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#763 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix

2022-01-09 00:00

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#2006, Fulvio Conti, Translated by Margherita Schiatti,

#763 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix

No mass damper on Renault. Unless the FIA puts in writing that the French manufacturer risks nothing when the Court of Appeal rules on Tuesday 22 Augu

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No mass damper on the Renault. Unless the FIA puts in writing that the French manufacturer risks nothing when the Court of Appeal rules on Tuesday, August 22, 2006, on the legality or otherwise of the device. The story continues in Budapest and is enriched by a new episode. On Monday, August 1, 2006, Charlie Whiting, head of the FIA and race director, had given a kind of green light, but on Thursday, August 3, 2006, Jo Bauer, the technical delegate, reiterated that the mass damper is against the rules. At this point Scuderia Toro Rosso, the only team to have fitted it here in Hungary on its three cars, removed it and the other teams decided not to install it. There is no longer any certainty that the penalty will not be retroactive and Renault, though angry, prefers not to take any chances. In spite of this Fernando Alonso goes out on a limb:

 

“For the world title victory, I bet on myself”.

 

And Michael Schumacher reiterates:
 

"That he won’t give up I am sure, but we are stronger at the moment. We must make the most of this state of bliss".

 

As for Kimi Räikkönen's signing with Ferrari as reported in Finnish newspapers, the German replies: 

 

"There is nothing new, nothing to comment".

 

On Friday, August 4, 2006, the punishment inflicted on Fernando Alonso hit like a sledgehammer. It is one of those blows that knock you out. They ruin your race and maybe even the World Championship. On Saturday, the Spanish driver will have to add two seconds to every time he sets in qualifying, in all his attempts, in any of the three rounds, in Budapest, on a circuit where overtaking is impossible. Beyond any reasonable exploit, the Renault driver risks not even passing the first elimination, that of the six slowest drivers, and in any case, he is unlikely to go beyond the second round, the one that promotes the ten fastest cars, with the result of starting the race between the sixth and eighth row. A starting position that wipes out any chance of final success, that might even prevent him from scoring points (he has to finish in the top eight) and that certainly gives Michael Schumacher, eighth at the end of the second hour of free practice, a great advantage, but more convinced than ever that he can triumph here in Hungary, with the theoretical possibility of reducing his disadvantage in the championship standings from eleven to just one point. The race stewards (not the same as in May) hit him very hard, as had already happened with Michael Schumacher in Monaco, relegated on Saturday from first to last place on the grid. This is because, in their opinion, Fernando Alonso was guilty of several unacceptable and dangerous manoeuvres during the second hour of free practice, closed by the Spaniard in second place. The first concerned an admittedly unfair duel between the Renault driver and Dutchman Robert Doornbos, Red Bull Racing test driver. The second an overtake (forbidden by the rules) while the track officials waved yellow flags to signal a dangerous situation. It is not known who Alonso overtook at that moment, the judges did not specify, but the flags were displayed due to Midland driver Christijan Albers leaving the track. The stewards, through the evidence of the images (as stated in the motivation that makes the sentence final), decided to impose a one-second penalty for each incident and to add the two penalties together. The most serious, however, is the one involving Doornbos. Alonso, before being punished, had thundered at the Red Bull Racing driver:

 

"He has to learn to look in the mirrors, I was coming up behind him, I was faster than him, in the corner he obstructed me".

 

However, his reaction was disproportionate and ended up drawing the wrath of the FIA. The Spaniard, having overtaken Doornbos on the straight, flipped him off with an unmistakable gesture, squeezed him to the right against the pit wall, cut him off, and then braked abruptly before the corner and forced the Dutchman to change trajectory to avoid the accident. 

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The curious thing is that the Red Bull Racing driver after both had been summoned by the judges to provide explanations, did not hesitate to end the quarrel.

 

"I didn't do anything wrong, I was on my fast lap, on the racing line, and I couldn't let him pass. He was the one who reacted in a stupid way, he certainly braked more abruptly than usual, but now we have clarified, the story can end here".

