Formula One season gets underway - Renault, Ferrari, McLaren and Honda on the pace

2006 Bahrain Grand Prix Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Fernando Alonso Renault 57 1:29:46.205 2 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 57 +1.2 secs 3 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 57 +19.3 secs 4 Jenson Button Honda 57 +19.9 secs 5 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 57 +37.0 secs 6 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 57 +41.9 secs 7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 57 +63.0 secs 8 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 57 +66.7 secs 9 Felipe Massa Ferrari 57 +69.9 secs 10 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 57 +75.5 secs 11 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 57 +85.9 secs 12 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 56 +1 Lap 13 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 56 +1 Lap 14 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 56 +1 Lap 15 Rubens Barrichello Honda 56 +1 Lap 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 56 +1 Lap 17 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 55 +2 Laps 18 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 53 +4 Laps

Fastest Lap: Nico Rosberg 1:32.406

Fernando Alonso, reigning champ and winner of first GP of season: This was a good, fighting win and I want to dedicate it to the mechanics and the team, for some fantastic pitstops and the right strategy. There was a funny incident in the early stages, and I came very close to going out when Massa spun past me in turn 1. After that though, things went smoothly, and I knew that the key time would be around the second stop. I looked after the tyres at the start of the stints, so that I had something left at the crucial moment, and I was very confident that we would be able to do it. After that, I managed the performance, the car was running beautifully and I just concentrated on making no mistakes. The backmarkers were very fair today as well. I think the competition is a little bit closer than we thought overall, but this is the perfect start for the season.

Flavio Briatore, Managing Director, Renault F1: Thank you to the entire team and our partners for this fantastic victory. Fernando did an incredible job, and managed his race perfectly to win. We can only apologise to Fisico, who had an engine problem all the way through the race and then was forced to retire. The team did an awesome job: the pit-stops were exceptional, and helped Fernando get back out in front of Michael at the end. This was an emotional race, and a fantastic show. We are all very happy.

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering, Renault F1: “This was a great race for Renault. From the driver onwards, our team showed what it is made of today. It was obviously very, very close around the second stop between Fernando and Michael, and we had known from the start that the laps around the second stop would be crucial. Our best chance of victory this weekend came from running a bit longer on our stints, to exploit the performance we found on the Michelin tyres. It worked, but only just! Our apologies must go to Giancarlo. The engine problem he suffered in qualifying had not gone away as we hoped, and seriously compromised his performance. In the circumstances, he did an exceptional job. Ultimately, though, an hydraulic leak stopped the car and forced him to retire.

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, second place: " All in all this is an excellent result and I'm certainly not complaining about finishing second. If someone would have told us during the winter months that this is the way we would have finished the first race of the season, I wouldn't have believed them. Today we must be really pleased with the result. On the other hand, I still have some mixed feelings because it's seems that we could have been ahead and could have won the race. Considering how it ended up, it's now clear that the qualifying lap that wasn't acknowledged in as far as refuelling this morning was concerned, was the decisive factor that played against us. It's a pity, because yesterday I had to back off because of the traffic. In any case it's a great day for us because we know that we have an good car and we have an excellent potential to develop during the course of the season and this is very important. This year the fight for the championship will be very close: there are several good teams, all of which are capable of battling for the title and it's great to be one of them."

Ross Brawn Ferrari: "Obviously very frustrating to have come so close to winning a race but after the season we had last year we can take a great deal of encouragement from today's performance. Now we have to work on all those bits and pieces to find that little bit extra to win the next race and the one after that. We are in a close fight at the front and it's down to us now to get everything else right and try and win this championship. Felipe was going very well until he spun and we need to find out what caused it. He had a very good race after that. When he came in for the pit stop we had a problem with the right rear gun. The back-up system didn't work either. We're going to have a careful look and see what caused this error."

Jean Todt, Ferrari: " Today we had everything we needed to win, perhaps we needed just that extra little bit of luck ! nevertheless we saw that this weekend our car-engine-Bridgestone tyre package was competitive from the first to the last lap. This is of fundamental importance for team morale and to show that we and our technical partners have worked in the right direction over the winter. This race confirms that there are four teams capable of winning and Ferrari is one of them. Michael made it to the second step of the podium. It's a pity about that qualifying lap that wasn't acknowledged this morning because of the 110% rule, because maybe that bit of extra fuel would have been enough to stay ahead. However we say this with hindsight and it's the sort of thing that is a typical part of racing and we have to accept it. Felipe drove a great race: his spin and the subsequent problem with the tyre change stopped him from doing as well as he could have done. His performance today is still a good sign for the rest of the season. We have a lot of work to do but we'll do our utmost to fight for the championships. Today's result gives an extra boost to the team, the drivers and Bridgestone."

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