Australian GP, Sunday - 2 APR 2006
The Renault F1 Team scored its third consecutive win of the
2006 Formula 1 season this afternoon at Melbourne's Albert
Park circuit.
Fernando Alonso took his tenth career victory after starting
from third position on the grid in an action-packed race which
featured no fewer than four safety car periods. The Spaniard
took the lead on lap 4 at the end of the first safety car
period, in a perfectly-judged manoeuvre on Jenson Button's
Honda, and only relinquished it during the first round of
pit-stops. Giancarlo Fisichella was forced to start from the
pit-lane after his R26 stalled on the grid, but a determined,
forceful drive saw him claim fifth position right on the line,
overtaking Button's stricken Honda on the finishing straight.
The result leaves the Renault F1 Team with a nineteen point
championship lead over its nearest rival, and Fernando Alonso
and Giancarlo Fisichella lie first and second in the championship.
Fernando Alonso, Winner
This was a very different race to the other two so far this
season. In Bahrain, I was fighting with Michael all the way;
in Malaysia, it was Jenson I was battling for second place.
But today, it was quite comfortable. There were no fights,
and I was very relaxed for a lot of the race. I had a good
lead after the first pit-stops, but I lost it during the second
safety car. However, I managed to get a good gap on each re-start,
and that made life quite easy for me. I was very happy with
the balance all the way through the race, so I just needed
to make sure I didn't take any unnecessary risks and I am
pleased we were able to save the engine performance for the
next race. So far, we have shown we are strong in all conditions
on all tracks. But Imola is a very different challenge, and
we must have a calm approach, because we know it will be more
difficult than ever.
Giancarlo Fisichella, 5th position
After a race like that, I have really mixed feelings. You
know, it's great to go from the pit-lane and to finish fifth,
especially in such an exciting way. But also, we saw today
that I had the car to fight for the win with Fernando, so
I am disappointed I couldn't make use of it. At the start,
the engine stalled and I had to start from the pit-lane, then
during most of the first stint I had no telemetry –
so I was giving the engineers updates on my fuel load all
the time, and telling them about the car while overtaking
the people in front of me. That problem fixed itself, but
the second stint was really hard because the car was understeering
so much during that part of the race. The team were calling
me to push harder, but I was on the limit all the way. Then
after the final stop, the clutch failed, and we only managed
to fix it a few laps from the end. As soon as we did, I set
my fastest lap, showed what I could do and started to put
pressure on Jenson. I could see his engine was failing in
the final corners, then I was blinded by the oil and smoke
during the final corner with big oversteer, and I got him
as he moved over the track. It was an exciting afternoon,
and it's good to still score points after starting so far
back. I am second in the championship going to Imola, and
that's a great feeling because I should have a new specification
engine there as well.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director
This was a fantastic win for Fernando. He had a great car
this afternoon, and he controlled the race from start to finish.
There were a lot of complicated situations to deal with, and
he did it brilliantly. I am sorry for Fisi, because he suffered
with more problems. We only solved it right towards the end
of the race, and then it was too late for him to get close
to the podium. But he showed he had the performance at the
end, and we still scored a lot more points than our rivals
today. We are in a strong position, but we will keep on pushing.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
This was a really hard weekend. We had rain, unusually cold
temperatures, and a punctuated race. But the car showed great
performance, so we are very, very pleased with our result.
Fernando put in a faultless drive, and he was able to run
at whatever pace was needed with ease. The safety car periods
denied him the luxury of a big lead ,but he was able to maximise
his performance in the laps immediately afterwards, as his
early overtaking manoeuvre on Jenson showed. He then built
good leads after every other safety car period, and controlled
the race. Giancarlo was unfortunate at the start, when his
anti-stall system triggered several times. He was unable to
catch the last one, and this meant the safety systems shut
the engine down. After starting from the pit-lane, he benefited
from the first safety car to catch the field, and then drove
very well. He had a lot of understeer during the middle part
of the race, when we were encouraging him to push hard over
the radio, and then the clutch failed after the final stop.
That gave us some worries for a few laps, but once the problem
had been solved, he started pushing Jenson very hard. This
paid off handsomely to give Fisi a well-deserved fifth place
after a fantastic race. The team is in a very strong position
now after three races, but there are still fifteen to go.
We have some important test sessions coming up in the next
fortnight, and we are still working hard to improve the performance
of the car.
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