 

Not for the judges who decided to punish the excessive exuberance of the World Championship leader. A nervousness (evidently the Michael Schumacher's breath on his neck bothers him) that had already been glimpsed at Hockenheim, when Fernando Alonso on Saturday accused his German rival of cutting him off on the way out of the pits. A blow to the head that the Spaniard now risks paying dearly for, even if Renault is not at all willing to accuse its driver and takes this verdict (albeit without an official reply) with great anger. The judges ruled at 6:25 p.m., and the news was communicated to the French team at 6:42 p.m., when Fernando Alonso and Flavio Briatore had already left the circuit. From the driver no reaction, from Briatore a laconic one:

 

"It’s a decision that speaks for itself".

 

The manager seemed to have felt it coming. In the morning, about the banned mass damper, he had said: 

 

"The FIA is fixing the championship, discrediting its stewards, banning something it had allowed for seven months, changing the rules on the run. It listens too much to teams more focused on the referees than on the track. But winning the World Championship like this is no fun".

 

With implied (but obvious) reference to the enemy Ferrari. But that is not all. Because Michael Schumacher also makes the same mistake at 11:25 a.m., during the anonymous free practice, with the fight for pole still far away. The German's is a resounding ingenuity because it suddenly wipes out his big lead over Fernando Alonso, who was knocked out the night before by the judges with the two seconds to add to his qualifying times, the result of several dangerous manoeuvres in Friday's tests. Michael Schumacher has victory within his grasp, his opponent is in obvious difficulty, he trembles at the idea that his lead in the standings is practically cancelled because he will have to start far behind and on this circuit overtaking is impossible. The Ferrari driver should be gloating, but instead, he threw it all away, overtaking Fernando Alonso and the Pole Robert Kubica under red flag (forbidden by the rules). At that moment practice was suspended, the danger came from Jenson Button's Honda engine, which burst into flames, with oil all over the place and a serious risk for the other drivers. The incident, which will later be harshly penalised by the stewards (two seconds to be added to the qualifying times, the same penalty as that imposed on Alonso), is initially not documented by the images. Only in the evening the only existing ones, coming from Robert Kubica's "camera car" and on which the judges' final verdict is based, will be released. The video evidence, a formula dear to the men of the FIA to say that it is useless to appeal, proves that Michael Schumacher is guilty. At Turn 13, which precedes the entrance to the pit lane, he has overtaken the two cars. Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica are on the left, Michael Schumacher is speeding on the outside, on their right. But the images also show that Fernando Alonso brakes sharply in the corner, to the point that the Polish behind him is in turn forced to slow down and move to the right to avoid a collision. It is therefore not daring to speak of a trick by the Spaniard, who does not induce Robert Kubica to make a mistake, but into which he falls like the experienced Michael Schumacher. Cause and effect will be debated at length, the fact is that the mistake is made and the furious Schumacher has only to suffer the consequences. He was summoned by the stewards and heavily penalised, with the same two seconds that slowed Fernando Alonso down the day before. They are a boulder and qualifying will prove it: the German goes like a rocket, almost setting the track record, and mortifies any opponent, but the penalty drops him from first to twelfth place, preventing him from getting through Q2 and entering among the ten fighting for pole position. 

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In the end, thanks to Jenson Button's broken engine (the Englishman finished fourth, but will start fourteenth), he finds himself eleventh, row six, and if nothing else, he will start his race on the clean side of the track. He limits the damage, but anger and bitterness remain:

 

"I know I made a mistake, I take responsibility, but if you see the pictures, you will understand everything".
 

On live TV his sentences get lost in translation, in fact, he does not openly accuse Fernando Alonso, he does not mention his name at all. He just says:

 

"Of course he is involved".

 

In the sense that he is part of the episode. 

 

"But don't make me say he slowed down, that is what you are saying". 

 

He probably thinks so, though. Now, however, there is the race:

 

“The podium is still a dream, although in Formula 1 anything is possible. It is more realistic to say that I can finish in the points. Even in Monte-Carlo I started last and finished fifth. Brawn speaks of an exaggerated penalty? I don't comment, just as I say nothing about punishing Alonso. But it's not true that I wasted a match point: the Spaniard starts further behind me, and winning the World Championship is still possible. I believe in it more than ever”.

