The Complete 2006 British GP Review

"I've heard some people saying that this is a crucial race but for me it's not crucial at all," said Michael Schumacher after finishing second behind Fernando Alonso in the British Grand Prix. "There are ten races to go, plenty of opportunities."

That's technically correct, of course. Whatever happened at Silverstone, the world championship was not going to be decided on this sultry English afternoon. And a 23-point margin could certainly evaporate with over half the season remaining,

But before the race, Schumacher certainly did not sound like a man who expected to finish 14 seconds behind Alonso. Having found "the pace that was missing in the Spanish GP" in testing at Barcelona, and after recovering so impressively in Monaco, Schumacher had good reason to believe that Ferrari remained the team to beat.

"We are going there to win," he said as he prepared for Silverstone, and he clearly meant it.

Even after qualifying third, Schumacher exuded confidence.

"We would have expected to be a bit closer in lap times, but then you have to consider the fuel level," he said. "Don't read too much into the disappointment because it is very much the strategy."

So it must have been galling for Schumacher when he realised that Alonso had been 0.3 seconds quicker than him in qualifying while carrying four laps' worth more fuel.

And probably just as galling, too, when Alonso was asked in the post-race press conference 'how easy' his race had been - the sort of question that was once put to Schumacher on a fortnightly basis. And then there was Jean Todt talking about Alonso's crushing consistency in the way that vanquished rivals used to speak of Schumacher...

"He has scored 74 points out of 80 so it's remarkable," said Todt. "He's quick, competitive and reliable, so it makes things more difficult for the others."

That's not to say that the title fight is now over or that Schumacher has irretrievably relinquished his crown as the world's best driver. His explosive pace after his second pitstop proves that Schumacher still lacks nothing in determination or talent. And no, Silverstone was not crucial. But it was important, and Alonso won it. So after a period when Ferrari appeared to have Renault on the run, the onus is now on the Italian squad to find answers.

While Schumacher came to Silverstone predicting great things, Jenson Button was careful to lower expectations for his home race.

When an interviewer suggested that whatever happened, it "couldn't be worse than Monaco", Button's reply proved horribly prophetic. "Well, it could be..." he said, and sure enough 19th on the grid and a DNF after eight laps was a further step backwards after the midfield ignominy of Monaco.

Somehow Lewis Hamilton's superb double win in the GP2 support races seemed to worsen Button's plight. Of course Hamilton's career progress has no bearing on Button whatsoever, and another quick Briton to share the burden of voracious media expectation might be quite welcome.

It is sobering to think that Button has now been in Formula One as long as David Coulthard had when Jenson himself appeared on the scene and gave the Silverstone crowd a new young star to cheer.

But it would be far too easy (and also unfair on both drivers) to say that this weekend of stunning success for Hamilton and disastrous disappointment for Button marked the moment when the new young star displaced his predecessor.

Button's determination in the early laps was impressive, and he could surely have salvaged a top ten finish at the very least. He also deserves credit for a dignified and constructive response to the way his weekend ended. Plus the crowd response as he returned to the pits suggested that his fans certainly do not believe that Button's time has passed.

Nevertheless, the Silverstone weekend proved that the respective F1 and GP2 championship leaders are both class acts. And Ron Dennis happens to have them both under contract...

Practice

Silverstone had a surprise for the teams this weekend, as the Northamptonshire track's unexpected combination of sweltering heat and blustery wind caused headaches throughout the pitlane.

Virtually every driver complained of handling difficulties during practice, with several emphasising their tribulations by going off the road during Friday and Saturday morning.

It wasn't just the likes of Tiago Monteiro, Neel Jani, Christian Klien and Giorgio Mondini who were getting caught out - Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa, Giancarlo Fisichella and Kimi Raikkonen were also among the spinners.

Indeed, the only consolation for the countless drivers frowning over their Friday times was that the rest of the field seemed to be finding Silverstone's conditions just as hard to fathom...

The habitual Friday stars dominated the quiet opening session, with Williams's number three Alex Wurz producing a late 1:21.946 lap to beat his Honda and BMW-Sauber counterparts Anthony Davidson and Robert Kubica after all three had taken turns on top. Fourth placed Jarno Trulli was the best of the race drivers.

