The Complete 2006 San Marino GP Review

So were Michael Schumacher and Ferrari's particularly ecstatic celebrations in the Imola pitlane a sign of the huge relief they felt at having taken a 'genuine' win after eighteen months of heartache? Or were they making the most of this moment of glory because it may be the sole highlight of their season?

In 2002 and 2003, Schumacher's Imola wins marked the point at which he really started to take control of the championship (a few subsequent scares in '03 notwithstanding). In 2004, it was just one of a crushing sequence.

Last year, Schumacher failed to win at Imola, but he still came from 13th on the grid to second and only Fernando Alonso's stoic defence kept him off the top spot. But - Indianapolis farce aside - that was the only time in 2005 that Ferrari came remotely close to victory.

So with that in mind, many predicted that while Ferrari (and, crucially, Bridgestone) would have the advantage at Imola, this performance would be a one-off. They may have come close to beating Renault in Bahrain, but the disasters of Sepang and Melbourne were taken as evidence that Ferrari could not be title contenders in 2006.

McLaren's Ron Dennis was among those making such prophecies, and Renault seemed to agree with him after a race in which Alonso undoubtedly had the pace to beat Schumacher, but probably didn't need to anyway, having already established a secure championship lead.

"This track was never a good track for us, but we were still the fastest car today, so I am very confident for the next races and the championship," said Alonso. "Kimi [Raikkonen] and [Giancarlo] Fisichella were second in the championship and I took more points off them, so championship-wise, it's perfect.

"We also have to remember that Ferrari had a very bad season last year but here at Imola they were one second quicker than us. Imola is quite a different circuit, so we will find out in the next two or three races which cars are quick in 2006."

Schumacher was unequivocal in his belief that his Ferrari will be one of those 'quick cars'.

"We should be pretty good from now on, honestly," he said. "At the end of the day, whoever maximises their opportunities will be in front."

That is exactly how Ferrari won the San Marino Grand Prix. Schumacher got every drop of speed out of the car in qualifying, as his one second advantage over teammate Felipe Massa showed. That put him in a position to control the race, whereas Alonso probably could have qualified better than fifth despite his heavier fuel load. His failure to do so left him vulnerable to traffic and delaying tactics, such as those surely employed by Massa as the first stops neared (although Jean Todt insisted Massa's loss of pace was tyre related).

Schumacher could do nothing about the rate at which Alonso caught him, but from then on he drove a supremely intelligent race, resisting the temptation to push and try to establish a gap in the final stint and instead conserving his tyres and doing just enough to win. It would have been very easy for Ferrari to lose this race, but they didn't.

Given Ferrari's success in recent years, it would be patronising to dismiss their Imola win as a flash in the pan. But a similar performance at the next race is still required to confirm Ferrari's return to full competitiveness.

A 62-lap race that features just one on-track overtaking move ought to be tedious in the extreme. This race was anything but. That was down to the presence of two equally fast, cerebral and combative drivers, with comparably strategically inventive teams behind them, running nose to tail at the front of the field.

The pundits may be sceptical about the longevity of Ferrari's revival, but the neutrals must be praying for the Scuderia to keep this form up, for Schumacher versus Alonso has the potential to become one of the greatest F1 rivalries of all time.

Practice

The first surprise of practice was the shape of the track itself. The high speed slalom/ski jump of the old Variante Alta had been replaced by a more traditional (and therefore slower and less spectacular) chicane, with the main challenge now provided by the slipperiness of the newly laid tarmac in this section.

The drivers did not exactly flood out of the pitlane to sample this reconfiguration, and instead the opening hour was dominated as usual by Formula One's foremost understudies - Anthony Davidson, Alex Wurz and Robert Kubica.

The Honda and BMW test drivers repeatedly swapped the top spot until Wurz's 1:25.132 lap put the Williams a second clear after 50 minutes.

Then Michael Schumacher emerged from the pits. The Ferrari's first lap was 1.1 seconds off the pace but Schumacher's middle sector was the fastest so far. Next time around, he usurped Wurz with a 1:24.751 lap that would stand as the Friday best.

The afternoon session hinted that the race might be a welcome repeat of Schumacher and Fernando Alonso's unforgettable Imola battle of 2005.

