Discounting the six-car shambles that was the 2005 US Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher's 85th career win marked his first "real" triumph since the Japanese Grand Prix of 2004 - the longest drought of his Formula One career.
The seven-time world champion successfully fended off the challenge of Fernando Alonso - a mirror image of 12 months ago, when Schumacher, as reigning champion, was all over the back of Alonso, the man who would be king.
Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher at Imola in 1994 © LAT |
Although the Spaniard only finished second, the championship leader can still be content with his afternoon's work, as he further extended his streak of consecutive podium finishes to 10. Only one man has ever had a streak reaching into double figures... the ubiquitous Schumacher, who appeared on the podium for 19 straight Grands Prix in 2001-02.
As if the German didn't already hold enough records, Imola 2006 proved to be the weekend in which he finally overhauled the late Ayrton Senna's holy grail of 65 career pole positions.