 14th (Trulli) and 17th (Schumacher). They opt for split strategies, and use the race as a test, with Ralf three-stopping to 14th and two-stopping Trulli notably slower on the way to 16th. There are no specific problems, just a general lack of speed.

Verdict: Nothing short of disastrous.

Webber qualifies seventh, Rosberg is an impressive fourth in qualifying part one but a spin in part two leaves him 12th. He then loses his front wing on Heidfeld at the start. A superb recovery drive sees him set the fastest lap of the race and charge back to seventh place.

Webber drops to ninth at the start, makes up ground with a long first stint, and then matches the leaders' pace for much of the second half of the race. Finishes sixth. Reserve driver Wurz is second and third fastest in Friday's sessions.

Verdict: Evidence of an overdue Williams renaissance.

With third driver Davidson setting the Friday pace and Button quickest on Saturday morning, Honda look like potential winners.

Button qualifies third, but a poor start drops him to sixth. He fights back, but loses more ground in traffic after his first pitstop, and is ultimately beaten to third by the one stopping Raikkonen.

Barrichello struggles to find a set-up and is off the pace all weekend. He qualifies sixth and runs fifth early on, but loses third gear and limps home in 15th.

Verdict: A missed opportunity. Still potential winners, though.

After the disruption of the winter, a surprisingly smooth weekend for Red Bull Racing. Klien qualifies eighth and runs in the top ten throughout the race, not far behind Webber's Williams. Loses seventh to the flying Rosberg on the penultimate lap.

Coulthard is a disappointing 13th in qualifying but uses a one-stop strategy to move up to eighth in the race. Badly flat-spots a tyre while jostling with Heidfeld and fades to 10th.

Verdict: Better than expected.

Kubica gets the BMW-Sauber alliance off to a dream start by going fastest in first practice. Heidfeld inadvertently knocks teammate Villeneuve out of the final qualifying session, leaving the Canadian 11th, then makes a mistake on his best lap and ends up 10th.

A long first stint allows Villeneuve to run as high as sixth, and points are a possibility until a massive engine failure on lap 29. Heidfeld is tapped into a spin at the start but gets back to 10th before his first pitstop. A relatively early second stop then costs him time and leaves him 12th.

Verdict: Disappointing result, but plenty of promise.

Albers and Monteiro feel they should have done better than 18th and 19th on the grid. The former has no chance to improve in the race, as a driveshaft fails straight after the start. Pre-race transmission problems force Monteiro to start from the pitlane in the spare. He has a quiet run to 17th.

Verdict: As uncompetitive as the sceptics suggested, but determined to improve.

Liuzzi raises eyebrows by going sixth quickest on Friday. He only manages 15th in qualifying, though, a place ahead of Speed. Both drivers run long first stints and are able to mix it with the established teams in the early stages. Liuzzi finishes on the lead lap in 11th, Speed takes 13th and sets ninth fastest race lap.

Verdict: V10 controversy overshadowed an impressive debut.

Inevitably, the newcomers are some way off the pace, although Raikkonen's accident means that Sato and Ide have a car behind them on the grid.

Ide receives a stop-go penalty after the team stay on the grid too long prior to the formation lap. Both cars then struggle with fuel rig problems and have to make several pitstops. A miscommunication sees them both trying to pit simultaneously, with Ide accidentally selecting neutral and veering lightly into his crew. He spends nearly 11 minutes in the pits trying to get the engine running again but rejoins for some more experience before stopping with electrical problems.

Sato ends up pitting six times, but he makes it to the chequered flag in 18th, four laps down.

Verdict: A long way to go, but they never promised early miracles.

Lap by Lap

This lap by lap breakdown has been prepared and provided by the FIA

Pre-race: Tiago Monteiro starts from the pit lane rather than 19th place on the grid. Stewards launch an investigation into an incident involving the car of rookie Yuji Ide.

Nico Rosberg heads to the pits with a damaged front wing following contact with Nick Heidfeld on the opening lap © Reuters

Lap 1: Pole position qualifier Michael Schumacher makes a clean start. Alongside him on the grid, Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa gets away well from his first front-row start in Formula One and fends off world champion Fernando Alonso - but only until Turn Four.

Juan Pablo Montoya settles into fourth, from Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Giancarlo Fisichella, Mark Webber, Christian Klien, David Coulthard, Jacques Villeneuve, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Kimi Raikkonen (up from 22nd and last after suspension failure denied him a qualifying run), Scott Speed, Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, Takuma Sato, Yuji Ide, Tiago Monteiro and Nick Heidfeld, who spins to last place at the first corner following contact with Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg pits for a new nose at the end of the lap, while Christijan Albers pits to retire. Michael Schumacher leads by 1.4s at the end of the lap.