After their first serious laps of the session, Schumacher led Alonso by 0.8 seconds, but the Spaniard cut that deficit to 0.2 seconds on a later run.

With 10 minutes to go, Davidson (who had earlier spun at Piratella) split the big guns. Alonso then came out for a final run and regained second - just 0.004 seconds behind Schumacher - despite briefly taking to the grass at the Variante Bassa.

Moments later they were all overshadowed by Kubica, who pipped Schumacher by 0.049 seconds. Should Nick Heidfeld or Jacques Villeneuve trip over a doormat or suffer a tennis mishap this season, BMW clearly have a very able substitute on hand.

Kubica's moment of glory was brief, as both Alonso and Schumacher were on last-gasp flying laps. Alonso finally grabbed first place with a 1:25.043, while Schumacher was quickest in sector two again, but 0.328 seconds slower around the lap - still sufficient to snatch second.

Schumacher dominated the Saturday morning session. Ralf Schumacher, Felipe Massa, Jenson Button and Alonso all headed the list for a while, before the resurgent former champion lapped in 1:25.014 halfway through the hour.

His brother Ralf was in a hurry having lost much of Friday to electrical problems, and he beat Michael by 0.009 seconds before improving to a 1:24.667 next time through. But nine minutes later, the senior Schumacher set the 1:23.787 that would stand as the practice benchmark.

Alonso eventually closed to within 0.281 seconds, while Ralf slipped down to sixth later on.

Refreshingly, the weekend had so far passed without any engine change penalties, but two star names would have to put their engines into spare chassis for qualifying.

Nico Rosberg did significant damage to his Williams with a crash at the Villeneuve chicane near the end of third practice, while Juan Pablo Montoya had to sit out the entire session after a comparatively mundane fuel pressure problem.

Practice round up

Sorted by total laps from all three sessions

Qualifying

Part one

Midland F1 had been celebrating on Friday afternoon, when Christijan Albers lapped within 1.7 seconds of the fastest time. The Dutchman was only 2.016 seconds from Michael Schumacher's time on Saturday morning as well, and the slightly beleaguered team had high hopes of getting beyond qualifying one for the first time.

"Technical issues" ended their dreams pretty quickly. Tiago Monteiro and Albers were back in their usual 19th and 20th positions, ahead only of the Super Aguris. In fact, Takuma Sato was within 0.6 seconds of early spinner Albers' time, and Aguri Suzuki declared that Midland would be in their sights on Sunday. The under-pressure Yuji Ide was a more respectable 1.6 seconds behind his team leader this time.

Both Toro Rosso drivers had been in the top ten for much of final practice, but Scott Speed was eliminated after the first part of qualifying, highlighting traffic as the cause of his 18th place.

Christian Klien could not warm his tyres properly on the out-lap because the Red Bull's pit speed limiter kept cutting in, and the result was 17th position and an early exit. Adding insult to injury, Klien had actually matched 16th placed Nick Heidfeld's 1:25.410 lap, but as the Austrian set the time second, he would be the one left on the sidelines.

At the front, Fernando Alonso took first qualifying unusually seriously and beat Kimi Raikkonen by 0.7 seconds. Michael Schumacher was a coy eighth.

Part two

Schumacher was comfortably fastest with a 1:22.579 lap after nine minutes. But all eyes were on the unfeasibly tight times in the middle of the pack. The difference between early humiliation and a passport to the final shoot-out was agonisingly small at Imola, with just 0.053 seconds covering fifth to 11th places at the end of qualifying two.

After their earlier scare, the BMWs took to the track immediately. But their banker laps proved insufficient, and with four minutes to go, Jacques Villeneuve and Heidfeld were down in 12th and 15th places.

The Toyotas had flirted with disaster in qualifying one, and Ralf Schumacher did so again in this session - only jumping out of danger with two minutes remaining. Juan Pablo Montoya left it just as late, and his improvement was not as substantial as Schumacher's, so the McLaren remained on the bubble.

Mark Webber did not even emerge from the pits until the last possible moment, but this tactic paid off. He moved straight to fifth place, knocking Giancarlo Fisichella out of the top ten. The Renault was already back in the garage and had no hope of responding. Fisichella was consigned to 11th, while teammate Alonso was 0.028 seconds faster but safe in seventh.