Kubica left his usual playmates - and the rest of the field - behind in the afternoon. The Pole's 1:21.082 lap was 1.2 seconds quicker than second placed Fisichella, although the Renault driver only managed one run before spinning at Stowe and then pitting with a software problem.

The BMW Sauber race drivers had not been quite as happy as Kubica on Friday, with Nick Heidfeld keen to improve rear balance and Jacques Villeneuve concerned by tyre wear. But by third practice they were flying, with Villeneuve eighth quickest and Heidfeld a shock second overall, beaten only by Michael Schumacher.

Ferrari and Renault both had cause for confidence prior to the weekend, with the Italian squad arriving fresh from a stunning performance in Barcelona testing, but Renault having proved equally commanding in the last group test at Silverstone.

Both were coy after Friday, but Schumacher's 1:20.919 on Saturday morning hinted that Ferrari had the advantage, especially given Alonso's low key performance so far - only seventh on Friday and sixth in the final session.

Much further down the pit lane, Super Aguri brought sometime Jordan tester Sakon Yamamoto along as a Friday tester, amid suggestions that he could replace the quick but conspicuously non-Japanese Franck Montagny by the French Grand Prix.

Yamamoto described his Super Aguri debut as "fun", which was quite a contrast to his teammates' practice experiences. Montagny caused an early red flag by stopping on the pits straight on Friday morning, while Takuma Sato had both sensor and chassis problems.

It got worse for the team on Saturday, as Sato crashed heavily at Becketts just moments before Montagny dumped his car in the Priory gravel.

Practice round up

Sorted by total laps from all three sessions

Qualifying

Part one

The chances of an early upset seemed higher than usual as Silverstone qualifying got underway. The wind and heat continued to make the circuit rather unpredictable, plus Toro Rosso and Midland's performances in Saturday practice - where both STRs had broken into the top ten and Tiago Monteiro was 13th quickest - suggested that the habitual backmarkers had the potential to embarrass some big names today.

But the first high profile casualty was nothing to do with the English breeze or the minnows' speed. Jarno Trulli's engine blew on his first flying lap, and he dragged the smoking Toyota back to the pits already knowing that he was destined for a back row spot.

His teammate Ralf Schumacher left it late before setting a time, as did the BMW Saubers, but all three easily leapt to safety when they did emerge, with Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld underlining their potential by going second and fifth fastest.

Their progress shuffled Jenson Button down to an ominous 16th place. He had expected to get a chance to improve on a poor first lap, only to be selected for a random weight check.

Team boss Nick Fry later admitted that there might just have been time to do another run when Button came off the weighbridge, but instead the home crowd's idol sat helplessly in the garage as David Coulthard improved from 18th to ninth and bumped his compatriot out of the crucial top 16.

It would get worse for Button. Monteiro fulfilled his practice promise and jumped to 13th, ironically eliminating his teammate Christijan Albers, who had earlier appeared to be safely through to Q2 but ran out of time for another attempt, and also shuffling the Honda back another place.

Then Christian Klien emulated teammate Coulthard and vaulted from 20th to 12th, consigning Button to 19th and knocking no lesser figure than Mark Webber out of qualifying. Both Williams had struggled for speed in Q1, but Webber was 0.046 seconds slower than Nico Rosberg, and that proved to be the difference between elimination and qualification.

"Every now and again in this game this happens," Webber shrugged. "We didn't have enough rear grip and ultimately we weren't quick enough."

Unsurprisingly the Super Aguris were also sidelined. Takuma Sato had incurred an engine change penalty by switching to the T-car after his earlier crash, but in practice all this meant was a demotion from 20th to 21st ahead of the similarly punished Trulli.

At the front, Fernando Alonso began to show his hand with a 1:21.018, six tenths clear of the field.

Part two

The shocks of Q1 actually meant a little less tension in Q2, as with three star names already eliminated and few expecting the likes of Monteiro and the Toro Rossos to progress to Q3, the fight to reach the top ten was not as fraught as it might have been.

