Massa Win In Brazil

23-10-2006 12:09

Fernando Alonso won a second straight drivers' title finishing in second place at the Brazilian Grand Prix as rival Michael Schumacher had to deal with double trouble .

For Schumacher only a win would have been good enough add to that he also needed Alonso out of the points to clinch an eighth title in his final race, but his Ferrari suffered a puncture early on.

But none the less in his final race the German put in a storming drive to finish fourth but could do nothing about Alonso's title assault.

The race winner was Schumachers Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa, with Bernie Ecclestones favorite whipping boy Jenson Button in third for Honda.

The Ferraris were the fastest cars in the race by far and Massa, starting from pole position, wasted no time pulling out a huge lead and was in control throughout to become the first Brazilian to win his home race since the late Ayrton Senna in 1993. Telling the assembled press "This is amazing. To win here in front of my own people - it is a dream come true, It is incredible. The car was wonderful and it was the easiest race of my life because of that." Adding "But I must say thank you to Michael for all his help and he is a great friend and a great driver. I am sorry for him but this is the best day of my life."

Massa romped away into the lead in the first two laps before a heavy crash suffered by Williams' Nico Rosberg brought out the safety car, with the racing resumed, the Brazilian again stormed off, leaving Raikkonen - hissoon to be Ferrari team-mate - trailing.

At this stage, Schumacher appeared to have a good chance of winning his final race before retirement.