By Nick Sparkes
May 28 2006

Lady luck looked to have shone down on Jarno Trulli as Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber retired, leaving Rubens Barrichello between him and a podium. A drive through penalty for Barrichello gifted an easy P3 to Jarno, but with five laps to go his Toyota slowed and stopped and retired. At the start neither Toyota made a good start with Jarno Trulli pushed down to ninth and Ralf Schumacher ending the first lap down in twelfth. Both drivers would have to wait for the first round of pit stops to get rid of the two stoppers, both Toyota’s running extremely heavy fuel loads taking full advantage of the TF106B larger fuel tank, which helped to promote Jarno into the points. A safety car period caused by the exit of Mark Webber’s Williams allowed Jarno and Ralf to close up, as Rubens Barrichello was the only car separating Jarno from his first podium of the season. Then Barrichello would be called into the pits for a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane dropping him to fifth and handing third to Jarno Trulli. With only the Red Bull Racing of David Coulthard and the Honda of Rubens Barrichello within touching distances of threatening Jarno, third place looked secure until his TF106B grounded to a halt on the track. Just like Canada last year a podium finish was taken away with only laps to spare. Ralf Schumacher who struggled with traffic all afternoon was promoted into the points in eighth, but a single point was nothing compared to the loss of six points and a podium for Jarno Trulli.

Elsewhere, before the lights had even gone out Ferrari decided to start Michael Schumacher from the pit lane with the German forcing his way through the field on the opening laps until he got stuck behind the Honda of Jenson Button which hindered his progress. Fernando Alonso drove the wheels off his Renault during the opening stint after leading away from pole position, with Mark Webber losing his third place on the second lap to Kimi Raikkonen who stormed up to the back of Alonso’s gearbox. After the first round of pit stops and group of three were seconds apart until traffic problems detached Mark Webber from the action, and then a sudden retirement putting the Williams driver out of the race. The safety car came out to allow the marshals to move Webbers car, which in turn aided the retirement of Kimi Raikkonen whose McLaren stopped with smoke pouring out and a clearly frustrated Finn talking the long walk back to paddock. This allowed Alonso to take an easy victory, as Juan Pablo Montoya never looked threatening in second, although I’m sure he just wanted to make the chequared flag after an embarrassing race two weeks ago in Spain. Rubens Barrichello, Jarno Trulli and David Coulthard all took turns at heading up third place towards the end, but a drive through for Rubens and a late retirement for Trulli handed David Coulthard and Red Bull Racing their first podium, and Coulthard’s first since 2002! Michael Schumacher put the troubles of the last 24 hours behind him and drove his way through the field to finish an impressive fifth, setting the fastest lap in the process.

Toyota will now look forward to Silverstone, where the true potential of the TF106B will be clearer to see.