MF1 Racing hailed their first appearance in Q2 as a "historic step forward", and the fact that Monteiro ended up only 16th mattered little, although he probably could have found the 0.132 seconds required to crown his achievement by beating the troubled Scott Speed to 15th. "I am going to have to fight to tame this beast in tomorrow's race," reckoned Speed after struggling for rear end grip.

A minor error under braking for Brooklands left Klien 14th, while Vitantonio Liuzzi bemoaned a lack of straightline speed as he secured 13th.

After his close call in Q1, it was little surprise to see Rosberg failing to improve on 12th place in the second segment. Williams' prediction that Silverstone might see a reprise of its poor Barcelona form appeared to have come true.

The fight for the final top ten spot came down to Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher. The Scot initially held the advantage, but then Schumacher found 0.6 seconds on his last run and edged into 10th.

Coulthard did not improve and ended up 11th. As he returned to the pits, he paused to make a series of irate gestures in McLaren's direction, indicating his displeasure at Juan Pablo Montoya after an incident in the complex. Coulthard's assessment was that Montoya had messed up his own lap and then deliberately impeded the Red Bull through the final corners "trying to make me pay for his pain".

"It is disgusting the way he drives, it is not the mark of a man and I think it is unacceptable," raged Coulthard.

Montoya was nonplussed by the furore, and the stewards' investigation concluded that no punitive action was required. Coulthard would later pay Montoya a conciliatory visit and apologise for the vehemence of his outburst.

The ambience was rather more serene at the sharp end, as Alonso produced a 1:20.271 lap after six minutes then set an even better sector one time before returning to the pits.

Part three

Despite Alonso's speed in low fuel qualifying, the critical head-to-head of Q3 looked to be going Ferrari's way at first. Michael Schumacher's first flying lap was a 1:20.815, some 0.043 seconds quicker than Alonso would manage a few moments later.

"I had a little mistake in the last sector and they told me on the radio that we were second, just behind Michael, really close time, so I thought well, maybe I lost the pole with this mistake," said Alonso. "But we had a second chance with the second set of tyres..."

So did Schumacher, though, and he improved to 1:20.574. But even before the Ferrari crossed the line its lap already looked insufficient, for Alonso had beaten both of Schumacher's sector times. This time there were no yellow flags in the final corners, and Alonso duly claimed pole position, 0.321 seconds quicker than Schumacher.

The intensity of the title fight is such that the rest of the field can sometimes be overlooked, but Raikkonen did his best to prevent this with a remarkable last gasp effort.

A slight miscalculation by McLaren meant that time was extremely tight when Raikkonen left the pits for his final run, and he had to drive the out lap like a qualifying lap in order to beat the chequered flag.

He not only made it in time, but then went fastest in sectors two and three, snatching second from Schumacher and ending up only 0.144 seconds behind Alonso. In theory the charging out lap should have taken the edge off Raikkonen's tyres - making the performance even more impressive - but McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh suggested that it may actually have proved advantageous by generating additional heat.

Felipe Massa completed an all-Ferrari second row, ahead of the disappointed Giancarlo Fisichella, who was 0.666 seconds slower than Alonso.

"The car was on an edge in the first sector," Fisichella reported. "I couldn't attack the quick corners properly."

In previous races at least one top ten qualifier has settled for a fifth row spot and a large fuel load, but with just 1.346 seconds covering first to tenth at Silverstone, it looked like all the Q3 participants had gone on the attack. This made an even better spectacle than usual, as all ten completed their best laps in the final minute.

Rubens Barrichello was delighted to take sixth, only 0.024 seconds behind Fisichella, while seventh was fine for Ralf Schumacher, who suspected that he was running relatively heavy. Juan Pablo Montoya struggled to eighth, unhappy with his McLaren's balance.

Both BMWs had briefly popped into the top five during the frantic action at the end of the session, only to slip back as others improved. Nick Heidfeld was still quite content with ninth, but 10th left Jacques Villeneuve disappointed.

"I was hoping for better," he admitted. "The car was difficult to drive compared to earlier in the day, and for some reason we came into the pits one lap too early."

Qualifying results

The Race

A year ago, Fernando Alonso started on pole at Silverstone but was ambushed by a McLaren early in the opening lap. He was in no mood to let that happen again and managed the fend off the fast-starting Kimi Raikkonen into Copse, as Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa, and Giancarlo Fisichella followed through in grid order.