 

Ignoring the yellow flags, overtaking during free practice and risking losing a world title. It had already happened to Jacques Villeneuve, in October 1997, at Suzuka. The Canadian at the wheel of the Williams in Japan (penultimate round of the World Championship) committed this ingenuity, ruining his pole position and running sub judice. After the race, he was disqualified by the FIA, which stripped him of his fifth place and the two points he had earned. But the ruling was not decisive, because in the last race at Jerez, there was a clash with Michael Schumacher (second in the standings) and the German was out of the race. Jacques Villeneuve stayed on track, finished third and won the title. On Friday, August 4, 2006, free practice was held on a damp track and cold asphalt while everyone brought tyres for the hot weather:

 

"The cars are difficult to drive, the race is likely to be a lottery".

 

The fastest was Felipe Massa, but the Renaults (Fisichella third) were closer to the Ferrari than at Hockenheim. The miracle failed even for Fernando Alonso, who was fast but not fast enough to get into the top ten. The two-second penalty to add to his times dropped him to the eighth row:

 

"A starting position that on a circuit like Budapest is disastrous and prevents you from any dreams. Overtaking here is a challenge, the tyres work, the car has improved a lot, but if I finish sixth or seventh it's already a fantastic result".

 

He starts behind and this does not make him smile. But there is more: with his performance, he failed to take advantage of Michael Schumacher's mistake, who also ended up in the judges' sights during the morning's free practice and was penalised in the same way. 

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Fernando Alonso does not say so, but perhaps that is what angers him most. He was slower than Ferrari, and he will still be forced to chase. Of course, on Friday night the situation was much worse:

 

"This is the first time in Formula 1 history that judges have intervened in an on-track argument between two drivers. An argument that didn't result in an accident or the display of yellow or red flags. In recent times certain decisions against me or Renault are disconcerting, as if there was something going on. I have a clear conscience, I didn't deserve any sanction for the discussion with Doornbos. As for the yellow flags, they were displayed in the last twenty seconds of the session, we don't know why, and in a hidden part of the track, so much so that I didn't even see them. It doesn't make sense what happened to me, they took away my chance to take pole, to win the race. Because Renault seemed reborn here, I had high hopes".

 

But then came his trick to Michael Schumacher.

 

"Ferrari says I slowed down too much? I expected that and of course it's absolutely not true. There were red flags, I was in the corner, Kubica behind me, and to my amazement, we saw Schumacher overtaking us. Again there were no incidents, the judges could have had a lighter hand. In any case, his offence is more serious than mine. You can make a mistake and overtake one car, not two. Let's drop the stress or pressure talk anyway. It's the judges who should be a bit more cautious and understand how tough the title fight is. However it goes here, I still think that in 99% of the cases, I will be world champion".

 

Fernando Alonso rails against harsh penalties. But even within Renault, they disagree with him. Flavio Briatore says:

 

" Schumacher and him were two children. Very naive".

 

And Giancarlo Fisichella adds:

 

"Whoever makes a mistake, must pay. With me no one has ever shown mercy".

 

Finally, Bernie Ecclestone said: 

 

"Both were wrong, well done to the judges".

 

Thus, pole position is awarded to Kimi Räikkönen in the McLaren-Mercedes. It is the second consecutive one after last week's in Germany. Felipe Massa, in the second Ferrari, and Rubens Barrichello followed.

 

"My pole is deserved. The fact that Alonso and Schumacher were penalised is of little importance. Their loss. On track, whoever has the best time at the end is right. And now I aim to bring the race home too".

 

In the weekend of follies, the low voice of Kimi Räikkönen surprisingly emerges, polished just enough and able to mock Felipe Massa's Ferrari at the last second. He is again on pole, like seven days earlier in Hockenheim.

 

"But this time it is real glory, my car is fast and I can win".

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Felipe Massa, on the other hand, complains. He believed he could take the first pole position of his career, but for the fourth time this season, he had to settle for the front row, even though Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso were not in the fight.

 

"On my out lap, I found myself in traffic and couldn't get the tyres up to the right temperature. So when I started my attempt for pole, I made a mistake in the first two corners, leaving precious tenths on the road. There I gambled my chance, but nothing was lost. Our race pace is very good, I will go on the attack, I dream of my first triumph".

