by Rob Wilkins


The 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship will be remembered for many of reasons, principally though, when people talk about the season just gone, it will boil down to two main things. Namely: Fernando Alonso taking his second successive drivers' title and Michael Schumacher pushing him close, make that very close, but ultimately having to settle for second, before hanging up his helmet and saying 'Auf Wiedersehen'.

Here Crash.net columnist and ITV F1 pundit, Mark Blundell looks back over the year, in the first of two interviews about 2006.

What will be remembered most about the year, at least according to MB?

Read on to find out…



Q:
Mark, looking back at the season as a whole: Do you think it will be remembered fondly?

Mark Blundell:
I think it will be thought of as a memorable season. Obviously at the end of it the championship went down to the wire, with one of the greatest drivers' of all time, Michael Schumacher and also possibly one of the guys, who could become on the of the greatest of all time, two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso, battling it out for the title. So, yeah, there will be a lot of memories attached to the season overall.

Q:
In terms of the drivers' championship, the battle came down to a fight between Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher. Alonso came out top. Do you think the best man won?

MB:
I believe that the best man won in terms of consistency and there were a number of points' through-out the season, Monte Carlo being one of them, which was a bit costly to Schumacher. There was a little bit of inconsistency at the beginning of the season for Ferrari, which may have cost them. But you have to take your hat off to Alonso. He got the job done and didn't give up and even with all the technical things that were thrown at Renault, to try and take a bit of pace out of them, it didn't really have an overall effect.

Q:
For Alonso, it was a highly significant season. He took back-to-back drivers' titles. Will that achievement though be overshadowed by Michael Schumacher's decision to retire? What will people remember most about 2006 - Alonso taking his second drivers' crown or Schumi hanging up his helmet?

MB:
People always remember winners. People will remember that Alonso won the world championship for the second year running and the fight was against Schumacher. But I don't think there will be anybody thinking about Schumacher retiring and making it an easy job for Alonso. That was never the case. The fact of the matter is - the best man won the title. You have got to accumulate points at every single race to get the championship and that is what Alonso did. Every time he went out, he went out to get the points and to get the job done.

Q:
Felipe Massa took third in the drivers', along with two wins - his first in Turkey and his second at home in Brazil at the season finale. How impressed were you with him? Has he shown what it takes now to go on and win the drivers' championship?

MB:
He has shown a great deal of progress and his potential is starting to be exploited. But I am not sure yet whether he has got what it takes to fight for a world championship. He is facing something of a difficult scenario now, as in some ways he will be regarded as the team leader, as he has been at Ferrari for a couple of season's now and Schumacher has left. So, he will take over the mantle in a way.