Nick Heidfeld made a superb start, leaping from ninth to sixth, ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Juan Pablo Montoya, who made heavy contact with Jacques Villeneuve as they turned into Copse.

"I was on the inside and he was following another car on the outside," Villeneuve explained. "He came across the track, took his line but couldn't see I was there. I locked my wheels and ran into him."

The impact gouged a hole in the side of the McLaren, but it continued in eighth, while the fast starting Nico Rosberg took the opportunity to pass Villeneuve - who continued unscathed - for ninth.

Ralf Schumacher had made a dreadful start from seventh and was then pounced upon by a gaggle of cars at Copse, forcing him back to 13th. Scott Speed thought he saw an opportunity to further demote the Toyota in the penultimate part of the Becketts complex, but succeeded only in tapping its right rear corner and sending Schumacher into a slide.

The Toyota veered across the track and collected the helpless Mark Webber, taking both out of the race and causing a safety car period while their mangled vehicles were retrieved and Becketts was cleared of debris. Speed also retired, having sustained a bent track-rod.

Jenson Button and Jarno Trulli had already made progress from their lowly qualifying spots, and the incident handed them another three places. It also gave Trulli a chance to slip ahead of Button as they went onto the Hangar Straight. They therefore sat 13th and 14th in the safety car queue, behind David Coulthard and Vitantonio Liuzzi, but already ahead of Christian Klien, the MF1s and the Super Aguris.

Alonso's restart procedure was rather indecorous, as he repeatedly slowed the pack to a crawl in the complex and was lucky not to be rammed by the understandably impatient Raikkonen.

Eventually Alonso got on the accelerator through Woodcote and resumed the race, but he was initially unable to dislodge Raikkonen, who had a couple of determined looks at passing the Renault on the restart lap.

One of these resulted in a rather wide exit from Club, allowing the tidier Schumacher to get a run at Raikkonen approaching Abbey. The McLaren defending the inside, leaving Schumacher just enough room to squeeze alongside under braking for the chicane, but they didn't quite make contact, and Schumacher didn't quite get through.

"We touched sidepods, I would say," reckoned Schumacher. "I was already at the limit of the circuit. He didn't want to give me the inside so I had to try the outside."

"I didn't know that we got so close but we didn't hit each other, which was good," replied Raikkonen.

Surprisingly, the close call didn't allow Alonso to make a break, and after three laps of green flag racing, the top five cars remained within three seconds of each other, all lapping at a similar pace.

Behind them, Heidfeld was dropping back by around 1.5 seconds per lap, and had the frustrated (and battered) Montoya right on his tail. The McLaren had swiftly overtaken Barrichello after the restart, but would find the BMW a tougher prospect.

Button soon passed Trulli and Liuzzi to take 12th, and then caught 11th placed Coulthard, but his charge would be halted after just eight laps, as an oil leak sent him spinning on his own fluid, and ending his British GP in the Priory gravel. Yet the pace he had shown in the opening laps and the heroic welcome he received from the spectators as he trudged back to the pits buoyed Button a little.

"It was a much more positive day even though we didn't finish," he said. "If we were slow it would be a massive issue but we are not that slow we have just been so unlucky."

Meanwhile, what had looked like an intriguing three (or even five) way lead battle started to dissolve thanks to the brilliance of Alonso and Renault. At first he was only edging away by a tenth or two, but then came a run of sixth successive new fastest laps by the leader, and by lap 15 Alonso was 3.2 seconds ahead of Raikkonen.

"We prepared the car to be quick at the end of the stints," Alonso explained. "Lap by lap the car was feeling better and better."

Alonso's burst of speed became even more depressing for his rivals when their respective fuel loads were revealed. Schumacher peeled off on lap 18, with Raikkonen following a lap later. But Alonso would stay out until lap 22, and while his freshly refuelled rivals could only produce 1:23 laps, he reeled off a series of mid-to-high 1:21s, despite having to negotiate traffic.

By the time Alonso rejoined his lead over Raikkonen had ballooned to 10.7 seconds. The race was already won.

