By Michelin Sport
June 11 2006

Fernando Alonso secured his fifth win of the season – and the 13th of his Formula One career – with a dominant display in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. It was the 99th victory in Michelin's illustrious F1 history. The Spaniard led away from pole position and drove a controlled race to beat closest world championship rival Michael Schumacher by 13.9 seconds.

Alonso made a clean start to head fellow front-row qualifier Kimi Raikkonen into Copse Corner, although the race was neutralised almost before it had started. On the opening lap, Scott Speed collided with Ralf Schumacher at the high-speed Becketts sweep, and the German's car careered back across the track into the path of Mark Webber's Williams. All three drivers were forced to retire and the Safety Car was deployed while the wreckage was swept clear.

Alonso pulled away again when the race restarted on lap four and his lead was never seriously challenged. He was able to pace himself in the closing stages and yet still finish well clear of the elder Schumacher, who passed Raikkonen after the second and final round of scheduled pit stops. The result extends Alonso's lead over Schumacher to 23 points in the world championship for drivers while Renault leads Ferrari by 31 in the battle to be top constructor.

Despite being unable to contain Schumacher in the final stages of the race, Raikkonen said he was 'happy' with third place – his first podium finish since Australia. He was one of six Michelin drivers to score points. Giancarlo Fisichella vaulted Felipe Massa during the first round of stops to secure fourth place, ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya, Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve. Heidfeld led Montoya initially after making a fantastic start, but a delay during his first refuelling stop cost him valuable time.

It was a disappointing weekend for local favourite Jenson Button, who started 19th after failing to put together a quick lap during the first part of Saturday's critical qualifying session. He had made his way up to 12th place when he spun off amid a cloud of engine smoke on lap nine.

His Honda team-mate Rubens Barrichello headed the remaining Michelin finishers, in 10th place, while David Coulthard, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Christian Klien also completed the distance.

Teams now have a one-weekend break before back-to-back North American races in Montreal and Indianapolis, where Michelin will be aiming to complete its glorious grand prix century.

Nick Shorrock
Formula One Director
Michelin

"This was Michelin's sixth win of the year and we are, once again, delighted with our tyres' performance. Our partners used four different types of product in this race and all of them fulfilled our expectations in very demanding conditions.

"The track seemed to offer much more grip today and it only took Fernando Alonso nine laps to dip into the 1m 22s bracket – a level of performance we hadn't hitherto seen this weekend during long runs.

"The circuit seemed to evolve further during the second stint, when drivers began to complain about understeer rather than the oversteer that had previously been the principal characteristic. We witnessed a little bit of graining in the race, but we had anticipated that would be the case and it didn't cause us any problems.

"Our recent run of success will not make us complacent. We appreciate that the competition is incredibly tight and there will be no let-up as we chase a century of grand prix victories."