Spain: Race – It all fell apart on Lap 16

By Nick Sparkes
May 14 2006

There were high hopes of a double points finish at today’s Spanish Grand Prix, but two bad starts left Jarno and Ralf battling over eighth place during the opening laps. As the field broke clear, Ralf who looked faster than teammate Jarno made a move at the start of lap 16 which resulted in contact.

With Ralf making his move along way back from the sister Toyota of Jarno, Ralf’s nose touched the right rear wheel of Jarno’s car sending the German wide, through the gravel trap with a broken nose. As Jarno continued, Ralf had to tour in for a replacement front wing. The embarrassing incident was then shown in an action reply a few moments later for everybody to see, a humiliating moment for the whole Panasonic Toyota Racing team.

Jarno would later drop back from his point scoring position to finish tenth after suffering with handling problems. In contrast Ralf would only complete a couple of more laps near the tail of the field before a rare electrical problem brought an end to the German’s day. The disappoint was clear with Ralf storming out to the back of the garage, but later claiming his on track touch with his teammate was a ‘racing incident’ with Jarno apologising for his part. Both drivers admitted there was no team orders and that they were allowed to race, but obviously not as close as they did at the start of lap 16.

Up front Fernando Alonso lead away from pole position, and would remain there until the chequared flag, Giancarlo Fisichella would lose his second place after the first round of pit stops to Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher, and didn’t help his chances of getting it back with a slight off later in the race. Fisichella off track moment was nothing compared to McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya. The McLaren driver lost it at the exit of turn two, the same place he spun last year, but this time beached his McLaren on the kerb and was out of the race much to the disappoint of the team. The remaining McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen would finish best of the rest behind the dominate Renault’s and Ferrari’s in fifth, with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello putting in a better performance for Honda in sixth and seventh. Nick Heidfeld who also put in a strong showing grabbed the final point with eighth.