Renault's late stopping strategy also helped Fisichella, allowing him to grab fourth from Massa. The 'number twos' had drifted away from the top three towards the end of the first stint, but Fisichella was able to close in on Schumacher again after the stops.

Meanwhile, Heidfeld was making BMW Sauber's qualifying pace look even better. He stayed out until lap 25 before pitting, advancing to second as those ahead stopped. The strategy, and Heidfeld's speed late in the stint, should have kept him ahead of Montoya, who had pitted five laps earlier, but Heidfeld's first gear refused to engage as he left the pits, costing him six seconds and a position.

Having effectively broken his rivals' challenge, Alonso simply controlled the final two-thirds of the race, maintaining a lead of around 11 seconds. Even when his pursuers grabbed a few tenths back, or when he was delayed in traffic, the world champion still had enough pace in reserve to restore his advantage with minimal fuss.

While Alonso made his final stop without incident on lap 44, the second pit sequence would shake things up amongst his pursuers.

Schumacher came in on lap 41 and put on a brand new set of tyres. He took maximum advantage with a searing out lap on which he set the fastest sector two and three times of the whole race. This speed, coupled with Ferrari turning Schumacher around 1.2 seconds quicker than McLaren managed for Raikkonen, saw Schumacher sweep past the McLaren as it exited the pitlane, taking second.

Any hopes that Schumacher might have had of chasing down Alonso were quickly dashed, however, as the Renault simply matched his pace and made it clear that any attempts to get on terms would be futile.

Even in 'cruise mode', Alonso continued to relentlessly churn out mid-1:22 laps, and he eventually beat Schumacher by 13.9 seconds.

Raikkonen could not get back on terms with Schumacher after the pitstop and had to focus on defending from the resurgent Fisichella in the closing laps. The Italian couldn't get close enough, finishing the race a frustrating 1.3 seconds from the podium.

By the end of the race Massa was half a minute behind in fifth place. He had "no particular problems", but did reveal that (unlike Schumacher) he had not been able to save any fresh tyres for the race.

Once he had got ahead of Heidfeld, Montoya went into engine conservation mode and cruised to a very distant sixth.

Seventh place was Heidfeld's reward for a very impressive weekend, his first gear problem not proving so disruptive at the second stop.

His teammate Villeneuve also made it into the points, but had to fight a little harder to do so.

Barrichello held eighth at first, and pulled out a comfortable four second gap over the chasing Rosberg and Villeneuve. But the combination of an early first stop (on lap 19) and the Honda's traditional Sunday afternoon wilting meant that Barrichello soon fell behind both Rosberg and Villeneuve - who stayed out until laps 25 and 27 respectively.

Rosberg managed to fend off Villeneuve during the first stops, somewhat to BMW's surprise, while Barrichello kept them both in sight.

Trulli had also entered the equation by half-distance. Conventional wisdom suggested that he would carry a huge fuel load to compensate for his back row start, but instead Toyota decided to take advantage of their pace on fresh tyres and make the earliest stop of all, on lap 17.

It looked illogical, but it worked very effectively, putting Trulli out in a convenient spot of clear air. He not only leapfrogged Coulthard, but closed to within a few seconds of Barrichello.

Both the Japanese cars would fade away during the final stint, however, so the battle for eighth came down to Rosberg and Villeneuve. The Williams pitted three laps earlier, and despite Rosberg "really pushing", it was Villeneuve who scrabbled out in front after his stop.

"I really took some big risks on those laps on old tyres," said Villeneuve. "People told me married men go slower but I think it is the opposite."

Rosberg never gave up and crossed the line just eight-tenths behind Villeneuve, but the point was BMW's.

Behind the lapped Barrichello and Trulli, Coulthard understeered his way to 12th, and wondered if a trip over a kerb while battling with Villeneuve on lap one might have damaged the Red Bull.

Liuzzi and Klien fought long and hard for 13th. They pitted as one on lap 27, but while Toro Rosso converted Liuzzi to a one-stop strategy at that point, RBR sent Klien on a 14 lap light fuel sprint. It didn't quite work, and Klien summarised his race as "a disaster" after following Liuzzi home.

