Ferrari Is Back!
By DCX
June 13 2005
Ferrari is definitely back up to pace with McLaren and Renault as Michael and Rubens took 2nd and 3rd in Canada respectively. This excellent showing is the culmination of all the hard work done by Ferrari after a very difficult start to the season.
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Ferrari Is Back! |
DCX |
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Michael
Schumacher Race 2nd + 0'01.137 Kimi Raikkonen may have won today's Grand Prix, but the real story was that of Ferrari's return to the top! Michael Schumacher started from second, alongside Jenson Button. The race start saw Schumacher fall back to sixth, as Bridgestone still isn't fast enough over short distances. As the race progressed Schumacher moved up the grid. This was due to his pit strategy, two drivers shunting, one having a mechanical failure and another being black flagged for a bonehead move in front of him. Even if those drivers did not have problems, Schumacher could have had an excellent result because the Ferrari was just so fast. Schumacher closed in on Kimi in the last laps of the race, but he was held up by Christijan Albers, and probably could not have gotten around the Raikkonen anyways. Here is what the 7-Time World Champion had to say about his superb race in Canada: “We can be happy with this result, particularly with Rubens coming from last to third. We developed the car well over the weekend, but now we have to work on the package more to make it good in all track conditions. At the start, Jenson and I went backwards! I just had no grip. In the closing stages, I was able to close on Kimi, my pace was as good or a little bit better than his, but it was not enough to pass. He almost gave me a present when he ran wide at Turn 4, but he did not stay there long enough.” Rubens Barrichello Race3rd + 0'40.483 Even more exciting than Michael Schumacher's result, was that of Rubens Barrichello. After suffering a gearbox failure in qualifying, Barrichello started from the pitlane. Rubens cruised around at the back of the pack for many laps near the beginning of the race, but began to move up because of the Ferrari's much improved performance and also because there were nine retirements in front of him. Incredibly, Rubens Barrichello climbed all the way to a stunning third place result, even if he was 40 seconds behind Kimi and Michael. Here is what the Brazilian had to say about his incredible drive: “In over 200 Grand Prix, this is the first time I have ever started a race from the pit lane. It’s nice to do something new after so many races. In the early stages, the car was difficult to drive because it was so heavy. We changed our strategy by putting some extra fuel in at the start, as it would not have been any use to make my stops at the same time as everyone else. It took me a while to pass a Minardi, but after that I pushed all the time. The pit crew did a fabulous job to call me in at just the right time. I had a little bit of oversteer and was locking the rear brakes a bit, so I think my rear tyres suffered. I was lucky when Webber ran wide, Massa tried to avoid him and I passed both of them on the outside. Apart from that my only problems were with my drinks bottle and my radio which stopped working early in the race. What happened in qualifying was a shame but to come from last to third is a great achievement.” Ross Brawn Technical Director Ferrari's Technical Director Ross Brawn, was extremely pleased that the team has an improved so much over the past few months and he still believes that Ferrari can do even better. Here is what Ross had to say about the Canadian Grand Prix: “Obviously a very pleasing result given the problems we had in the last few races. However, at the start, things looked bad with Rubens in the pit lane and Michael getting swamped at the start. He actually made a good start and his initial acceleration was good and then he seemed to run out of grip. With our very aggressive strategy, running sixth on the road was a disaster. We worked out what could be done and had a pretty good race from then on. The car was good, well balanced, but not exceptional. We were still a little bit off the pace. We got the most out of it and with our strategy around the time of the Safety Car, everything worked extremely well. The guys did a fantastic job and the Bridgestone tyres worked well right to the end. With some new developments coming, I think we can look forward to some good races in the very near future.” |
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June 11, 2005 |
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