Heidfeld's final effort to qualify ended in a crash at Rivazza, and ironically the yellows for his shunt interrupted teammate Villeneuve's crucial lap. "I'm less than two-tenths from P5 and I know there was that time was in the car," he grimaced.

Nico Rosberg blamed small errors for the 0.206 seconds between his time and top ten qualification, 14th placed David Coulthard continued his run of midfield starts, and Tonio Liuzzi reckoned that 16th position was Toro Rosso's "maximum".

Part three

Paddock wisdom suggested that there was a distinct strategic split amongst those who had qualified for the top ten.

Webber's low key 10th place was seemingly indicative of a long first stint, while McLaren and Renault appeared to be reasonably relaxed - if far from ecstatic - about Alonso, Montoya and Raikkonen's fifth, seventh and eighth places.

Certainly none of the trio made much effort to get into the pole battle, and in any case it was doubtful that anyone had the pace to stop Schumacher from securing the top spot.

The Ferrari claimed provisional pole with a 1:23.471 after 15 minutes, and even though that mark looked under no real threat, Schumacher still improved to 1:22.795 right at the end of the session. The result gave him a clean sweep of Formula One records, as his 66th pole position took Schumacher ahead of Ayrton Senna's mark.

Schumacher gave his standard response about such records being "something to look at when you have finished racing", but it was unlike the German - usually particularly attentive to Senna related matters - not to reflect on the poignancy of beating the late Brazilian's record at the very circuit where Ayrton had both set his final pole and lost his life 12 years earlier.

Honda had been a little off the pace during practice, but it was no surprise to see Jenson Button joining Schumacher on the front row regardless. The fact that it took him until the final lap of the session to snatch the position from his teammate Rubens Barrichello was more of a shock.

Barrichello had made optimistic, if not emphatically positive, noises about getting to grips with the Honda during recent testing. It now appeared that he might have been playing down his progress, for the Brazilian was within a few tenths of Button all weekend, and back where he belonged in qualifying.

Fourth place, and the 0.907-second gap to team leader Schumacher in particular, was not what Felipe Massa had hoped for in his first qualifying session on Ferrari's home ground.

The Toyota drivers were also a little peeved - Ralf Schumacher feeling that he could have easily found the tenth that would have moved him from sixth to fourth, while Jarno Trulli said that his underwhelming ninth place was a consequence of being blocked by Michael Schumacher at a critical moment.

Qualifying results

The Race

Michael Schumacher accelerated into a clear lead at the start, with Jenson Button comfortably holding onto second, but things were getting a little more crowded in the leaders' wake.

The narrow approach to the modern Tamburello allows little room for manoeuvre, as Fernando Alonso, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella and Nico Rosberg discovered. They all made notably rapid starts and looked set to gain places, only to run out of space and drop back, although Alonso was at least able to follow Felipe Massa past the slow starting Rubens Barrichello.

Aguri Suzuki had urged his drivers to try and jump the Midlands on the first lap. Yuji Ide took this instruction rather too seriously, tagging Christijan Albers into a violent roll at the second part of the Villeneuve chicane.

Albers was unhurt and understandably scathing about Ide's driving. The Japanese would later receive a reprimand from the stewards and was perhaps fortunate to escape more serious censure. A more immediate problem was his damaged front suspension, but Ide would rejoin after a 12-minute pitstop.

The safety car popped out for two laps while the MF1 was craned away, prompting fears that Honda would suffer a repeat of their Melbourne tyre temperature disaster. But in the hotter conditions of Imola, Button made a flawless restart and tagged along behind Schumacher when the safety car pitted.

Pre-race expectations were that the race would become a tortoise-and-hare affair, with the fuel-light Ferraris and Button scampering away from the heavier Alonso. The early laps did not quite turn out that way, as Schumacher's series of fastest laps proved only slightly quicker than the chasing group's - Alonso included.

After 10 laps, Schumacher's lead over Button was just 2.4 seconds, with Massa a further 2.3 seconds back and 1.6 seconds ahead of Alonso.

Barrichello could not consistently match the leaders in fifth and had Ralf Schumacher and Montoya close behind him. Trulli briefly ran eighth but retired with steering problems after just five laps. The Italian's 2006 season still hasn't really begun.