 

Michael Schumacher is expected to retire at the end of the season. This is claimed by Willi Weber, the man who discovered him when he was 18 years old, first became his sponsor and since then has managed and built the seven-time world champion's entire career. A relationship that now leads him to affirm:

 

"I'm not only his manager but also his best friend".

 

And his friend advises Michael to leave Formula 1. In the last few days, Weber has repeated this several times. In some interviews, he has said that if Michael Schumacher wins the World Championship he should retire at the end of the season. In others, he has argued that this is the right time to quit racing, regardless of how the challenge with Fernando Alonso ends.

 

"It would be good for him to leave even if he doesn't win the World Championship. Even if he came second, this would be a good time to end his career".

 

Should the German then manage to win the eighth world title of his career, the moment would be even more propitious.

 

"In that case, he would leave not as a king but as a true emperor".

 

Should his career continue, the manager's concern is clear: 

 

"What if we run into another season like 2005?"

 

Of course, Weber's, as he himself is keen to point out, is only advice: 

 

"He will decide for himself".

 

And it takes nothing away from his esteem and admiration for his friend: 

 

"Michael is like red wine, the more time passes, the better he gets".

 

Already last winter, Michael Schumacher announced that he would make it known in the course of the season whether, at the age of 37, he would decide to continue. Ferrari in turn has given the German time until the Italian Grand Prix, which will be held at Monza on Sunday, September 10, 2006. Even recently Michael Schumacher has repeated that he will only make his decision known at Monza. After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Formula 1 will take three weeks off, which Michael Schumacher could use to make a final decision on his future.

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"Maybe he will use the three-week break to talk to himself". 

 

Convinced that if he decides to continue, Schumi will do so with Ferrari: 

 

"At 37, it is clear that there will be no change of team and his decision will have nothing to do with money".

 

Weber does not go into predictions. 

 

“For the time being I think the chances are 50-50. Why else would it be taking so long?”

 

On Sunday, August 6, 2006, the track was wet at the start of the race, making it the first wet Hungarian Grand Prix. All drivers started the race on intermediate tyres with the exception of Barrichello, who was on wets. Polesitter Kimi Räikkönen took the lead early on. Alonso and Schumacher made their way through the field with Schumacher up into 6th place from 11th into the first corner, and Alonso climbing from 15th place with a spectacular first hard-fought lap. He went on to pass Schumacher on the outside of turn 5 after a fight that had lasted several laps and reached 3rd place. He then took the lead after the McLarens of Pedro de la Rosa and Räikkönen pitted. Bridgestone wet tyres used to dictate the field in non-dry conditions but today it seemed a one-off for the Japanese tyre manufacturer. All Bridgestone drivers, including the Ferraris, were seen struggling and seriously down on pace compared to their competitors. Schumacher fell right back in the clutches of Giancarlo Fisichella and lost his front wing battling for 5th place, hitting the Italian mid-corner fighting off a snap of oversteer. This forced the German to pit, going a lap down. Soon after Jenson Button overtook Massa, Fisichella and Schumacher in just under the space of two laps. Räikkönen struggled on his second set of tyres and ended up crashing into the back of Vitantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso, totalling the car and bringing out the safety car. Alonso then pitted, allowing Schumacher to get back on the lead lap. Another beneficiary of the safety car was Jenson Button, who decided not to pit during the safety car period and climbed up to second place behind Alonso. After the period was over Button began to challenge Alonso, but soon had to pit for fuel. Alonso led, but after a pitstop for dry tyres his right-rear wheel nut detached, causing the Spaniard to lose control and crash. Button inherited the lead and was never challenged from then on. Schumacher made his way up to second by staying on intermediate tyres as others around him pitted for dry weather ones, but this gamble backfired as the cars on drys caught him in the final laps. 

