Interlagos, 22nd October 2006

Felipe Massa scored a brilliant home victory in front of an adoring 65,000 strong crowd in the thrilling Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos on the outskirts of Sao Paulo on Sunday. But his victory and Michael Schumacher's great drive from last to fourth were not enough to give either Michael victory in the Drivers' series or Ferrari in the Constructors'. Fernando Alonso's well-measured second place, backed up by Giancarlo Fisichella's less exciting sixth place gave second successive titles to Alonso and Renault.

Conditions were perfect as the cars formed up on the grid with poleman Massa immediately taking the lead from fellow front row man Kimi Raikkonen while Jarno Trulli slotted into third place ahead of Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello and then Giancarlo Fisichella. Michael Schumacher picked up three places to hold seventh, demoting brother Ralf and both BMW Saubers.
However, behind them, the Williamses of Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber tangled, causing Webber to head to the pits for retirement and Nico Rosberg to crash heavily. This brought out the safety car while the debris was cleared, although not before Barrichello lost places to Fisichella and Michael Schumacher.


When the safety car went in on lap six, Massa immediately pulled away from Raikkonen at a remarkable rate. Trulli wasn't far behind the McLaren driver, and Alonso was close by too. Fisichella was not far behind, pushed hard by the charging Michael Schumacher, but when he edged past Fisichella on lap eight, it seems the pair touched and Michael picked up a puncture. He had to pit after a slower lap, while both Toyotas retired with a rear suspension problem.
That left Massa with a 6.3s lead on lap ten from Raikkonen, who was now over three seconds ahead of Alonso. Fisichella was dropping away from his teammate in fourth, and then came the two Hondas, Button catching Barrichello. Kubica was next from de la Rosa just ahead of Heidfeld. Michael was 19th!

In the next ten laps, before the first round of stops, Massa would build up his lead to ten seconds over Raikkonen, but Alonso still wasn't far behind the first McLaren, although Fisichella was over three seconds behind his teammate. The Hondas were within two seconds, Barrichello just ahead of Button, but the gap to seventh placed Kubica was building. De la Rosa was still leading Heidfeld.
Raikkonen was the first to pit on lap 21 as did Fisichella and Barrichello. Massa pitted on lap 24, Button a lap after that, and then Alonso, Kubica and Heidfeld on successive laps. De la Rosa, on a one-stop, was now in second place, but he had Alonso, Button - who had made up two places - then Raikkonen close behind him until he pitted at half distance.

Massa was suddenly left with a 24s lead, while Alonso was pushed hard by Button who was doing a great job. Fisichella was being pushed by Barrichello for sixth place before Kubica and then Speed who pitted on half distance. That let Schumacher into tenth place at half distance.
All eyes were now on either the Alonso-Button battle for second, or Michael's climb through the field. He overtook Heidfeld on lap 36 for eighth place, Kubica for seventh on lap 41 after running wide at the previous attempt.

The second round of pit stops began on lap 46 with Barrichello coming in, Michael then pitted, followed on lap 49 by Fisichella and Kubica as Michael fought with old teammate Barrichello. Button pitted on lap 50, then Raikkonen on lap 51, Massa on lap 51 and Alonso on lap 54.
Michael overtook Barrichello for sixth on lap 51 and overtook Fisichella more successfully on lap 63. He was rapidly on Raikkonen's tail and brilliantly squeezed down the inside into the first corner on lap 69 to claim fourth. Button had remained close behind Alonso, but never quite in a position to overtake, so they shared the podium with popular winner Massa who hadn't made a mistake all day.