Mark Webber had got a great run out of Tosa on the opening lap and bravely nipped inside Kimi Raikkonen into Piratella. This would prove to be the only overtaking move of the entire race, much to Raikkonen's chagrin, as he shadowed Webber without ever looking capable of passing.

Jacques Villeneuve ran 10th ahead of Fisichella and Rosberg early on, with David Coulthard a solitary 13th in what was proving to be a miserable race for Red Bull's quartet.

The other three-quarters of Dietrich Mateschitz's F1 investment was trapped behind Nick Heidfeld's off-the-pace BMW-Sauber. Tonio Liuzzi headed the queue, before a quick spin at the Variante Alta dropped him behind Scott Speed and Christian Klien.

With the whole lead group lapping at a similar speed, pitstops were clearly required to break the deadlock. Honda were first to blink, with Barrichello coming in from fifth on lap 14. In hindsight (compared to their subsequent pit problems), this stop was only a minor disaster, as the crew coped admirably with a fuel rig failure and quickly attached Button's rig instead. Nevertheless, Barrichello was stationery for over 15 seconds and tumbled back into the midfield, where he would remain to the end.

Button stopped a lap later and lost a few seconds with wheel nut problems, with Ralf Schumacher revealing himself as the other three-stopper when he pitted on lap 16.

Alonso was now up to third behind Massa, but the gap between himself and Schumacher had gradually increased as the leader put on a spurt.

Then, Massa's curiously convenient loss of pace dropped Alonso further behind, as the Brazilian's laptimes grew from mid 1:25s to low 1:27s prior to his stop on lap 19.

Now Alonso trailed Schumacher by 13 seconds, and with the Ferraris clearly two-stopping as well (contrary to many post-qualifying predictions), victory looked like a long shot for the championship leader.

Staying out five laps longer than Schumacher did not help Alonso much either, as he only trimmed 1.9 seconds from the Ferrari's advantage during this period. With so little between the leaders' laptimes, Schumacher's 11-second margin looked secure as the race approached half distance.

Button was now a lonely third, with Massa coming under pressure from Montoya after the McLaren's relatively late pitstop (on lap 23). Another impressive drive on a heavy fuel load saw Villeneuve rise to sixth before his lap-27 stop, but his efforts were wasted by two stuck wheel nuts, which cost him 18 seconds and dropped the BMW out of points contention.

The closeness of the midfield pack made Villeneuve's delay particularly damaging, as he had Webber, Fisichella, Raikkonen, Ralf Schumacher and Rosberg (with Fisichella and Nico yet to stop) running right behind him when he pitted.

Suddenly, the laptimes were anything but close at the front of the field. In a perfect reversal of the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix, Alonso began tearing vast chunks from Schumacher's lead as unexpected tyre graining left the Ferrari struggling for grip.

The Renault was consistently 1.3-1.5 seconds quicker than Schumacher, and by lap 34 the leaders were absolutely nose to tail. But could Alonso create an overtaking opportunity where Schumacher had failed a year earlier?

Button fans have grown reluctantly accustomed to miserable Sunday afternoons this year, and the Imola race would provide yet more disappointment for them. The Honda driver came in for the second of his three stops on lap 30, with a podium place still looking possible if the chasing Massa continued to delay Montoya.

Then, it all went horribly wrong, as chief mechanic Alastair Gibson lifted the lollipop too soon. He frantically lowered it as Button pulled away, but (despite smacking Jenson across the helmet with the sign) the Honda kept moving and took the fuel rig with it, scattering the mechanics - who luckily suffered nothing worse than bruising.

There was a small fuel spillage as the hose was wrenched from the connector, which remained attached to the Honda. Button stopped in the pitlane so that this could be removed, and then accelerated back into the fray in eighth. Impressively, the team's swift reaction meant that the entire shambles only cost Button 15 seconds.

"He (Gibson) works so hard on pitstops, he has done thousands of the things, and that is one mistake in all the years I have been here," said Button. "You cannot be too hard on the guy, it won't happen again."

At the front, Alonso was clearly quicker than Schumacher all around the lap. He regularly came within millimetres of the Ferrari's gearbox on the apex of Tosa, but actually getting a run at the leader was proving as impossible as predicted. Alonso repeatedly jinked to the inside approaching the Variante Bassa as well, more in hope than expectation.