 

Schumacher defended his position, including controversially cutting a chicane on consecutive laps without penalty, but Pedro de la Rosa and Nick Heidfeld both ultimately passed him. Whilst he was being overtaken Schumacher banged wheels with Heidfeld, damaging his Ferrari's suspension and forcing him out of the race three laps short of the finish. Button won the race despite beginning in 14th place through relentless driving, with de la Rosa scoring his first podium finishing in second place, and Heidfeld getting BMW Sauber's first podium with 3rd. Debutant driver Robert Kubica finished in seventh place and would have scored two points, but was later disqualified as his car was found to be underweight due to excessive tyre wear. This coincidentally meant that Michael Schumacher earned a point despite not finishing, as he was elevated to 8th place in the final results. Madness, overtaking, twists, accidents, illustrious retirements, disqualifications. The craziest Grand Prix of the year, which is usually boring on this track as full of corners as Monte-Carlo, but much less fascinating, was not lacking anything. This time it was the scene of an electrifying race, capable of bringing Englishman Jenson Button to the top step of the podium for the first time in his life, breaking the wall of success on four wheels for the Honda colossus, infuriating Fernando Alonso, making angry and then smile (though perhaps only through clenched teeth) Michael Schumacher, who left the circuit without any points in his pocket and eighth late in the evening due to Robert Kubica's disqualification. The unexpected events were many and it is difficult to make a ranking of importance, given the depth of almost all of them. 

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But perhaps the last poison in the tail (with rookie Robert Kubica disqualified because his BMW was too light) is the one with the most psychological significance. Because it turns a nil-nil draw between Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso into a narrow victory for the German, who wins one point and maintains the ambition of being able to win the World Championship without the help of others, by winning the five Grands Prix remaining to the end. If that happens, the German will be World Champion. This is still possible thanks to the lightness of the BMW, which was caught by the judges underweight by two kilos. The stewards (who this weekend, see the Alonso and Schumacher cases, had no mercy for anyone) recognised the team's good faith, and considered their version plausible (the wet tyres would have worn out too much, with a loss of thickness and therefore of kilos), but made no concessions, making Robert Kubica himself disappear from the classification. Thus Michael Schumacher advances, but still remains the protagonist of a great missed opportunity. Because the crazy Grand Prix, before his retirement three laps from the end, had taken Fernando Alonso, his great rival, out of the way. Not an anonymous Fernando Alonso, but a driver who had dominated the race, getting off to a stratospheric start (from eighth row to sixth place with an overtake on Felipe Massa at the end of the first lap) and then engaging in a series of applaudable manoeuvres. Of course, the damp track had favoured him, with the asphalt in these conditions the Michelin tyres shredded the competition, but he had passed Giancarlo Fisichella, overtaken Michael Schumacher on lap four (and then even lapped him on lap 25), with incredible moves and excellent strategy he had managed to take the lead. 

 

It seemed to be the symphony of an announced triumph (even if Jenson Button, moments before his retirement, had approached threateningly, also taking advantage of the Safety car, which had come onto the track after Kimi Räikkönen had crashed into Vitantonio Liuzzi), but on lap 52 the Renault mechanics decided to take him out. They screw two bolts wrong, both right tyres, the Spaniard cannot stay on the track, and he crashes into the barriers. That is how the race turns in Michael Schumacher's favour. Even the German has done a lot of overtakes, after 57 laps out of 70 he is second behind Jenson Button, so be it if the Englishman in the Honda is in front, the German will recover 8 points in one go. But this is Budapest, the fair of twists and turns, and none of this happens. The intermediate tyres fitted on Michael Schumacher's car are at the limit, the German chooses not to change them in the pits but slows down visibly, and the McLaren of Pedro de la Rosa (second at the end) pounces on him. Great fight for three laps, then the German gives way and gets overtaken. Nick Heidfeld arrives with the BMW, new battle, contact and goodbye steering tie rod for Michael Schumacher. On lap 67 another illustrious retirement, as Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa, fast at the end, disastrous before. The too-greedy Michael Schumacher is ninth. In fact, eighth. Thanking Kubica. After 114 Grands Prix, he too can finally go mad with joy. Jenson Button, 26 years old, British Honda driver, had never in his career known the highest step of the podium.