Christijan Albers drove well to take 15th despite dropping to last at the start. He passed teammate Tiago Monteiro during the first stops and lapped at RBR/STR pace for much of the afternoon, eventually finishing only 13.7 seconds behind Klien.

Meanwhile, Monteiro's delight at reaching Q2 turned to frustration as the additional qualifying mileage left him without new tyres for the race. "That accounted for the major difference between my times and my teammate's," he said.

Three laps behind the leaders, Takuma Sato and Franck Montagny achieved Aguri Suzuki's aim of a double finish. But any joy at this achievement was tempered by the massive gulf separating Super Aguri from the rest of the field at Silverstone, as they lapped three seconds slower than the MF1s.

Race results

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  1h25:251.927
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              (B)  +     13.951
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  +     18.672
 4.  Fisichella    Renault              (M)  +     19.976
 5.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +     31.559
 6.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  +   1:04.769
 7.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (M)  +   1:11.595
 8.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber           (M)  +   1:18.299
 9.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth    (B)  +   1:19.009
10.  Barrichello   Honda                (M)  +     1 lap
11.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap
12.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  +     1 lap
13.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  +     1 lap
14.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  +     1 lap
15.  Albers        MF1-Toyota           (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota           (B)  +     2 laps
17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     3 laps
18.  Montagny      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     3 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:21.599

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Button        Honda                (M)    10
Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)    2
Webber        Williams-Cosworth    (B)    1
R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 8:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        74        1.  Renault              106
 2.  M.Schumacher  51        2.  Ferrari               75
 3.  Raikkonen     33        3.  McLaren-Mercedes      59
 4.  Fisichella    32        4.  Honda                 29
 5.  Montoya       26        5.  BMW-Sauber            17
 6.  Massa         24        6.  Williams-Cosworth     10
 7.  Button        16        7.  Red Bull-Ferrari       8
 8.  Barrichello   13        8.  Toyota                 8
 9.  Heidfeld      10
10.  R.Schumacher   8
11.  Villeneuve     7
12.  Coulthard      7
13.  Webber         6
14.  Rosberg        4
15.  Klien          1

Team-by-Team

RENAULT

Alonso is mildly unhappy with the handling in practice, yet is fastest in all three parts of qualifying, takes pole with a heavier car than his main rivals, and then dominates the entire race. Fisichella is impressive on Friday despite a spin and software problem, but only fifth on the grid. Jumps Massa in the first stops and closes on Raikkonen at the end, but has to settle for fourth.

Verdict: Looking increasingly unstoppable.

Raikkonen is pessimistic after practice, yet qualifies second and hassles Alonso initially. Later falls back but retains second until Schumacher gets ahead in the final pitstops. Hangs onto third despite pressure from Fisichella. Montoya qualifies a disappointing eighth and damages his car in a first corner incident with Villeneuve. Overtakes Barrichello, passes Heidfeld in the pitstops, then cruises to sixth.

Verdict: Edging closer to the front, but late race slump took the shine off a promising weekend.

Schumacher is fastest in final practice but only third on the grid behind the heavier cars of Alonso and Raikkonen. Pushes the latter throughout the race and eventually gets ahead in the final pitstops, but Alonso is long gone. Massa qualifies alongside his team leader and tags along in the opening laps. Loses out to Fisichella in the first stops and gradually falls away in fifth.

Verdict: They came to Silverstone "to win". They didn't. So this must be considered a failure.

Schumacher is pleased to qualify seventh on what he believes is a relatively heavy fuel load, but a dreadful start drops him to 13th, and then he gets tapped into a spin by Speed and collected by Webber, causing a lot of damage.

Trulli is quick in opening practice but engine failure at the start of qualifying leaves him last on the grid. Early stopping strategy works surprisingly well at first, helping him to 11th, but he doesn't have to pace to advance further.

Verdict: An eventful weekend... in a bad way.

Wurz's Friday speed is the sole highlight as Rosberg and Webber struggle for speed. Webber can only manage 17th on the grid and is an innocent victim of Schumacher and Speed's first lap tangle. Rosberg starts 12th, jumps to ninth immediately and then passes Barrichello in the pits. Villeneuve gets ahead during the second sequence, though, and Rosberg cannot reclaim the position despite his best efforts.