This dice was clearly going to come down to the pitstops, and in theory it would be relatively simple for Alonso to stay out later and leapfrog Schumacher. But Renault's strategic ace Pat Symonds had doubts.

According to his assessment of the first pitstops, Alonso was little heavier than Schumacher, if at all. And the Ferrari's out-laps had been perfectly competitive. There was no guarantee that the graining would be repeated on Schumacher's final set of tyres, whereas right now Alonso could clearly go quicker than the 1:27-1:28s that he was currently constrained to.

So Renault brought Alonso in early on lap 41. The stop was superb, the car stationary for just 6.7 seconds, but the rest of the plan quickly unravelled. Inevitably, Ferrari reacted by bringing Schumacher in next time around, and with no need to drive defensively, Schumacher actually increased his pace on his in-lap. Alonso's out-lap was not quite quick enough, and the Ferrari exited the pitlane with a larger lead than for some time.

Alonso was soon back on Schumacher's tail, and jinking around as before. But this time neither driver was showing his full hand. In an effort to avoid graining, Schumacher drove deliberately conservatively, lapping in the 1:26 region but with more speed in his pocket if required.

Similarly, Renault turned Alonso's engine down and saved everything for a planned all-out assault in the final five laps. But just moments after finally getting the green light to attack, Alonso ran wide in the Villeneuve chicane and dropped two seconds behind.

Schumacher took this slip as the cue to reveal his true potential, throwing in a couple of quick sectors to dissuade Alonso from mounting another charge. After 22 laps of palpitation-inducing tension, the race for victory had finally been resolved in Ferrari's favour.

The rest of the field had been rather overshadowed by Schumacher and Alonso's contest. Montoya eventually claimed third by pitting three laps later than Massa, and the Colombian then went into cruise mood, sitting just far enough in front of the Ferrari for the remainder of the race as his teammate Raikkonen closed in on it. But the Finn could not pass Massa on the road either and ended up fifth.

Raikkonen had spent the majority of the race staring at the back of Webber's Williams, which finally relinquished fifth by stopping six laps sooner than the McLaren during the final pit sequence. This disadvantage was exacerbated by Webber's lack of pace on full tanks, and the Williams eventually fell 20 seconds behind Raikkonen.

Webber's sixth place briefly came under threat from the recovering Button, before Fisichella appeared on the Honda's tail near the end. Even on an optimum late-stopping strategy, the Italian had struggled to make progress through the traffic and had to settle for eighth.

Ralf Schumacher closed on this group in the final stages, having dropped out of the points thanks to a less than ideal three-stop strategy and poor grip in the early part of each stint.

Barrichello never got back onto the pace after his first stop problems. Being dumped into the midfield traffic did not help his cause, but even in clear air he was lapping up to a second off teammate Button's pace and complained about locking rear brakes again after the race. He eventually finished 10th, holding off Rosberg, who never had the speed or the clear air to feature in this race.

Points might have been a possibility for Villeneuve but for those wheel nut gremlins. In any case, his BMW was less competitive in the middle stint, and he ended up 12th, having comfortably outshone his 13th placed teammate Heidfeld.

Liuzzi recovered from his early rotation to beat Speed to 14th, but Red Bull's 'senior' cars retired after thoroughly underwhelming races. Klien had hydraulic problems on lap 40; Coulthard broke a driveshaft on lap 47.

Tiago Monteiro's MF1 was the final finisher, as both Super Aguris eventually crashed out. Rear suspension problems put Ide into the Variante Alta barrier on lap 33, 11 laps before Sato ended up in the Rivazza gravel.

Schumacher's final margin was 2.096 seconds, far larger than it looked like it would be for much of the afternoon, but perhaps less than many anticipated prior to the race. Even Alonso had picked Ferrari as favourites for Imola, and Schumacher's searing practice speed encouraged such predictions.

With eighteen months having passed since Ferrari last won a 'proper' race (few would count the 2005 United States GP as such), Schumacher's victory was massively significant to the team and their fans, and the celebrations in the pitlane were deservedly euphoric.

But Alonso and Renault did not look too downcast. Their championship lead remained ample, and they had proved to be the fastest package even on what might have been their weakest track on the calendar. Perhaps the full importance of this result will only become clear at the Nurburgring in a fortnight's time.