 

"It's a fantastic, exciting feeling, I don't understand anything anymore. What did I feel in the last lap? Actually, I would talk about the last ten laps. I was counting the kilometres, I couldn't wait for the chequered flag. Anyway, Honda has become a great team, they deserved this first triumph. It was a fantastic day for me, even if it was a heavy one: the weather conditions made the race very difficult, of course for everyone, not just for me. To finish with this victory, however, is something that goes beyond all expectations. Our strategy was fantastic, we finally had a car capable of winning: I have to thank the whole team, it has taken years of work to get to this point. It was an incredible race, I had to shout a lot on the radio to understand each time what was going on, and we had to change the strategy each time in the race: the wet, then the dry, and the speed. In the last ten laps, I was trying to gain meters, but I was already feeling number one and couldn't wait to finish the race".

 

By the way, your success was a feat, as you started from the seventh row. 

 

"Mansell had already done it, on a circuit where it is impossible to overtake. Luck helped me, but this is an extraordinary victory". 

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Unforgettable then, Kimi Räikkönen's collision with Vitantonio Liuzzi, who by the way was celebrating his 25th birthday. The Finn justified himself by saying: 

 

"I was looking in the mirrors, I was afraid of de la Rosa's attack, I didn't notice Liuzzi in front of me. And I crashed into him". 

 

Kudos. How can you blame Niki Lauda when he says:

 

"It is the worst race in terms of performance. Mistake after mistake, by the drivers and the mechanics. First Alonso and Schumi, then the mechanics not tightening the bolts. Crazy stuff".

 

But Pedro de la Rosa is also beaming at the result: 

 

"It was a Grand Prix where you had to race using your head. I managed to remain calm despite everything, so much so that at times I even forgot about the speed. All credit to a prudent race conduct, but also to a McLaren that proved to be more reliable than Ferrari and Renault for once. Everything went well, luckily we managed to put aside all the little problems at the start of the weekend. It also went well with the choice of tyres, and then I was about to lose control of the car twice, but I managed to recover well".

 

A crazy weekend. Full of plot twists. Disappointing, no doubt, because at one point Michael Schumacher thought he had almost closed the gap to Fernando Alonso, with the German in second place and the Spaniard crying in the pits, before being forced to retire. But with the slight consolation of a point in the end, an eighth place gained due to the disqualification in the evening of Robert Kubica's BMW, placed under investigation because it was two kilos lighter than the permitted weight. The Pole had finished seventh on his debut. With his exclusion from the classification, his place was taken by Felipe Massa, while Michael Schumacher moved up to eighth. A little help that in the German driver's philosophy has great significance on a psychological level. In fact, Schumacher is now ten points behind Fernando Alonso and with five races still to go he can once again claim, as he did at Hockenheim when he was eleven points away, that he can win the title on his own, on his own strength. All he needs to do is win all the remaining Grands Prix and he will be World Champion, regardless of the results of his Spanish rival. The news of the move up in the standings comes when Michael Schumacher, with little desire for a holiday due to disappointment, had already left the circuit several hours earlier. When talking to journalists he still does not know that his points in the standings will change, he is convinced that he has been left empty-handed and all because of a retirement with three laps to go. How nervous do you feel about that unexpected retirement a few kilometres from the finish? 

 

"A lot. I threw away some important, precious points, although I don't give up and I still think that the fight for the World Championship is more open than ever. I never stop fighting. The gap isn't wide, if I were Alonso I would continue to worry".

 

Why did you have to retire? 

 

"Because of a contact with Heidfeld. Regular fight, let's be clear, normal race incident. He was faster and it is right that he was aggressive, we were very close, almost side by side, the asphalt was slippery, and he slipped and with his rear tyre hit my front. He broke my steering tie rod, continuing the race was impossible". 

 

Did you not take too many risks? You had already been fighting with Pedro de la Rosa for a long time, with Fernando Alonso out, would it not have been better to let Nick Heidfeld pass?

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"After the race, you can say anything, I can agree because afterwards, you are more clearheaded. But I invite you to look at my career. It is easy to say I would have taken points, but I am a fighter, I fight to the end, and I will never change. That's who I am, on the track I can't act any differently". 

 

What did you think when you heard about Fernando Alonso's retirement? 

 

" That not only was the damage from his great performance reduced to zero but that I could even take advantage. I'll be honest, his start was fantastic, on intermediate tyres he was very fast, at the start of the race I was only thinking about limiting the damage. But then the picture changed, it went in my favour and I started to hope for something big. It was a strange Grand Prix, but in the end, we were almost level. A race full of surprises that in fact does not affect the standings. And it won't be remembered".

