Massa Win In Brazil

23 October 2006

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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.

Stuck down in 10th place on the grid because of a fuel-pressure problem in qualifying, he made a dynamic start to the race, and was up to sixth by the time the safety car came out.

When racing resumed three laps later, Schumacher began to pile the pressure on Alonso's team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, tracking him for two laps, before making his move on the at the end of lap eight. The Ferrari took the lead as they powered down the pit straight, and fended off Fisichella's attempt to re-take the position as they dived into the Senna S.

But halfway through the corner, the rear of the Ferrari slid wide, and heading out on to the back straight Fisichella streaked past as Schumacher slowed dramatically with his left rear tyre coming apart. He was forced to tour slowly around the rest of the lap before coming into the pits for a new tyre.

He rejoined last, just ahead of Massa, and set to work on making what he could of his final competitive appearance in an F1 car.

Out of sync on fuel stops with the rest because Ferrari fuelled his car at the same time as replacing his punctured tyre, he began to put in the sort of drive that has defined his career - relentless pace, commitment and consistency right on the limit, setting a series of fastest laps as he cut through the field once his fuel load came down and others' pit stops brought them back towards him.

As the race balanced out after the final stops, Schumacher was again in sixth place on the tail of Fisichella, though, he did not find it so easy to pass the Renault.

He pushed Fisichella for 10 laps before. Fisichella misjudged his braking into the first corner with nine laps to go running wide, Schumacher shot through to hastle Raikkonen.

The Ferrari quickly caught the McLaren, and Schumacher made it past with a very brave move as Raikkonen robustly defended his position at the first corner with three laps to go, but with Button more than six seconds ahead in third place, that was as far as Schumacher would go, but his performance ensured he will be remembered as the great that he undoubtedly is.

And so ends the career of arguably the greatest racing driver of all time

Brazilian Grand Prix result:

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