Race results

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              (B)  1h31:06.486
 2.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  +     2.096
 3.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  +    15.868
 4.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +    17.096
 5.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  +    17.524
 6.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth    (B)  +    37.739
 7.  Button        Honda                (M)  +    39.635
 8.  Fisichella    Renault              (M)  +    40.200
 9.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +    45.511
10.  Barrichello   Honda                (M)  +  1:17.851
11.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth    (B)  +  1:19.675
12.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber           (M)  +  1:22.370
13.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (M)  +     1 lap
14.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  +     1 lap
15.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  +     1 lap
16.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota           (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:24.569

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)    48
Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)    45
Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)    41
Ide           Super Aguri-Honda    (B)    24
Trulli        Toyota               (B)     7
Albers        MF1-Toyota           (B)     1


World Championship standings, round 4:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        36        1.  Renault               51
 2.  M.Schumacher  21        2.  McLaren-Mercedes      33
 3.  Raikkonen     18        3.  Ferrari               30
 4.  Montoya       15        4.  Honda                 15
 5.  Fisichella    15        5.  BMW-Sauber            10
 6.  Button        13        6.  Williams-Cosworth      8
 7.  Massa          9        7.  Toyota                 7
 8.  R.Schumacher   7        8.  Red Bull-Ferrari       2
 9.  Webber         6
10.  Villeneuve     5
11.  Heidfeld       5
12.  Rosberg        2
13.  Barrichello    2
14.  Klien          1
15.  Coulthard      1

Team by team

RENAULT

Alonso is a fuel-heavy fifth on the grid but admits this is not ideal. He progresses to second during the first pitstop sequence, then demolishes Schumacher's 13 second lead as the Ferrari hits tyre troubles. But he cannot pass on track and is outfoxed in the pits, so has to settle for second. Fisichella misses the second qualifying cut by a tiny margin. From 11th on the grid he can only progress to eighth in the race.

Verdict: Still the kind of 'bad day' that most would love to have.

Montoya does well to out-qualify Raikkonen despite missing final practice with fuel pressure problems and subsequently switching to the spare car. The team says that their fourth row positions are the result of fuel strategy, but neither is as heavy as Alonso, and they spend most of the race in traffic. Montoya eventually makes it to third (his first podium of 2006), Raikkonen is trapped behind Massa in fifth.

Verdict: Time to show that jaw-dropping speed that Ron Dennis keeps promising.

Schumacher dominates practice and qualifying, and gradually pulls away in the race. Then tyre graining threatens to negate all his hard work, as Alonso closes right in. But Schumacher drives a very canny race to keep the Renault behind, protect his tyres and cover Renault's attempted strategic ploy.

Ferrari's victory drought is finally over. Massa underperforms in qualifying and starts fourth. He delays Alonso in the first stint and then has grip problems in the middle stages. Loses out to Montoya during the final stops but fends off Raikkonen for fourth at the end.

Verdict: A superb victory against the odds, but what does the future hold?

Electrical problems interrupt Schumacher's Friday programme but he rebounds to qualify sixth. A three stop plan drops him back into the midfield pack, and a lack of pace early in each stint doesn't help. Eventually finishes ninth. Trulli has yet another wasted weekend. Unhappy with ninth on the grid, he retires from eighth after five laps with a steering column problem.

Verdict: Not slow, but not good enough to earn points on this occasion.

Webber starts ninth with a heavy fuel load and puts a great move on Raikkonen on the first lap. He holds off the McLaren for most of the race, despite struggling with the handling immediately after each stop.

This eventually proves critical during the final pit sequence, and Webber has to settle for sixth, resisting Button and Fisichella's late charges. Rosberg crashes heavily in practice, qualifies 13th and makes little progress in the race, finishing 11th.

Verdict: Still clinging onto the lead group. Rosberg had the kind of weekend that rookies are allowed (occasionally).

After a low key practice performance, Button and the resurgent Barrichello qualify second and third, helped by light three stop fuel loads. Button keeps Schumacher in sight in the first stint. Premature lollipop raising causes a disastrous second stop and his mechanics are lucky to avoid injury.

This incident ends Button's podium hopes, but he salvages seventh. Barrichello has fuel rig problems of a less spectacular kind at his first stop, and subsequently falls off the pace, struggling with the brakes again. Finishes a distant 10th.