 

Tell us something: when you are in the car, do you only think about driving or about how the situation is evolving? 

 

"About both. In the end, I realised that the picture had changed, but I could have finished on the podium, how can you be careful?"

 

Fernando Alonso blesses the break. He is in the mood for a holiday.

 

"Not me. I'd rather race as soon as possible. It will be nice to be able to devote some time to family, but right now the disappointment is too great to think about".

 

Towards the end, your intermediate tyres were gone. Why did you not return to the pits to change them? 

 

"Because then I would have lost the podium. With the dry ones, I would have finished fourth or fifth, but in agreement with the team, we decided to risk it. It could have been a great choice. Instead, it went wrong".

 

For his part, Fernando Alonso is also disappointed.

 

"This retirement is frustrating. We knew we were stronger in these weather conditions, it was the right opportunity to stretch our lead in the standings, we wasted it". 

 

But also refreshed. 

 

"The Renault flew again, I overtook a lot of cars at the start, my comeback was fantastic".

 

And above all, more optimistic than ever about the future.

 

"Ferrari can say what they want, Schumacher can also talk tough, threaten me in all sorts of ways, but theirs remains a mission impossible". 

 

Fernando Alonso's crazy weekend ends with an assorted mixture of moods. 

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A little explosive when he thinks of his retirement when he was in the lead, decidedly softer when he realises that Michael Schumacher, without the retirement three laps from the end, could have been much closer in the standings. End-of-race thoughts. But be honest: you started from the eighth row, does it not make you happy to have almost kept your gap?

 

"Yes, if I hadn't realised on the track that I had the better car. We were clearly the best, we should have brought home a one-two, rather than two retirements". 

 

It was the team that betrayed you.

 

"Something happened at the second pit stop, Briatore himself apologised to me, I know that when I came back onto the track I couldn't hold the car anymore and I ended up first on the gravel and then against the barriers. It's a pity, mistakes can happen, and in any case, before accusing someone, I think we should analyse the situation well. The axle shaft may have broken". 

 

Actually, everyone claims that the bolts of the two right-hand wheels were screwed incorrectly.

 

"If that is the case I can only curse bad luck. But I prefer to think about the performance of my car. They already thought we were dead, just because we made the wrong tyre choice at Hockenheim. Call me crazy, but I am convinced that we will be ahead of Ferrari in the next few Grands Prix. Even in Turkey we will fly, ten points is a good advantage. Schumacher has to take risks to catch me up and you saw how that ended". 

 

By the way, what did you think when he stopped in the runoff area? 

 

"That in Formula 1 there is still some justice. Losing points right here, in the most dominated race of the year, would have been a resounding mockery". 

 

And what did you say at the moment when you were going into the barriers?

 

"I won't tell you the expletives, I think my gesture of annoyance already tells the whole story. I should add that I was having the time of my life, I started sixteenth, I was in the lead, I was low on fuel, I just had to get there". 

 

The metamorphosis of your car remains surprising. 

 

"The variable is always the tyres. They are the ones that make you go like a rocket or make you trudge. Michelin tyres on a damp track are unrivalled: with the intermediates, I overtook everyone easily, I was going four seconds a lap faster than Schumacher. I feel like cursing the world". 

 

Exactly the same as on Friday, when you learned you had been penalised two seconds by the judges?

 

"I don't talk about that anymore. I had a great race, that's all I want to remember from Budapest. And to get angry, if anything, about the retirement when I was in the lead. To think that even tactically we had been great: we had waited until the last moment to refuel, precisely because we wanted the track to dry out properly. So we had decided to put on the dry tyres, there was no longer any risk”. 

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All you needed to do was tighten the bolts.

 

"Let's forget about it".

 

And what do you say about the overtake on Schumacher? 

 

"Some people accuse me of taking too many risks. But I couldn't overtake him on the straight, the Ferrari is faster on the straights, and the only chance was in the corners. The points at stake are too important, you have to be aggressive".

 

Is there at least something about this race that makes you smile? 

 

"The second place of Pedro de la Rosa. It would have been nice to have two Spaniards on the podium. I would be happy if he was my teammate at McLaren next year".

