(Oops, this is a bit of a late post, sorry!) The final race to the season tidied things up nicely with Alonso taking his second championship and Renault also retaining the constructors. Race wise, there only seemed to one person out on track trying, Schumacher.
It looked like a stunning fight back was on the cards, but unfortunately ended early after Fisichella’s front wing nudged Schumacher’s back left tyre whilst he was overtaking. That caused a puncture that meant he had to pit and was then just too far back to make anything of it… although finishing 4th was impressive.
I felt though that Alonso didn’t really try. He was just happy to trundle along and make sure he finished in the top 8. Admittedly it’s easier said than done, but a bit of a tousle wouldn’t have gone a miss. However it did show that level of consistency that has enabled him to keep the championship again. I’m very dubious about Alonso’s move to McLaren given they’ve pretty much done nothing of note since Mikka Hakkinen left. Perhaps Alonso can help McLaren focus in a way that Kimi hasn’t?
Now I couldn’t finish off my last post of the season without some discussion about Schumacher. 
It’s probably very obvious that I’m not fan and that I’ve always disliked him, however I do note that he is an incredibly skilled driver. As to my reason for disliking him, it stems back over 10 years ago to how he won his first world championship in 1994, which was about the time I first started properly taking an interest in Formula One.
Schumacher had made a mistake in the Adelaide Grand Prix which meant he was going to retire. All Damon Hill had to do was finish the race to take the championship, but Schumacher deliberately drove into him therefore taking it on points (see here). And it is also primarily why he was so disliked in this country. Add to that his other moments of unsporting behaviour (Monaco this year!) and you can see why he was a love him or hate him driver.
With that aside, it’s certainly been a riveting season with plenty of ups and downs. As to whether it’ll be the same next year without Schumacher and the numerous driver team changes remains to be seen!
- Race Result (F1 ITV)
