F1 Round 3: Renault F1 streets the field again in Melbourne

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April 3, 2006 Reigning World F1 champion Fernando Alonso may be beginning to rue his decision to move to McLaren next year as the Renault F1 team again displayed complete dominance in yesterday’s third round of the Formula One World Championship in Melbourne. Alonso took his tenth career victory after starting from third position on the grid in an action-packed race which featured no fewer than four safety car periods. The Spaniard took the lead on lap 4 at the end of the first safety car period, in a perfectly-judged manoeuvre on pole-sitter Jenson Button’s Honda, and only relinquished it briefly during the first round of pit-stops. It was not so much the win that was scarey about the Renault peroformance – it was the ease with which Alonso drove away from the best of the rest whenever the safety car pulled off the track – the advantage is so great that Renault’s world championship already looks safe. Giancarlo Fisichella was forced to start from the pit-lane after his R26 stalled on the grid, but a determined, forceful drive saw him claim fifth position right on the line, overtaking Button’s stricken Honda on the finishing straight. The result leaves the Renault F1 Team with a nineteen point championship lead over its nearest rival, and Alonso leads the individual title by 14 points from his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella and McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen.

The biggest winner on the day other than Renault was BMW, which based on pre-season testing and early season form was not expected to do much better than the Sauber team it purchased had fared in previous years. BMW is clearly getting very serious behind the scenes though, and the speed of both Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve was evident throughout the meeting, with the pair finishing fourth and sixth respectively, and indicating that BMW will be a major force in F1 again, and perhaps not very far down the track.

Toyota must have been delighted in finally scoring some decent points after a lean first few rounds of the title and despite health, circumstances and luck all conspiring against Jarno Trulli on the weekend, the Japanese giant will be buoyed by the speed of the machinery and the prospects for the remainder of the season.

Honda, Williams and Ferrari were the biggest losers on the weekend – all showed speed at some point in the proceedings, with Button’s Honda taking pole position and Mark Webber leading the race at one third distance but a reliability cloud hangs over both marques. Ferraris luck seems to have truned entirely from the beginning of last season. In previous years, every decision seemed to be one of calculated genius, and every piece of luck ran with the Maranello marque – now, the team seems to be continually wrong-footed for no apparent reason. Let’s hope the luck returns, as apart from the dominance of Renault, the teams from McLaren, Williams, Honda, BMW, Toyota and Red Bull all appear capable of claiming a podium. QUOTES:

Fernando Alonso, Renault F1, Winner: “This was a very different race to the other two so far this season. In Bahrain, I was fighting with Michael all the way; in Malaysia, it was Jenson I was battling for second place. But today, it was quite comfortable. There were no fights, and I was very relaxed for a lot of the race. I had a good lead after the first pit-stops, but I lost it during the second safety car. However, I managed to get a good gap on each re-start, and that made life quite easy for me. I was very happy with the balance all the way through the race, so I just needed to make sure I didn’t take any unnecessary risks and I am pleased we were able to save the engine performance for the next race. So far, we have shown we are strong in all conditions on all tracks. But Imola is a very different challenge, and we must have a calm approach, because we know it will be more difficult than ever. Flavio Briatore, Managing Director, Renault F1: “This was a fantastic win for Fernando. He had a great car this afternoon, and he controlled the race from start to finish. There were a lot of complicated situations to deal with, and he did it brilliantly. I am sorry for Fisi, because he suffered with more problems. We only solved it right towards the end of the race, and then it was too late for him to get close to the podium. But he showed he had the performance at the end, and we still scored a lot more points than our rivals today. We are in a strong position, but we will keep on pushing.”

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering, Renault F1: “This was a really hard weekend. We had rain, unusually cold temperatures, and a punctuated race. But the car showed great performance, so we are very, very pleased with our result. Fernando put in a faultless drive, and he was able to run at whatever pace was needed with ease. The safety car periods denied him the luxury of a big lead ,but he was able to maximise his performance in the laps immediately afterwards, as his early overtaking manoeuvre on Jenson showed. He then built good leads after every other safety car period, and controlled the race. Giancarlo was unfortunate at the start, when his anti-stall system triggered several times. He was unable to catch the last one, and this meant the safety systems shut the engine down. After starting from the pit-lane, he benefited from the first safety car to catch the field, and then drove very well. He had a lot of understeer during the middle part of the race, when we were encouraging him to push hard over the radio, and then the clutch failed after the final stop. That gave us some worries for a few laps, but once the problem had been solved, he started pushing Jenson very hard. This paid off handsomely to give Fisi a well-deserved fifth place after a fantastic race. The team is in a very strong position now after three races, but there are still fifteen to go. We have some important test sessions coming up in the next fortnight, and we are still working hard to improve the performance of the car.”

Kimi Räikkönen, second place, McLaren Mercedes F1: "Despite not winning I'm really pleased as we now have a package which is level with the Renaults which I think we demonstrated today. The race was rather hectic. I enjoyed a good battle with Juan Pablo at the start, but when I overtook Jenson I flatspotted my right front tyre which caused some vibration. However I was still able to go flat out and keep up with Fernando, but then all of a sudden the footplate on the right hand side of my front wing fractured probably due to the vibration. As a result I started to have severe understeer and lost a lot of time to Fernando. Fortunately with 21 laps to go the Safety Car came out which gave us enough time to go into the pits and change the front wing. I was really pushing, but in the final Safety Car period one of the Midland cars was between Fernando and I, which meant I was unable to get really close to have a go. An enjoyable race and I can't wait for Imola. The team has definitely made great progress with our entire package."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal McLaren Mercedes F1: “The early part of the race was exciting as once Kimi was past Button, he had the pace to catch Fernando. Juan Pablo's retirement was caused by the activation of the engine safety system following a severe impact on the kerb clearly costing him third place. Kimi's race was disrupted by a flatspotted tyre obtained whilst passing Button resulting in severe vibration that led to a failure of the right hand front wing endplate. Towards the end of the race we took advantage of one of the Safety Car deployments to change the nose which gave Kimi the ability to close the gap to Fernando. It was also disappointing that both Kimi and Juan Pablo were trapped behind slower cars in two of the re-starts but at the end of the day we have the pace to win and this time last year our points deficit was significantly greater. As a team we look forward to returning to Europe and continuing the battle."

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "Kimi gave it his all. Unfortunately he was hampered by a flatspotted tyre and a damaged part of the front wing. Once the nose was changed he demonstrated good speed. Juan Pablo hit a kerb too hard which caused his retirement. Our technical package is on a good level both with regards to speed and reliability, and now we have to improve our performance further during the next few races."

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