Lap 2: Klien passes Webber. Trulli passes Speed. Massa locks up without losing a place. Barrichello and Button swap places twice, but the Brazilian retains fifth.

Lap 3: Ide is served with a drive-through penalty because his team remained on the grid beyond the permitted time limit. Villeneuve passes Coulthard. Raikkonen outguns Liuzzi.

Lap 4: Button passes Barrichello for fourth at Turn One. Klien passes Fisichella for seventh. Raikkonen overhauls Coulthard.

Lap 5: Heidfeld and Liuzzi pass Ralf Schumacher and Coulthard respectively.

Lap 6: Heidfeld passes Speed.

Lap 8: Massa spins wildly on the approach to Turn One and inadvertently overtakes Alonso, who just misses him. The Brazilian pits for repairs and drops to the tail of the field.

Lap 10: Fisichella runs wide and Webber gains a place.

Lap 11: Button passes Montoya for third at Turn One.

Lap 12: Ralf Schumacher pits for fuel and tyres.

Lap 13: Ide pits.

Lap 15: Leading by 4.8s, Michael Schumacher is the first of the front-runners to pit. He drops to fourth. Alonso leads from Button and Montoya. Heidfeld passes Coulthard - the two get very close and the stewards instigate a post-race review of the incident.

Lap 16: Barrichello and Fisichella pit.

Lap 17: Heidfeld refuels.

Lap 18: Button peels in and slips to eighth.

Fernando Alonso completes his first pitstop © Reuters

Lap 19: Alonso pits from the lead. Montoya leads Michael Schumacher by little more than three seconds.

Lap 20: Ide pits and clips one of his crew.

Lap 22: Klien and Liuzzi pit from sixth and ninth.

Lap 23: Leader Montoya pits and Michael Schumacher regains the lead. Webber and Villeneuve come in too. At the tail of the field, so does Sato.

Lap 25: With all but two drivers having stopped at least once, Michael Schumacher leads by 0.7s from Alonso, Raikkonen, Montoya, Button, Coulthard, Webber, Klien, Villeneuve, Liuzzi, Rosberg, Heidfeld and Speed, who pits.

Lap 26: Ralf Schumacher pits. Rosberg sets fastest lap so far - 1:32.521.

Lap 29: Button dupes Montoya at Turn One for the second time this afternoon.

Lap 30: Raikkonen and Coulthard are last of the late stoppers. Villeneuve's race ends in a spire of engine flame.

Lap 32: Michael Schumacher leads Alonso by 1.2s, with Button third from Montoya, Webber and Raikkonen. Massa pits.

Lap 35: Heidfeld pits and ends a spirited scrap with Coulthard for ninth.

Lap 36: Michael Schumacher comes in. Alonso leads but has traffic looming ahead of him.

Lap 39: Webber, Liuzzi, Trulli and Alonso pit. The Spaniard rejoins second, fractionally ahead of Michael Schumacher and repels him robustly at Turn One. The German then locks up and runs slightly wide at Turn Four, which gives the defending champion a tiny breathing space.

Lap 40: Temporary leader Button pits.

Lap 41: Klien pits.

Lap 42: Rookie Rosberg sets another fastest lap: 1:32.408.

Lap 43: Rosberg refuels.

Lap 44: Montoya makes the last significant stop among the leaders. Alonso now leads by little more than one second from Michael Schumacher, Raikkonen, Button, Montoya, Webber, Klien, Coulthard, Rosberg, Liuzzi, Massa and Heidfeld. Speed, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, Trulli and Monteiro are all a lap adrift. Sato is still running, four laps adrift after six stops. His team-mate Ide rejoined after his earlier pit faux pas but eventually pulled off on his 36th lap.

Nico Rosberg (Williams-Cosworth) overtakes David Coulthard (Red Bull-Ferrari) © LAT

Lap 48: Massa passes Liuzzi for 10th at Turn One.

Lap 49: Rosberg passes Coulthard for eighth at Turn One. The Scot fights back, but after running side by side for several corners the German makes his move stick.

Lap 52: Michael Schumacher closes to within 0.4s of the leader after the top two lap Heidfeld: the German feints to the inside at Turn One, but there is no way through.

Lap 56: Rosberg passes Klien at Turn One to take seventh.

Lap 57: Alonso gets his title defence off to a winning start, beating Michael Schumacher by 1.2s. Raikkonen, Button, Montoya, Webber, Rosberg, Klien, Massa and Coulthard complete the top 10. Coulthard's car stops on the cooling-off lap.