Verdict: When they're quick, they break down, when they're slow, they finish (unless a spinning Toyota hits them...)

Barrichello qualifies well in sixth but slips to 10th in the race. But the big story is Button's disastrous home race. He qualifies only 19th after being caught out by a random weight check. Charges to 12th early in the race, before an oil leak pitches him into the gravel after only eight laps.

Verdict: Worse than even the pessimists suspected.

Doornbos' mechanical problems in Friday practice set the tone for the weekend. Coulthard qualifies 11th but angrily accuses Montoya of obstructive driving. He struggles with understeer in the race and ends up 12th, running mostly alone once Button retires and Trulli gets ahead. Klien starts 14th and loses a battle for 13th with Liuzzi after a switch to a very short middle stint fails to pay off.

Verdict: The supermen of Monaco fall back down to earth.

Kubica dominates second practice on Friday, and Heidfeld is second only to Schumacher on Saturday morning. Both Heidfeld and Villeneuve easily reach Q3 and qualify ninth and tenth with relatively heavy fuel loads.

Heidfeld flies up to sixth at the start and fends off Montoya until a gearbox problem delays him at his first stop. Finishes a competitive seventh. Villeneuve escapes unscathed from a first corner clash with Montoya, and spends most of the race chasing Rosberg. Gets ahead at the final stop to secure eighth.

Verdict: Arguably the stars of the weekend.

Monteiro sets some promising practice times and thrills the team by getting a Midland into Q2 for the first time. He starts 16th but then struggles in the race as he used all his new tyres in qualifying. Finishes 16th, behind teammate Albers, whose weekend goes in the opposite direction. He sits out third practice with technical issues, qualifies 18th after running out of time for a second run, then falls to last at the start. But a proactive drive takes him back through to 15th, not far behind Klien.

Verdict: Their claims of progress now have substance.

Liuzzi and Speed are ninth and 10th in third practice and reach Q2, where they go 13th and 15th quickest, although neither is particularly happy with the car. Speed tangles with Schumacher on the first lap and retires. Liuzzi is passed by Button and Trulli early on, but beats Klien to 13th after switching to a unique one stop strategy.

Verdict: A realistic representation of their place in the current pecking order.

Sakon Yamamoto joins as Friday tester, but it's a bad weekend for the race drivers. Sato has a big crash on Saturday morning and has to switch to the spare car, earning an engine change penalty. Beats Montagny off the line and then both run around at the back of the field about 20 seconds apart and a long, long way behind the pack.

Verdict: "The performance of our cars is low," said Suzuki. An accurate assessment.

Lap-by-Lap

Pre-race: Scott Speed has an off-track moment at Farm during formation, but is able to take up 15th place on the grid.

The field streams through Copse on the opening lap © XPB/LAT

Lap 1: On pole position for the fourth straight race, world championship leader Fernando Alonso makes a clean start to lead fellow front-row qualifier Kimi Raikkonen into Copse.

Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa settle into third and fourth ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella, the fast-starting Nick Heidfeld (up from ninth), Juan Pablo Montoya and Rubens Barrichello. At Becketts, Scott Speed edges Ralf Schumacher wide and the German slews across the track into the path of Mark Webber, putting both cars.

Speed pits to retire at the end of the lap and the Safety Car is deployed. Stewards later announce that they will investigate the incident post-race.

Behind Barrichello, Nico Rosberg runs ahead of Jacques Villeneuve, David Coulthard, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Jarno Trulli (who started last after an engine problem denied him the chance to complete a flying lap in yesterday's qualifying session), Jenson Button (up from 19th), Tiago Monteiro, Christijan Albers, Takuma Sato and Franck Montagny.

Lap 4: Race restarts. Montoya tries in vain to usurp Heidfeld on the approach to Copse. Michael Schumacher tries with Raikkonen at Abbey, but that doesn't work either. Alonso leads by 0.5 seconds.

Lap 5: Button passes Trulli for 13th.

Lap 6: Button and Trulli pass Liuzzi and move up to 12th and 13th.

Lap 7: Alonso is edging away and leads by 0.7 seconds.

