The formula 1 Championship teams are heading back to Europe to undergo the French GP, the 11th round of this season, after moving to the American continent that hosted the Canadian and American GPs. Spanish Fernando Alonso won in Montreal, Canada, while German Michael Schumacher was the winner in Indianapolis, USA.
The 5th victory of the “Red Baron” in “Uncle Sam’s” land, is his 3rd this season and his 87th in overall career in F1. He therefore cut short the series of 4 consecutive victories for his opponent Alonso, managing to finish the race for the first time in four participations. He also reduced the score difference between him and Alonso to 19 points in the general drivers’ classification. Moreover, the Ferrari team controlled the US race after their drivers German Schumacher and Brazilian Felipe Massa lead with the first one-two for the Scuderia this year. Spanish Alonso only ranked 5th, which is his worst ranking this season since his 11th position at the Hungarian GP in July 2005, for he has already ranked 2nd in 3 GPs vs. 1st in 6 GPs of which 4 consecutive. The “Spanish Matador” also failed in reaching the podium for the first time for the last 16 races he ran.
The French GP held on Magny-cours circuit on 308.586Km (70 laps), witnesses the victory of Renault driver Fernando Alonso in last season’s race. Alonso was also among the first on the starting line and registered 1.31.22.233 hours, 11.805 seconds ahead of McLaren-Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen, the author of the fastest lap of the race in 1.16.423 minutes. The third position of the podium went to the Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher with a difference of 81.914 seconds with the winner.
Moreover, it is worth to highlight the significant results of the Red Bull –Ferrari team that proved his high capacity to progress in the Championship mainly that its drivers are entering the scoring list race after race and offering a remarkable performance. Scottish David Coulthard is the Red Bull driver that achieved the most as he managed to score in most races reaching a total of 10 points until now, due to the amazing work of his team as well as to the strategy set by Will Courtney and the advises of his private engineer Mark. We must also mention that the goal of the team now is to beat the Williams-Cosworth team and forego them in the constructors’ general classification, known that they are currently at 11 points each. In last season’s French GP, Coulthard finished the race in tenth position one lap behind winner Fernando Alonso.
His teammate Austrian Christian Klien who retreated from the French GP last year, will try to compensate the disappointment of the US Grand Prix where he had to withdraw early during the race, known that he is offering a high performance on a powerful and effective car able to compete in the most difficult conditions. He will also do his best to enhance his image during the French GP.
Toro Rosso driver Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi who won his first point this season in the US GP, considered that his team is now on the right way and wished to achieve more excellent results in the future. The second team driver American Scott Speed who raced in his homeland and in front of his public in Indianapolis, was subject to the chaos of the accident that occurred in the first lap for he was not able to avoid collision with the cars despite that he was not involved in the main accident. However, he proved to all F1 that he s not a mere driver or an additional number but a difficult and fast parity behind his car wheel, who has a flourishing future ahead of him in case he manages to cope with the requirements of the world of Formula 1.
Temporary General Drivers’ Classification:
1- Fernando Alonso (Spain) 88 points
2- Michael Schumacher (Germany) 69 points
3- Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) 43 points
4- Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) 39 points
5- Felipe Massa (Brazil) 36 points
6- Juan Pablo Montoya (Columbia) 26 points
7- Jenson Button (England) 16 points
7- Rubens Barichello (Brazil) 16 points
9- Nick Heidfeld (Germany) 12 points
10- David Coulthard (England) 10 points
11- Ralf Schumacher (Germany) 8 points
11- Jarno Trulli (Italy) 8 points
13- Jaques Villeneuve (Canada) 7 points
14- Mark Webber (Australia) 6 points
15- Nico Rosberg (Germany) 4 points
16- Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) 1 point
16- Christian Klien (Austria) 1 point
Temporary General Constructors’ Classification:
1- Renault 131 points
2- Ferrari 105 points
3- McLaren-Mercedes 65 points
4- Honda 32 points
5- BMW-Sauber 19 points
6- Toyota 16 points
7- Red Bull-Ferrari 11 points
8- Williams-Cosworth 10 points
9- Toro Rosso 1 point
