By Phil Giles
May 14 2006

Lap by lap commentary of the Spanish Grand Prix with a slight Midland slant! SPOILER WARNING: Don't read this if you don't want to know the result.

Tiago Monteiro and Christijan Albers line up 17th and 18th on the grid after an engine penalty applied to Jacques Villeneuve and Coulthard crashing out in Qualifying.

Parade Lap.
All cars appear to have got away. No stalls. Crowd going mad for Fernando. Suggests that it's worth a few tenths.

Start / Lap 1
Heat Haze rising. Go.
SA get the jump on Midland yet again. Albers has lost out five places at the start. Montagny gets in front of Tiago Monteiro. Tiago Monteiro stays in front of Sato.

Lap 2
Villeneuve unable to do anything about Sato. Albers .3s behind JV. Tiago .2s behind Montagny.

Lap 3
Monteiro must have spun. Into the gravel trap at Turn 5. He's back on track. Both Midlands are at the back of the train. He hasn't pitted. Did he hit Montagny?

Lap 4
Monteiro laps in 1.20.950! Just a few tenths behind Webbers lap time!

Lap 6
Tiago is punching in those laps. His last three laps have been getting faster.
He's catching Christijan Albers by 2s per lap. Christijan Albers still stuck behind Sato. Montagny down to 19th. Come On Boys.

Lap 8
Tiago Monteiro is 1.4s behind Christijan Albers. They'll probably just stay there for the rest of the race. Tiago's lap times are definately quicker at this time.

Lap 9.
0.6s separates the Midland drivers. Tiago Monteiro .5s faster over a lap.

Lap 10
No retirements yet.
Having said that Sato has just spun. Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro should now be hunting FM.

Lap 11
Montagny pits too. Albers has 10 seconds to make up to JV. FM retires.

Lap 13
JV is pulling away from Christijan Albers. Tiago Monteiro is 0.9s behind Christijan Albers

Lap 15 Both Toyota's come together in Turn One, Ralf from a long way back.

Lap 17
Fernando pits

Lap 18
Fisi in
Montoya beached and out of the race. Safety car may need to come out.

Lap 20
Midland Lapped.  This is a long first stint for Midland.  Up to lap 20 without having stopped.

Lap 23
Schuey leapfrogs Fisi at his first stop. Alonso still leads.

Lap24
Albers takes a trip through the gravel on the last corner. Huge cloud of dust but he's still in front of Tiago.

Lap 25
Fisichella goes very wide, through the gravel at turn 3.

Lap 27
Tiago pits from behind Christijan Albers who could now be holding him up.

Lap 28
Christijan Albers set's his fastest lap 1.19.992

Lap 30
Looked like lots of debris along the start / finish straight (probably the remains of Alber's wing as we find out later). Albers pits. Long stop. Back out. Single stop strategy? Can they go to the end without a splash and dash? Tiago is finally past. Albers has now got to get back past Sato.

Lap 32
Schumacher back into pit lane. Retired.

Lap 33
Alonso leads 11.6 seconds faster than the Ferrari.

Lap 36
Tiago lapping .5 seconds faster than Christijan Albers.

Lap 39
Albers responds with a lap 2s faster, however it was an in lap and he's back in the pit. Is there a problem? It's only 9 laps since the last stop.

Lap 41
JV makes his first stop!
Albers back in pit. He must be retiring.

Lap 42
Albers retires. No mention on TV. We'll find out shortly why no doubt.

Lap 44
They've sent Albers back out!? Looking to use the rest of the race like a test session no doubt.

Lap 46
Sato pits.

Lap 47
Tiago Pits again. Should be able to run to the end of the race.

Lap 48
Speed complaining about the V10 engine. Into the pits and retires from the race.

Lap 51
Tiago is 16th 96 seconds down on Liuzzi and 65 seconds up on Sato. Tiago's pace has really dropped off since his last stop. He's now 2 seconds a lap slower.

Lap 55
Albers back into the pit for retirement from 18th place. He's parked up in the garage and the team are looking at the front end of the car. It may have been damaged in the earlier trip across the gravel.

Lap 56
Christijan Albers shown as retired on the timing screen.  Tiago's sole remaining MF16 is still running in 16th place.

Lap 57
9 laps to go. Alonso still leads. Fisi in second place. Schumachers stopped? But TV shows that he's still going strong.

Lap 58
He's popped back up into 2nd place! Another timing glitch that the FOM might need to look at or perhaps it's just a sensor on his car.

Albers' front wing was damaged. hit the bargeboards and sidepods. Came in for a new nose but the handling didn't return, hence his retirement.

Lap 61
Looks like a cruise to the end for Alonso. Schumacher is 17.3 laps behind.

Lap 63
Rosberg is fighting for a place with Trulli.
Tiago has set a 1.20.856, Sato also does a 1.20.8

Lap 65
Fernando looks to have sewn this up. A Spanish winner of the Spanish Grand Prix. He's waving and weaving before the line! A great weekend for Renault.

Schuey 2nd, Fisi 3rd.

Tiago is 16th but Christijan Albers retired. Another diligent race from Tiago. I hope we can find out more about Christijan Albers's damage soon.