Lap 9: Alonso is the first driver to break 1:23 seconds - 1:22.997. He leads by 1.4 seconds. Michael Schumacher is a similar distance behind Raikkonen in third. Button spins off to retire amid a cloud of engine smoke.

Lap 12: Alonso posts the latest in a string of fastest laps - 1:22.448 - to extend his lead to 2.1 seconds. The top five are well clear of sixth-placed Heidfeld, who still has Montoya right on his tail.

Lap 14: Another new fastest lap for Alonso: 1:22.114.

Lap 17: Trulli makes the race's first scheduled stop.

Lap 18: Alonso starts to lap slower traffic. Michael Schumacher pits and drops to seventh, just in front of Barrichello.

Fernando Alonso pits his Renault © LAT

Lap 19: Raikkonen, Massa and Barrichello pit. Alonso laps in 1:21.873.

Lap 20: Montoya pits. Alonso leads Fisichella by 10.5.

Lap 21: Alonso laps in 1:21.573. Fisichella and Sato pit. Fisichella gets out ahead of Massa.

Lap 22: Alonso pits and retains his lead. Heidfeld runs second. Monteiro pits.

Lap 23: Heidfeld and Michael Schumacher - third and fourth - lose a little time in lapped traffic. Montagny pits.

Lap 24: Alonso leads Heidfeld by 5.5 seconds.

Lap 25: Heidfeld pits and is delayed rejoining. He slips to eighth, behind Montoya. Rosberg, Coulthard and Albers also stop.

Lap 26: Alonso leads Raikkonen by 12.6 seconds. Michael Schumacher, Fisichella, Massa, Villeneuve, Montoya and Heidfeld complete the top eight.

Lap 27: Villeneuve, Liuzzi and Klien stop for fuel and tyres.

Lap 30: Half-distance. Alonso is 12.7 seconds clear of Raikkonen, who has Michael Schumacher just 1.3 seconds behind him. Fisichella, Massa, Montoya, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Villeneuve, Barrichello, Trulli, Coulthard, Klien, Liuzzi and Albers are on the lead lap. Monteiro, Sato and Montagny are one adrift.

Lap 33: Raikkonen is edging closer to the leader, but only slightly: his deficit is 11.2 seconds.

Lap 36: Michael Schumacher has closed to within 1.0 seconds of Raikkonen.

Lap 37: Trulli makes his second stop.

Lap 38: Klien passes Coulthard for 11th.

Lap 40: Alonso leads by 11.1 seconds. Only the top 10 remain on the lead lap. Monteiro pits.

Lap 41: Michael Schumacher pits, as does Klien.

Lap 42: Raikkonen pits. Michael Schumacher sets "purples" in sectors two and three, despite a fresh fuel load. Barrichello pits.

Lap 43: Raikkonen emerges from the pits behind Michael Schumacher.

Lap 44: Alonso pits and Fisichella leads.

Lap 45: Fisichella, Massa, Montoya, Rosberg and Coulthard pit. Alonso is 12.4 seconds clear of Michael Schumacher.

Lap 46: Heidfeld pits.

Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher celebrate on the podium with Renault Race Engine Engineer Remi Taffin © LAT

Lap 47: Michael Schumacher is fractionally faster than Alonso, but remains 12.2 seconds adrift.

Lap 48: The gap between the first two comes down to 11.7 seconds. Villeneuve pits.

Lap 49: Alonso ups his pace and laps at the same pace as Michael Schumacher.

Lap 50: With the main stops over, Alonso leads by 12.3 seconds from Michael Schumacher, Raikkonen, the closing Fisichella, Massa, Montoya, Heidfeld, Villeneuve, Rosberg, Barrichello and the lapped Trulli, Coulthard, Liuzzi, Klien, Albers, Monteiro, Sato and Montagny.

Lap 53: Michael Schumacher laps in 1:21.934 seconds - a personal best - but remains 11.1 seconds in arrears.

Lap 54: Fisichella closes to within 1.0 seconds of Raikkonen.

Lap 56: Fisichella is 0.9 seconds adrift of Raikkonen.

Lap 60: Alonso wins by 13.9 seconds from Michael Schumacher. Raikkonen, Fisichella, Massa, Montoya, Heidfeld and Villeneuve complete the scorers.