The Best of 2006
January 11th 2007 12:00
Best driver: Michael Schumacher
Formula One’s most successful driver came within a breath of clinching title number eight. Schumacher and Ferrari picked themselves up off the canvas on which they were felled upon in 2005, and came out swinging in 2006, taking Renault head-on. Back to back wins in Imola (under immense pressure) and the Nurburgring marked Schumacher as the only real contender to Alonso’s crown. The ever-consistent Spaniard mounted a 25-point lead after round 9 in Canada, but from there, Michael relentlessly went about bridging the gap. Seven rounds and five wins later, Schumacher was level with his nemesis leading into the Japanese Grand Prix. The rest is of course history. A rare engine failure ground the German’s momentum to a heartbreaking stop, sinking any hope of eight World Driver’s Championships.
Although Alonso went on to celebrate back-to-back titles, the performance put in by Schumacher in 2006 was truly sublime considering the circumstances. While Monaco may have been a case of poor splint-second judgement on Schumacher’s part – the typhoon of flak that was launched at him from the media, the public and fellow F1 personalities was merciless. Still, Michael weathered the barrage, and went about driving his heart out, putting in a blistering performance the next day to slice his way from the back of the grid to fifth place. Then, for the remainder of the season, Schumacher drove with the decision of retirement swirling in his head, but was disciplinarily tight-lipped until after Monza. Under immense pressure and scrutiny, Schumacher didn’t crack. His infamous Monaco incident would be the sole chink in his 2006 amour, a brain-explosion brought about by a ruthless competitive nature. His counterpart Alonso did not however appear to cope so well with such pressure. Although Fernando never waned in terms of performance, off the track, he turned upon the FIA and even his own team – accusing them of sabotaging his title chances. The truth is, the only person sabotaging Alonso’s title ambition was one Michael Schumacher, who sped off into the golden sunset of retirement – still at the top of his game, and still number one.
Best Team: BMW-Sauber
It may seem an odd choice – but despite not winning any races – BMW-Sauber seemed to be the only team who was constantly improving, not just in terms of pure car speed – but also in terms of management. BMW came into F1 with an enormous list of things to prove – and somewhere at the top of that list was beating Williams. They certainly achieved that quite easily – ending up 6th in the championship on 35 points – a whisker away from fifth placed Toyota (36 points). BMW secured a double points finish in Australia in Round 3 (Heidfeld 4th, Villeneuve 6th) and then went on to dispell Sauber’s reputation of starting the season strongly and then falling back, by getting faster and faster. Nick Heidfeld brought home 10 points finishes – including a podium in Hungary, and ended the year placed 9th.
However, it wasn’t just the car that was getting better – the team itself improved. Dr. Mario Theissen proved to be an efficient and canny team boss, when he famously dismissed former world champion Jacques Villeneuve halfway through the season. In stepped Polish rookie Robert Kubica, and up stepped the pace. The decision to axe Villeneuve, although he was performing rather well, and blood new talent in Kubica was an inspired one. It also gave BMW an opportunity to showcase even more talent, with new third driver, Sebastian Vettel – a teenager – blitzing the practice timesheets in his first outing. Another inspired aspect of BMW-Sauber was Pit-Lane Park, a special place in the paddock run by BMW, which put the fans first – providing games, gadgets and other activities for the average punter. BMW certainly achieved their goals and then some in 2006. They look like a team genuinely set to improve.
Best Rookie: Robert Kubica:
Twenty-One-year-old Robert Kubica began 2006 as an anonymous face in the F1 paddock. He was BMW’s quiet, young third driver, and nothing else. But F1’s first Pole Pole opened a few keen eyes by topping practice sheets, before really slapping people into paying attention when he jumped into Villeneuve’s former race seat. Kubica displayed some mightily impressive raw pace in his first few outings, taking the fight to Nick Heidfeld, who was forced to up his pace in order to contain his speedy new teammate. Kubica was always pushing his BMW to the limit, which often brought him unstuck, however it also brought him a brilliant third place in only his third race, and a great deal of positive media attention.
Best Race: Hungary
There’s nothing like a bit of rain to spice up a Grand Prix. The cars grided up on Sunday sporting different tyres and strategies in attempting to play the weather game best and come out favourably. With Michael Schumacher in 11th, Alonso in 15th and guys like Webber and Ralf in P5 and P6 respectably, there was always going to be some excitement going off in normally dull Hungary. Webber didn’t get far, getting hit in the first lap and retiring soon after, meanwhile Jenson was flying from the start, taking several places in the first few laps. He even overtook Michael Schumacher on lap 7, who not long after touched with Fisichella and was forced to pit for a new nose. Alonso was out in front, with Raikkonen and De La Rosa behind, until on lap 26 Kimi collides with Liuzzi while attempting to lap the Torro Rosso, bringing out the safety car. The race restarts with Alonso ahead of Button and Michael Schumacher but with the track drying, Schumacher, donning wet tyres begins to fade.
All of a sudden, Alonso, who was comfortably in the lead, begins to slow unusually slow into a corner after just exiting the pits. A broken wheel nut destroys Alonso’s afternoon and promotes Jenson Button’s Honda into the lead, with a 30 second lead.
With Jenson out ahead, and Robert Kubica spinning on nearly every corner of the track, McLaren’s Pedro De La Rosa and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld crept up on the struggling Schumacher. The fight is intense, with the German refusing to give any room to the much faster De La Rosa, but the Spaniard eventually slips past and into second place. Then, desperate to hang on to third place and capitalise on Alonso’s retirement, Schumacher collides with Heidfeld as the BMW driver muscles past him on the same stretch of track where he and De La Rosa had just duelled. Despite terminal damage, Schumacher still managed to scrape one point from the incident packed race. The result saw Jenson and Honda score their first ever win, De La Rosa score his first ever podium, Nick Heidfeld score BMW’s first ever podium and Hungary score it’s first ever exciting GP.
