Spanish GP 2006: The Monday Debrief
Fernando, Owen, John and some number crunching as
we reach the one-third point of the 2006 season.
Alonso-mania, part 2
The Spanish Grand Prix weekend has only one soundtrack. It
is pretty repetitive, but sung with great passion: "Aloooooonso",
"Alooooooonso" cried the 130,000 fans packed into
the Circuit de Catalunya yesterday, as their favourite son
stormed to victory. Fernando himself repeatedly talked about
the fans and their passion, and even suggested that their
delighted reactions after each round of pit-stops helped him
gauge exactly how Michael Schumacher's race was unfolding
ten seconds behind him – a strange echo of Juan Manuel
Fangio's instinctive reaction in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix
when, leading the race and noticing the spectators looking
away from him, he instinctively slowed and thus avoided a
nine-car pile-up that had started behind him the previous
lap.
But if you thought Barcelona was a spectacle, you haven't
yet seen Seville. On Sunday 21 May, the Renault F1 Roadshow
will roll into the Spanish city, complete with the reigning
World Champion and his championship-winning Renault R25. At
a free-for-the-public event, Fernando will conduct a live
demonstration of his F1 car on the city streets in front of
a crowd of up to half a million spectators – which would,
for the record, probably make it the biggest single-day motorsport
event on the globe in 2006. "Barcelona was an unforgettable
weekend for me, probably the best feeling I have had in an
F1 car," explained Fernando. "Seville will be a
second Spanish Grand Prix for me, a fantastic thing with maybe
half a million people. The Roadshow is a great programme because
we can get close to the fans and really share their emotion.
I am looking forward to seeing my people on Sunday, and to
saying thank you to them for their amazing support."
CARS The Movie
The Renault F1 Team welcomed two special guests on Sunday,
as Hollywood star Owen Wilson joined Disney-Pixar's Chief
Creative Officer John Lasseter in the team garage. Wilson
is well known for films such as Starsky and Hutch, The Wedding
Crashers and The Royal Tenenbaums, while Lasseter is the brains
behind some of the world's best animated features, such as
Toy Story, The Incredibles or Monsters Inc. They were promoting
the forthcoming Pixar feature film ‘CARS The Movie',
for which members of the F1 fraternity, including Fernando
Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella, have recorded voices for
different language versions. It was Wilson's first visit to
the F1 paddock, and he left impressed. "This is the first
ever race I have been to, and it is pretty exciting to be
backstage and to see what goes into it. It seems much more
technological than NASCAR which we have in the US," commented
the actor. "There's a lot of race fans here, and it struck
me how strange it is that in every game, America has its own
version – and it's the same with racing. I kind of wish
we took part more, so we could be involved in all of this."
So what about the film itself, in which Wilson voices a lead
character, alongside Paul Newman. "It has come from director
John Lasseter's love of cars, he has set it in a world of
cars, and I am literally the voice of a race car. So it tells
my journey, starting as an obnoxious race car, who gets his
comeuppance and learns his lessons. It's a really Hollywood
story!"
The numbers game
As we have now completed one third of the 2006 season, it
is interesting to take a look back at the situation last year
after six rounds of the championship – and compare the
Renault F1 Team's performance to what it had achieved twelve
months ago.
So far in 2006, the Renault F1 Team has scored an average
of 13 points per race, compared to 10.5 points per races after
six races in 2005. That means the team's scoring percentage
has risen from 58% in 2005, to 72% in 2006. Fernando Alonso
has a 90% scoring record, with 54 points from a maximum possible
60 (compared to 82% in 2005) while Giancarlo Fisichella has
a 40% scoring record, up from 23% at the same stage in 2005.
Paradoxically, though, Alonso is now involved in a closer
fight for the drivers' title: although he has scored more
points than last year, he has a lead of only 15 points compared
to 22 points after 6 races in 2005. However, the team holds
a 19 point advantage in the Constructors' Championship, compared
to a 12-point lead in 2005.
After Race 6 2006
After Race 6 2005
Renault F1 Team Scoring %
72% (78 from 108)
58% (63 from 108)
Fernando Alonso Scoring %
90% (54 from 60)
82% (49 from 60)
Giancarlo Fisichella Scoring %
40% (24 from 60)
23% (14 from 60)
Renault F1 Team Points Lead
19 points (to Ferrari)
12 points (to McLaren)
Fernando Alonso PointsLead
15 points (to MSC)
22 points (to RAI)
Furthermore, Fernando's performances so far this season
have seen him raise his scoring average even further, and
in terms of average points scored per start, he is now the
fourth most successful driver in F1 history.
Average Points Scored Per Start
Michael Schumacher 5.45
Juan Manuel Fangio 5.44
Alberto Ascari 4.34
Fernando Alonso 4.06
Alain Prost 4.01
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