Spanish GP, Sunday,
The Renault F1 Team scored its second double podium finish
of the 2006 season this afternoon, as Fernando Alonso won
the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position, while team-mate
Giancarlo Fisichella finished third.
The result marks Fernando's first ever win at his home Grand
Prix, and delighted the 130,000 strong crowd that packed the
Circuit de Catalunya this afternoon.
The Spanish Grand Prix was always going to be a race about
tyres. After proving their first lap performance in yesterday's
qualifying session, the Michelin tyres in fact revealed their
strongest suit to be consistency in race conditions, as Fernando
Alonso made the most of the speed of the R26 to beat Ferrari
on pure pace. Team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella struggled with
inconsistent handling in the opening stint, and lost ground
to his team-mate, but drove strongly after the stops to take
the final podium position.
The Renault F1 Team's total of 16 points from this race extends
the Constructors' Championship lead over Ferrari to 19 points.
Fernando Alonso now leads the Drivers' Championship by 15
points on a total of 54 from six races, while Giancarlo Fisichella
took his score to 24 points, and is now just 3 points behind
Kimi Raikkonen in third place. This victory also marked Renault's
100th Grand Prix victory with Elf, a series begun back in
1979 at the French Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso, Winner
This has been a day of so many emotions for me, and I think
I will remember every moment. The first highlight was my drive
with the King around the circuit in a Renault Megane this
morning, then the start, the first laps when I could see we
had the pace, around the pit-stops with the crowd jumping
in the stands when Michael came out behind me, the final laps
with so much emotion in the car. And finally the in-lap, soaking
up the amazing atmosphere made by these brilliant supporters,
my people. The R26 was perfect today – we only made
one small change for the balance, but I could push all the
way through the race. I didn't get a good start and Fisico
reacted better than me, but after that, everything was perfect.
I expected Ferrari to be stronger in the race, but today,
I think we got the maximum from the Renault-Michelin package.
Thank you to everybody at the team, this is another dream
come true.
Giancarlo Fisichella, 3rd position
We arrived in Spain looking to get on the podium and we did
exactly that, even though Ferrari were strong this weekend.
I got a fantastic start and things were close with Fernando
into the first corner, but he had the advantage and I let
him go. After that, the balance of the car was not perfect,
and so even though I was pulling away from Michael in the
stint, it was not enough to stay ahead at the stops. We made
some changes to give less oversteer and so when I came out
behind him, I was pushing hard, and made a small mistake which
put me in the gravel at Turn 3. But I didn't lose a position,
and then just pushed hard to keep Massa behind in the second
stops. We had a good pace in that stint, and I kept third
quite easily, then looked after everything to the finish.
This was a good race for me, and a strong way to bounce back
from the last races. I am very optimistic for Monaco, one
of my favourite circuits.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director
Renault scored an incredible team result this afternoon. Fernando
and Giancarlo were perfect, we made the right choices with
the strategy and beat Ferrari fair and square. Apart from
Renault and Ferrari, the other teams just didn't seem to have
the pace to stay with us today. This is a fantastic day for
all of Renault, to win in Spain with Fernando, and to have
both our drivers on the podium: it is a real team win. We
must thank Michelin as well. I had been a bit pessimistic
coming here, but this race showed they are pushing hard to
win the championship, which is what we need through the summer.
Congratulations to Elf also on their hundredth victory with
Renault. We know there are many more still to come.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
To be perfectly honest, I was not too optimistic about our
chances before this afternoon's race, as Ferrari had looked
extremely competitive on their long runs in practice. This
afternoon's double podium was all about the pace of our car
and drivers, not strategy. Fernando drove faultlessly today.
We knew the Michelin tyres had strong first lap performance,
but we had only had one new set left to use with Fernando,
and therefore the victory would be dictated by the consistency
of the tyres. They held up fantastically, and allowed us to
beat Ferrari on outright speed. Giancarlo also put in an excellent
performance, and backed up Fernando perfectly during the race.
He was driving on the limit throughout and apart from one
excursion after his first pit-stop, he was faultless. This
result is a great credit to our drivers, and to the whole
team both here at the track, and back at Enstone and Viry.
|