Best Overtaking manoeuvre: Michael Schumacher on Kimi Raikkonen Brazil.Schumacher, in his last race was racing the wheels off his car. He was recovering from an early puncture and was blazing his way up to fourth placed man Kimi Raikkonen. Michael mowed Kimi down lap by lap, until on lap 69, the scarlet Ferrari lined up behind Kimi’s silver McLaren on the home straight. They both dove into the Senna “S” curves, later than late on the brakes, Kimi desperately trying to keep Schumacher’s nose at bay. However Michael was fully committed, he stuck it down the inside and kept on the power around the outside. It took some brilliant driving from both parties for that move to stick and not end up in shards of carbon fibre. With that pass, his last in F1, Schumacher had shown to his heir apparent and the world – that he was leaving the sport at the height of his vast powers.
Although Alonso went on to celebrate back-to-back titles, the performance put in by Schumacher in 2006 was truly sublime considering the circumstances. While Monaco may have been a case of poor splint-second judgement on Schumacher’s part – the typhoon of flak that was launched at him from the media, the public and fellow F1 personalities was merciless. Still, Michael weathered the barrage, and went about driving his heart out, putting in a blistering performance the next day to slice his way from the back of the grid to fifth place. Then, for the remainder of the season, Schumacher drove with the decision of retirement swirling in his head, but was disciplinarily tight-lipped until after Monza. Under immense pressure and scrutiny, Schumacher didn’t crack. His infamous Monaco incident would be the sole chink in his 2006 amour, a brain-explosion brought about by a ruthless competitive nature. His counterpart Alonso did not however appear to cope so well with such pressure. Although Fernando never waned in terms of performance, off the track, he turned upon the FIA and even his own team – accusing them of sabotaging his title chances. The truth is, the only person sabotaging Alonso’s title ambition was one Michael Schumacher, who sped off into the golden sunset of retirement – still at the top of his game, and still number one.
Best Team: BMW-Sauber
It may seem an odd choice – but despite not winning any races – BMW-Sauber seemed to be the only team who was constantly improving, not just in terms of pure car speed – but also in terms of management. BMW came into F1 with an enormous list of things to prove – and somewhere at the top of that list was beating Williams. They certainly achieved that quite easily – ending up 6th in the championship on 35 points – a whisker away from fifth placed Toyota (36 points). BMW secured a double points finish in Australia in Round 3 (Heidfeld 4th, Villeneuve 6th) and then went on to dispell Sauber’s reputation of starting the season strongly and then falling back, by getting faster and faster. Nick Heidfeld brought home 10 points finishes – including a podium in Hungary, and ended the year placed 9th.
However, it wasn’t just the car that was getting better – the team itself improved. Dr. Mario Theissen proved to be an efficient and canny team boss, when he famously dismissed former world champion Jacques Villeneuve halfway through the season. In stepped Polish rookie Robert Kubica, and up stepped the pace. The decision to axe Villeneuve, although he was performing rather well, and blood new talent in Kubica was an inspired one. It also gave BMW an opportunity to showcase even more talent, with new third driver, Sebastian Vettel – a teenager – blitzing the practice timesheets in his first outing. Another inspired aspect of BMW-Sauber was Pit-Lane Park, a special place in the paddock run by BMW, which put the fans first – providing games, gadgets and other activities for the average punter. BMW certainly achieved their goals and then some in 2006. They look like a team genuinely set to improve.
Best Rookie: Robert Kubica:
Best Race: Hungary
All of a sudden, Alonso, who was comfortably in the lead, begins to slow unusually slow into a corner after just exiting the pits. A broken wheel nut destroys Alonso’s afternoon and promotes Jenson Button’s Honda into the lead, with a 30 second lead.
With Jenson out ahead, and Robert Kubica spinning on nearly every corner of the track, McLaren’s Pedro De La Rosa and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld crept up on the struggling Schumacher. The fight is intense, with the German refusing to give any room to the much faster De La Rosa, but the Spaniard eventually slips past and into second place. Then, desperate to hang on to third place and capitalise on Alonso’s retirement, Schumacher collides with Heidfeld as the BMW driver muscles past him on the same stretch of track where he and De La Rosa had just duelled. Despite terminal damage, Schumacher still managed to scrape one point from the incident packed race. The result saw Jenson and Honda score their first ever win, De La Rosa score his first ever podium, Nick Heidfeld score BMW’s first ever podium and Hungary score it’s first ever exciting GP.
Best Overtaking manoeuvre: Michael Schumacher on Kimi Raikkonen Brazil.Schumacher, in his last race was racing the wheels off his car. He was recovering from an early puncture and was blazing his way up to fourth placed man Kimi Raikkonen. Michael mowed Kimi down lap by lap, until on lap 69, the scarlet Ferrari lined up behind Kimi’s silver McLaren on the home straight. They both dove into the Senna “S” curves, later than late on the brakes, Kimi desperately trying to keep Schumacher’s nose at bay. However Michael was fully committed, he stuck it down the inside and kept on the power around the outside. It took some brilliant driving from both parties for that move to stick and not end up in shards of carbon fibre. With that pass, his last in F1, Schumacher had shown to his heir apparent and the world – that he was leaving the sport at the height of his vast powers.
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