by Rob Wilkins
While the 2006
F1 season will probably be remembered most by the general public for the battle between
Fernando Alonso and
Michael Schumacher, the fight between
Renault and Ferrari was just as fierce, if not more so.
Here
Crash.net columnist,
Mark Blundell gives his verdict on the performance of the eleven teams in the sport and while he is full of praise for the efforts made by the 'top two' - and the likes of
Honda,
BMW Sauber and
Super Aguri, he wasn't at all impressed with
Toyota and
Red Bull.
Want to know why?
Get reading...
Q:
Mark, did the right team take the constructors’ title?
Mark Blundell:
I think they did. If you look at it and what went on with the mass damper issue and a number of things, which got put against Renault as the season went on, they coped with all of those problems well. Renault had the consistency, reliability and outright pace when it came to it too - they had that from race one, when they rolled out of the pit lane in Bahrain all the way to the end of the championship in Brazil. The fact they were that strong throughout means they deserved to win.
Q:
Ferrari put in a brilliant performance to fight back. Overall they probably had the stronger driver-car-tyre package at the end didn’t they, despite not taking the ultimate honours?
MB:
They probably did have the strongest outright performance, from mid-season to the end, but that is only good for exactly that - and you can’t win a championship with it. You need to be strong and consistently strong throughout and that was what cost them and meant they didn’t win the championship. They put in a valiant effort, the team dug deep and Michael Schumacher definitely dug deep. We saw some outstanding drives from him and the Schumacher that we have seen time and time again did some remarkable things in a car. But for some reason the luck didn’t quite run with him. We have seen over the years, Schumacher has had things go against him, but he has been very lucky and they have all turned out to be positives at the end of it. Even if it was getting run off the track, suffering a puncture, there was always a bit of late luck on his side. For some reason this year that seemed to run out and it cost him.
Q:
McLaren ended the season ‘best of the rest’ behind Renault and
Ferrari, but how much will it hurt them that they didn’t win?
MB:
It is quite a big deal for them not to have won a grand prix, because it has been several years since they haven’t managed that. What it will have done though is make them re-focus and take time to re-evaluate where the requirements lie in going forward. They have lost some big personnel over the last 15 months.