Verdict: Genuine improvements interspersed with calamities.

Coulthard and Klien are off the pace all weekend, qualifying 14th and 17th, and then racing in similar positions (Klien amongst the Toro Rossos all afternoon) until driveshaft and hydraulic failures respectively send them into the pits. "I honestly don't know where we are in the field at the moment," said DC on Friday. He soon found out...

Verdict: Arguably Red Bull's least impressive performance since entering F1.

Kubica's Friday pace bodes well, but neither driver makes it into top ten qualifying - Heidfeld crashing during his final attempt and ending up 15th, while slowing for the consequent yellows consigns Villeneuve to 12th.

The Canadian drives a strong opening stint on a heavy fuel load and runs sixth before pitting. Wheel nut problems then cost him dearly, and despite some very fast late laps he finishes 13th. Heidfeld is not on Villeneuve's pace and spends much of the race holding up Red Bull owned cars on the way to 14th.

Verdict: Villeneuve deserved a lot better; a rare 'off' weekend for Heidfeld.

Albers' practice performance (less than two seconds off the pace) bodes well, with Monteiro also confident despite struggling badly on old tyres on Friday. But neither driver gets beyond the first qualifying session, with engine software glitches causing an early spin for Albers, who starts 20th, a place behind Monteiro.

A crass move by Ide sends Albers rolling into retirement on the first lap. Monteiro makes it to the finish but is a long way off the pace of the rest of the field (Super Aguri excepted).

Verdict: A desperate disappointment after the promise of practice.

After a few encouraging times in practice, 16th and 18th on the grid is rather disappointing for Liuzzi and Speed. Like everyone else, they struggle to make progress in the race, although Liuzzi doesn't help himself by spinning at the Variante Alta early on. He recovers to beat Speed to 14th. The team are encouraged by the fact that they were being held up by Heidfeld and Klien at different stages.

Verdict: "A so-so race" was Liuzzi's summary. That seems an accurate analysis.

Sato and Ide bring up the rear as expected, perhaps edging a little closer to the pace. The gap between the teammates definitely narrows, but Ide undoes this good work by tipping Albers into a roll on the first lap.

He rejoins 12 laps down after suspension repairs and later ends the race in the Variante Alta barrier courtesy of rear suspension failure. Sato is heading for last when he goes off at Rivazza in the closing stages.

Verdict: New car desperately needed, but will Ide be around to benefit from it?

Lap by lap

Lap 1: Starting from pole position for a record-setting 66th time in his Formula One career, Michael Schumacher makes a clean getaway to lead fellow front-row starter Jenson Button into Tamburello.

The start of the San Marino Grand Prix © LAT

Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso vault Rubens Barrichello to take third and fourth. Ralf Schumacher lies sixth from Juan Pablo Montoya, Jarno Trulli, Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen, Jacques Villeneuve, Giancarlo Fisichella, Nico Rosberg, David Coulthard, Nick Heidfeld, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Scott Speed, Christian Klien, Tiago Monteiro and Takuma Sato.

The Safety Car is soon out, though, after Yuji Ide tips Christijan Albers into a spectacular roll at Villeneuve. The Dutchman is quickly released and walks away. Ide pits at the end of the lap. The stewards announce a post-race investigation into the incident.

Lap 3: Race restarts. Michael Schumacher pulls away to lead Button by 1.0s. Ide pits again.

Lap 4: The leader posts a 1:26.456s and extends his advantage to 1.2s. The order remains unchanged.

Lap 5: Michael Schumacher laps in 1:26.186s and leads by 1.5s. Trulli pits and retires. Liuzzi spins at Variante Alta and drops from 16th to 18th.

Lap 7: Michael Schumacher ups his pace again - 1:25.998s - to lead by 2.1s. World championship leader Alonso is 5.1s adrift in fourth.

Lap 10: Michael Schumacher sets a new fastest lap - 1:25.708s - and is 2.4s clear of Button. Massa is another 2.2s adrift, with Alonso 1.6s behind the Brazilian and comfortably clear of the rest.

Lap 12: Ide rejoins after a lengthy rest. Michael Schumacher stretches his lead to 3.0s for the first time. Klien clips the grass at Variante Alta.

Lap 14: Michael Schumacher laps in 1:25.218s. Barrichello is the first of the leading group to make a scheduled stop. He drops from fifth to 13th, behind regular sparring partner Coulthard.

