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With Nico
Rosberg starting from the rear of the grid and Mark Webber from twelfth the
grid would move away on their parade lap for the seventy three lap United
States Grand Prix. Jarno Trulli would start from the pit lane. At the front
it would be the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher leading the field around. With
the start of the race it would be Massa leading from Michael and Alonso
attacking Michael. But going into Turn one we would have an accident
involving several cars that would see the safety car deployed. The cars were
those of Heidfeld, Webber, Klien, Montagny, Montoya, Speed, and Raikkonen.
 There
were wrecked cars everywhere as we had the sight of both McLaren drivers
making their way back to the pit lane by foot. Albers would pit. The replays
showed Heidfeld's car going through a series of frightening rolls as it flew
off into the gravel trap. We also saw the McLaren's making contact with one
running into the rear of the other. Mark was out of the race, another
disappointment for the WilliamsF1 team. Button was running at the back of
the field after having to come into the pit lane to have a check of his car
as smoke was seen coming from it. It was Massa leading Schumacher, Alonso,
Fisichella, Barrichello and Villeneuve.
Mark's car was seen been carried off the track. Nico was running in eighth
as the cars continued to follow the safety car. Button would return to the
pits to retire his car. Heidfeld's accident came about when Montoya hit the
rear of Raikkonen who then hit Button who then hit Heidfeld sending the BMW
Sauber into a series of rolls. Nick was able to get out of his car unhurt.
The restart would see Massa continue to lead but there was contact between
Sato and Monteiro in Turn one. Sato ran into the side of the MF1. At the
front Alonso was having to fight off attacks from his team-mate Fisichella.
Monteiro would pit for repairs.
Michael was challenging Massa as they completed lap ten. Nico was now down
in ninth. Monteiro would pit for a second time. Fisichella would look at
making a pass at Turn one but remained in fourth. The Ferrari's were
comfortably leading the race as Monteiro would retire his car as a result of
the damage to his car in the collision with Sato. Alonso seemed to be
holding up Fisichella who had Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher and Villeneuve following. Trulli was in eighth
after starting from the pit lane. There were only twelve runners left with
still a very large part of the race left to run.
 On
lap fifteen Fisichella would finally pass Alonso going into Turn One.
Michael was now 1.3 seconds behind Massa. Fisichella was told on his radio
to "go go" as he was only six seconds behind the second Ferrari. Would he be
able to close the gap? Nico was still in ninth some eleven seconds behind
eighth placed Trulli. Despite doing his personal best times Fisichella could
not start to close the gap to Michael as Michael was equally as fast. The
main fight on the track centred on the cars running fourth through to
seventh who were al running close together.
Liuzzi was attacking tenth placed Coulthard. Alonso's pace appeared to slow
as his lap times been over half a second slower than his team-mates. Lap
twenty one and it would be a fastest lap for Fisichella, 1m:13.155. Michael
would respond with a new fastest first sector time on the next lap. Massa
was now 1.3 seconds ahead of Michael. Villeneuve would retire his car n the
side of the track with what looked like an engine failure, leaving only eleven runners.
Barrichello would pit while Nico was now in eighth but forty seven seconds
behind the leader.
Lap twenty six and Massa would put in a fastest lap, 1m:12.961, but his lead
was now only 1.0 seconds. Michael would pit on lap thirty. He was joined by
third placed Fisichella. Albers had also come in. Massa continued to push
setting a new fastest lap Massa would pit the next lap leaving Alonso
leading. Ralf Schumacher would also pit. Massa would come out behind
Michael. It was not much of a surprise that he had lost the lead. Alonso
would pit the next lap leaving Trulli in third.
Lap thirty two and Michael was leading by 2.4 seconds. Trulli was third
followed by Fisichella and Alonso. Nico had yet to make his first stop and
was running at a pace a second slower than the cars in front. Ralf was in
sixth followed by Barrichello. Lap thirty six and Michael's lead was now 3.3
seconds. But Trulli was slowly closing in onto second placed Massa. Trulli
would finally pit on lap forty, coming back out in sixth. Tenth placed Liuzzi would pit. Neither Nico
or Coulthard had made their first stops. Albers would pit with a problem
with his car, complaining about the gear shift. Lap forty two and Nico still
had yet to come in. Albers car would eventually be retired.
Lap forty four and Nico would pit. His stop would see him with enough fuel
to finish the race. He would come back out in ninth. Only Coulthard had yet
to make a stop. Nico's slow pace could be explained by his heavy fuel load.
Lap forty seven and Michael's lead was 5.6 seconds over Massa. Fisichella
was in third followed by Alonso, Ralf, Barrichello, Trulli, and Coulthard.
Nico was 24.5 seconds behind Coulthard so even when the Red Bull stops it may be difficult
for Nico to reclaim eighth.
Lap forty nine and David would pit. He was able to return to the track just
ahead of Nico. David had to be forceful to keep the WilliamsF1 driver behind
him as they ran through Turn One. Lap fifty one and Rubens would pit from
sixth. Coulthard would pull away from Nico. Michael would set a new fastest
lap on lap fifty one, 1m:12.895. Ralf was now just 1.3 seconds behind fourth
placed Alonso. Lap fifty three and Massa would pit. Nico had gone one lap down. Massa would
come out in front of Alonso. Lap fifty four and Fisichella would pit from
second. He was joined by Ralf.
Fisichella would come out in front of Trulli. The next lap and Michael would
pit from the lead. He would retain his lead as on the next lap Alonso would
pit. He would come back out in sixth position. Nico was holding off tenth
placed Liuzzi. Lap fifty six and it would be another fastest lap for
Michael, 1m:12.719. Nico would lose ninth to Liuzzi as the Torro Rosso
driver was able to make a passing move going down the main straight and into
Turn one. It gain looked like the WilliamsF1 team would not come away with any points after the race.
Michael Schumacher had a very comfortable lead over Massa, Fisichella and
Jarno Trulli. Ralf Schumacher was in fifth ahead of Alonso. Barrichello was
4.0 seconds behind the Renault but was losing time to Alonso and not likely
to mount any challenge. Coulthard was in eighth. On lap sixty five Ralf
would pit from fifth and take his car straight into the garage to retire.
Nico was now in ninth but 2.9 seconds behind Liuzzi. The order was now Michael leading from
Massa, Fisichella, Trulli, Alonso, Barrichello, Coulthard, Liuzzi, and Nico.
Just nine cars were running.
With the gaps between the cars all over three seconds there would be little
chance of the positions changing as the final laps counted down. Lap seventy
and Liuzzi's lead over Nico had grown to be 3.5 seconds. Michael's pace
would slow slightly as he cruised to the finish. He would cross the line to
win the 2006 United States Grand Prix. For the WilliamsF1 team it was
another race that failed to produce a result.. |
