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Fernando Alonso won the world championship, Felipe Massa won the race, but it is Michael Schumacher's contribution to a thrilling Brazilian Grand Prix that will live longest in the memory.
Having only won once in his career when starting lower than seventh on the grid (something he's done 24 times overall), perhaps we shouldn't have expected Schumacher to be a contender for victory at Interlagos, but there's no doubting that his pace was more than good enough.
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Michael Schumacher (Ferrari 248 F1) © LAT |
After stopping for a new rear tyre on lap 10, Schumacher was 63 seconds behind Kimi Raikkonen. It took him 59 laps to catch and pass the Finn, ultimately for fourth place. The fastest 12 individual laps were all set by Schumacher, proving he's not retiring due to lack of speed. His fastest lap, the 76th of his career, was 0.715 seconds clear of even Felipe Massa.
In his 250th Grand Prix appearance - his 247th start - he wasn't able to emulate Luigi Fagioli and Jim Clark as a winner on his last F1 start, and Schumacher even suffered the rare indignity of having one of his records taken away from him. By finishing second, Fernando Alonso became the youngest ever double champion at 25 years and 85 days, beating Schumacher's 1994/95 double, clinched when the German was 26 years 292 days old.
