By Phil Giles
April 23 2006

The Imola Grand Prix from my TV and Lap Timing coverage point of view. **** This is also a spoiler alert for those who haven't yet watched the race and don't want to know the result. **** Tiago and Christijan line up 19th and 20th with Sato and Ide behind. Technical problems were blamed for a poor qualifying performance compared to some great running in free practice.

Parade lap
Tyre warmers off. Ferrari very late with those before the start.  Puff of smoke from someone at the front of the grid. Could just have been over fill.

Start / Lap 1
Midland through and in front of the Aguri's. The TC worked!

Midland accident into turn 2. Albers thumped by an SA. Totally wrecked the car. Started to roll on the track but Albers out of the car. Looks ok but very unhappy at whatever it was that caused that. The car appeared to have been launched into the air whilst on the track, continuing to roll into the gravel trap. Taking a Super Aguri with it. What a testament to the construction of these cars but it looks like he tripped over one of the Super Aguri's. Jee's that looked like it could have been a lot worse. Safety car out.

It was Ide.

Tiago has got in front of Sato. 1second faster per lap

Schumacher leads on lap 4.  Monteiro seems to be dropping away from Klien.

Liuzzi takes a spin, Trulli pits on lap 5

Quotes from Christijan  "Not dizzy. problem is Super Aguri are missing some speed but try to make everything good in first corner." "We (Midland) need to work on starts."  "I didn't see him coming.  The Super Aguri are taking too many risks in first few laps."

Trulli retires Lap 6 after hitting Liuzzi's Torro Rosso.

Tiago into 18th, 5 seconds in front of Sato.

Tiago is lapping between one half and a full second faster than Sato. Ide was clearly taking a risk, trying to get in front of Albers to hold him up.

Liuzzi in front of Tiago is lapping at least a second faster than Tiago.8.6 seconds in front on lap 10. This "restricted" V10 clearly has a major advantage.

Lap 12, Ide is back out on track 9 laps down.

Typically, being in Italy, the TV coverage is fixed on Schumacher's Ferrari. Will we ever see what's going on further down the track?

Ide lapping 1.34, Monteiro 1.29, Sato 1.31

Rubens first to blink on lap 14. long stop. 15.5 seconds changed him to two stops.

Monteiro 17 seconds down on Liuzzi even after a spin. Last lap faster than Liuzzi on lap 17 pulling back a few tenths.

Monteiro pit on lap 18. Unseen by the TV, they'd rather see a slo mo fo Massa.

Massa in on lap 19. Short stop so must be on a two stopper.

Sato in front of Monteiro. 1.3 seconds behind. Schumacher comes out of the pit just in front of Sato with Tiago just behind. Lap 20. Alonso leads.

Lap 21 Tiago back in front of Sato. 0.7 seconds in front. On lap 22 he's 3.6 seconds ahead!

Sato pits on lap 25, Schumacher back into the lead but Fernando is back out in second place.

So another three hour Ad break from ITV

Lap 28 back onto it. Ferrari dropping back. Problems with their tyres and a heavy car?

Tiago still in 18th place

Lap 31. Button's fuel rig is left on the car. he has to stop. this will really wind him up. He's managed to pull over three or four of the mechanics.

Will someone please smack James Allen, Suggesting that they should find a new name for the "lollypop" which tells the driver when to go. Cos it's just not Formula One enough.  How's about "Manual Driver Stop Go Signalling Device"?  Git.

Lap 35. Just finished my lunch!

Yellow flag on lap 35. No idea why though. Ide off the track at Rivatzza II. Retires for the second time in one race. Shout of "Go on Fernando" from me as he gets closer to Schuey!

Schumacher is a rolling roadblock on lap 39, lapping at 1.27.5.  Very slow and Fernando can't get past.

Tiago pits again unseen by the local TV director.

Montoya is having a stormer only 2 seconds behind Massa.

Alonso pits on lap 41 must be to the end of the race. This could see him get in front. Klien retires

Schuey out in front of Fernando. Coming up to lap Tiago who gets out of the way quickly. Good work fella. Up to 17th with the other retirements.

Montoya pits from the lead on lap 44. Button pits again. Kimi up to 3rd on a 1.25.542 Lap 45.

Yellow flag on lap 47: DC going very slowly. and ITV head off for yet another break.

DC into the pit on lap 48. Could both RBR's retire? Yep. Lap 49 DC retires. Hydraulics failure for CK, driveshaft for DC. Tiago up to 16th.

Sato has also stopped out on the track somewhere. Didn't notice that one. TV didn't mention it either.

Lap 54 Tiago puts in his fastest lap 1.27.296 Lap 55 faster 1.27.160

Four laps to go Alonso runs very wide in Villeneuve chicane. bumped off the opposite kerb. looks like Schumacher will scamper away to the end of the race.

Three laps. Fernando seems to be loosing grip. He'll settle for second, only loosing two points to Schuey.

Two laps from the end of the race Montoya has had a great race and is going to finish in third place. Unfortunately, thanks to the TV coverage, we haven't seen any of his laps and had no idea that he was there.

Last lap.
Schumacher wins, Fernando 2nd, Monty 3rd, Massa 4th, Kimi 5th, Webber 6th, Button 7th and Fisi picks up the last points in 8th place.

Tiago finishes two laps down in 16th place. A good race, solid race from him again.

Not an inspiring race but I don't think the local TV coverage helped on this occasion.