Lap 15: Button pits and rejoins in eighth.

Lap 16: Ralf Schumacher pits and slips from fourth to 10th.

Midland's Tiago Monteiro passes Aguri Suzuki's Takuma Sato © LAT

Lap 17: Michael Schumacher leads by 10.2s from Massa, who has Alonso on his tail. Monteiro pits.

Lap 19: Massa pits and rejoins seventh, behind Button.

Lap 20: Leading by 13.5s, Michael Schumacher pits. He resumes second, 7.3s adrift of Alonso.

Lap 21: Monteiro passes Sato for 18th.

Lap 22: Raikkonen is the first McLaren driver to pit.

Lap 23: Alonso sets fastest lap: 1:24.569s. Montoya and Webber pit.

Lap 24: Alonso leads by 8.7s. Speed pits.

Lap 25: Alonso pits. Michael Schumacher resumes the lead. Liuzzi and Sato pit.

Lap 27: Villeneuve, Rosberg and Coulthard pit.

Lap 28: Michael Schumacher leads but Alonso - 8.5s adrift - is closing.

Lap 29: Alonso is within 7.3s of Michael Schumacher. Fisichella is the last driver to come in for fuel and tyres.

Lap 30: Button makes his second stop, but sets off with the refuelling rig still attached and loses time while the mess is sorted out.

Lap 31: Michael Schumacher leads by 4.6s from Alonso. Massa is third from Montoya, Webber, Raikkonen, Ralf Schumacher, Button, Barrichello, Fisichella, Rosberg, Coulthard, Villeneuve, Heidfeld, Speed, Klien, Liuzzi, Monteiro and Sato.

Lap 32: Ralf Schumacher makes his second stop and drops from seventh to 10th.

Lap 33: Alonso closes to within 2.4s...

Lap 34: ...and 0.4s. Barrichello pits for the second time and slumps from ninth to 13th.

Red Bull's Christian Klien ahead of Toro Rosso's Tonio Liuzzi © LAT

Lap 35: The leaders are as one - it's 2005 in reverse. Massa is 20s adrift in third.

Lap 37: Alonso has a gentle peep down the inside at Tosa before tucking back into line. There are just 0.2 seconds in it. Monteiro pits. Michael Schumacher looks to have some kind of problem - he is two seconds off the pace and Massa is now only 14.6s in arrears. The lapped cars of Klien and Liuzzi are running at the same speed as the leaders, right in their slipstream.

Lap 40: Klien pits and retires.

Lap 41: Alonso and Massa peel in for fuel and tyres.

Lap 42: Michael Schumacher, Webber and Speed do likewise. Michael Schumacher rejoins just in front of Alonso. Montoya leads.

Lap 44: Montoya and Button pit. Ralf Schumacher passes Webber for seventh.

Lap 45: It's as you were at the front, with Michael Schumacher 0.5s ahead of Alonso. Raikkonen and Montoya run third and fourth.

Lap 46: Ralf Schumacher and Coulthard pit.

Lap 47: Raikkonen pits and rejoins sixth, behind Montoya, Massa and Fisichella. Coulthard slows to a crawl and pits.

Lap 48: Alonso runs wide at the second Rivazza, moments after Sato had gone off at the same corner. Fisichella, Rosberg and Villeneuve pit.

Lap 50: Alonso continues to apply the pressure, 0.3s behind Michael Schumacher. Montoya, Massa, Raikkonen, Webber, Button, Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, Rosberg, Heidfeld and Villeneuve complete the unlapped runners.

Lap 51: Heidfeld pits.

Lap 55: Seven to go and the status quo remains unchanged.

Ferrari's Michael Schumacher wins ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso © LAT

Lap 59: Alonso runs slightly wide at Villeneuve and his deficit extends from 0.3s to 2.2s/

Lap 60: Alonso has a minor wobble at the second Rivazza but continues to press on.

Down the order, Raikkonen is pushing Massa for fourth and Fisichella is within a second of seventh-placed Button.

Lap 62: Michael Schumacher scores his first win of the year - and the 85th of his F1 career - 2.0s clear of Alonso. Montoya, Massa, Raikkonen, Webber, Button and Fisichella complete the scorers.