Full Throttle

World Champion Fernando Alonzo may not have had time to thank teammate Giancarlo Fisichella but rest assured he must have expressed his appreciation after the Turkish Grand Prix was over.

Alonzo’s attempt at defending his Championship Crown avoided a near fatal hit when Fisi locked up his brakes to avoid a swerving Michael Schumacher entering the first turn of the first lap. The maneuver spun the Italian damaging his front wing, but more importantly he easily missed Alonzo in the hectic dash for the first corner.

“I braked quite late but there was a risk of a collision with Fernando so I braked even harder which locked the rears and put me in a spin,” said Fisichella.

Behind Fisi all hell broke loose as BMW’s Nick Heidfeld and Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher got caught up in the mess. Red Bull’s David Coulthard took out Scott Speed with an ill advised move to his inside that also damaged the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen. Sato and Michael’s brother Ralf were also involved. Surprisingly all the debris scattered on the tarmac didn’t result in a Safety Car.

The remainder of the race went without major incident and gave Felipe Massa a flag to flag win, his first ever F1 top step, with Alonzo second and Schumacher taking third a half car length in trail of the Spainard.

With four races remaining in the ‘06 season Alonso leads Schumacher by 12 points (108-96), and Renault still has a two-point edge over Ferrari in the constructor’s battle.

The 2006 F1 season resumes in Monza, with the Italian GP in two weeks.

F1, Turkey, Feliipe Massa, Ferrari, Formula One, FIA, Sports, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonzo, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle