Schumi wins again!!

It finally happened!! And I thought that the champion in red had forgotten how to win a race. And what better place to win than the scene of the biggest fiasco Formula 1 has seen in recent times - The U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis. And a Ferrari 1-2 finish was the icing on the cake!!

Prelude: After four wins on the trot by Fernando Alonso, Team Renault were looking as if they would run away with the drivers championship in a hurry. One race after another - Alonso drove like a man possessed and looked like he was in a world of his own right from the start of the race right till the chequered flag. It was common to see him open up a huge gap over his opponents in the first couple of laps itself. Schumacher's performance in comparison was mediocre to say the least! The best he could manage in the last four races was a second place in the Spanish, British and Canadian events. There was no way the 37-year old champion was going to take this lying down. At the start of the weekend, no one would have given Ferrari even an outside chance of winning. However, the qualifying results on Saturday proved everyone wrong. Schumacher and team mate Felipe Massa qualified 1-2 to put Ferrari on the front row for the race on Sunday. I couldn't have been happier and hoped Schumi would break the monotonous Renault bull-run that we have been seeing this year.

Raceday: Thankfully all eleven teams finished the warm up lap and lined up on the starting grid successfully unlike last year. The five lights illuminated and went off and the race started. Schumi made a slow start allowing Massa to take the lead. Alonso made a rapid start as well & challenged his team mate Giancarlo Fisichella. Meanwhile, at the back of the grid, there was utter chaos as cars rammed into each other at the first corner to create a pile-up that took atleast half a dozen cars out of the equation including the McLarens of Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya. The ensuing safety car period meant that Schumi had to be content driving zig-zag behind Massa. Once the safety car was in, Massa showed that he is no minnow and pulled away from the rest of the pack. It looked as if Schumacher would have to play second fiddle this time to his own team mate. However, a clever pit strategy and a flying lap after the pit-stop allowed him to regain the lead. From then on, it was vintage Schumacher as he set one fastest lap time after another. Never in the entire race did Alonso look dangerous enough to challenge the Ferrari ace. Both the Ferraris kept up their pace and finally after 73 laps, Michael Schumacher crossed the chequered flag to win the 2006 US Grand Prix. Felipe Massa came in second and Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella was third.

Thus broke Renault's four race domination which frankly was becoming really boring. I can now imagine how it must have been for the other teams and their supporters during Schumacher's continuous reign over Formula 1 before Alonso took over last year! I hope Ferrari remain competitive and give Renault a real run for their money. As far as Mc Laren, Honda and the other teams are concerned, it looks like they will have to watch to watch the battle from the side-lines or should I say the pit-lane??