 

On Monday, August 7, 2006, Michael Schumacher returns to talk about the Hungarian Grand Prix:

 

"With a clear mind, someone may say that I was wrong, that I shouldn't have fought like that with de la Rosa and then with Heidfeld, that I should have settled for a finish in the points, stopped in the pits to change the tyres, but it's easy to talk after the race. And then to give up fighting isn't in my nature. I'm a fighter, and I never give up, on the track I don't know how to act differently. If I have won so much, I owe it to my characteristics and I don't think I am capable of changing. Only the fierce fight can excite me. The point that came due to Kubica's disqualification is important, I don't underestimate it, but the great disappointment for the missed opportunity remains. I could have gotten very close to Alonso". 

 

Hence: 

 

"Right now I don't feel like talking about holidays, the anger is too great. I would prefer not to have a break, to be able to go straight into the car. To start a new race immediately. To redeem myself".

 

Words of a warrior totally focused on Formula 1 and his great objective, the conquest of his eighth world title. Words that would not suggest a retirement, which appear in stark contrast with the spirit of an athlete who has already decided to pull the plug, who knows that he has to compete in the last five races of his life, who is ready in a month's time, on the occasion of the Italian Grand Prix, to announce his retirement after sixteen years of ruthless dictatorship on the track. The declarations are those of a Schumacher intent on challenging his rivals for who knows how many more years, the usual tiger-eyed driver, who always has overtaking on his mind so much so that he makes mistakes and even carries them out (the resounding naivety on Saturday in Budapest) under red flag, when it is absolutely forbidden. Yet some insist on the imminent end of his career, from many quarters there are signs that would presage the end of the line. Even Flavio Briatore supports it:

 

"For me, Schumacher is leaving at the end of the year, and Ferrari will field Räikkönen and Massa in 2007".

 

He is certainly an informed manager, but his might just be a personal belief, but if it is Willi Weber, the driver's manager, who repeats it over and over again, albeit in the form of an invitation from a friend, then the message risks turning into a clue. 

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Not least because Weber is raising his game every day. He started at Hockenheim: 

 

"If Michael were to win the title, he would do well to retire. I wouldn't give it a second thought. Leave as a champion". 

 

In Budapest, he went further: 

 

"He has to stop, even if he finishes second".

 

Practically completing the entire range of possibilities, given that there are only two left to play for the World Championship, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, and no one else can join them. It may be brotherly advice, but in fact, it becomes an explicit invitation to end his career, which cannot fail to leave its mark since it comes from the man who has always assisted the driver and has also benefited from a substantial part (20%) of his enormous earnings. It would seem to be a way of putting pressure on Schumacher, who defended himself in Hungary as follows: 

 

"I listen to Weber's opinion, but in a decision like this I prefer to act on my own".

 

However, making nothing clear and leaving everyone in uncertainty at a time when the fight for the title has entered its decisive phase. The German only wants to concentrate on the present: 

 

"We have a great chance, in Budapest despite everything I gained another point on Alonso, Istanbul should be a favourable circuit, the comeback is more possible than ever". 

 

Justifiable attitude. However, the strange situation of a driver who at the last race could find himself fighting for the title, already knowing that he has decided to quit, remains. For some living legends like Niki Lauda, this will not be a problem: 

 

"Even in Budapest he proved it, he always pushes with a madman, and he'll do it until the last minute when he gets in the car".

 

But others do not have the same optimism and think that in the long run, this could favour Fernando Alonso. One who, unlike Michael Schumacher, is very much looking forward to his holidays:

 

"I couldn't wait to unplug".

 

But he has the same blind faith in his world championship chances. 

 

"I'm ten points ahead, Schumacher has to take risks

 to catch me and that will be fatal for him". 

 

Pros and cons aside, one certainty seems to emerge from the strange story: whatever happens, Ferrari will not be unprepared, because it is the general belief that they already know everything, without having to wait for the big announcement in September at Monza. So much so that even the Finnish fans represent Kimi Räikkönen dressed in red. There is only to unblock the waiting list of Felipe Massa, who naturally dreams of staying, trusting in Willi Weber but worried by the unpredictable German. Who would even cancel his holidays for a seat.


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