Schumacher wins US GP - only nine cars finish

By Volker Gundrum Jul 2, 2006, 18:56 GMT

German Formula One driver Michael Schumacher (front) of the Scuderia Ferrari team in action in front of the Spanish fernando Alonso (rear) Renault F1 team the United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Speed Motorway race track in Indianapolis, United States on Sunday; 02 July 2006. EPA/JENS BUETTNER

Indianapolis - Michael Schumacher led Felipe Massa in the second straight Ferrari one-two at the United States Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday and gained lots of ground on championship leader Fernando Alonso.

The Renault driver Alonso failed to make the podium for the first time in 11 months, having to settle for fifth place in a race that saw eight cars crash in the opening lap and only nine of 22 cross the finish line.

Pole-position holder Schumacher lost the start against Massa, but moved into first place again after the first round of pit stops en route to his third win of the season and 87th overall ahead of Massa and Giancarlo Fichella in a Renault in sweltering heat on the famous speedway.

Schumacher improved to 69 points from 10 of 18 races, cutting Alonso's lead from 25 to 19 points. Alonso now has 88 points. A victory is worth 10 points.

Alonso came to Indianapolis with six season wins (among them the last four races) and second place in the other three 2006 races. He made the podium in 15 races since finishing 11th at the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 31, 2005.

But Ferrari already dominated the qualifying as their package appeared better than that of Renault, who as a car were inferior and also had to make do with a conservative choice of their tyre partners Michelin.

The move came after the 2005 fiasco in which all seven Michelin teams withdrew over tyre safety concerns issued by the French company, allowing Schumacher to win ahead of then team-mate Rubens Barrichello in a six-car farce.

Sunday's race at least saw nine cars finish, but the field was reduced to 14 cars after just two turns and a few hundred metres from two pile-ups.

Nick Heidfeld escaped unharmed when his BMW lifted into the air for a double roll into the gravel after Kimi Raikkonen lost control over his McLaren-Mercedes when being hit by team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

'I am fine. This was my first tumble of such a kind. It looked worse than it was,' said Heidfeld.

Raikkonen said he was 'very disappointed' and did not further want to comment on his team-mate Montoya, who said himself that Raikkonen 'slammed on the brakes.'

Up front, Massa won the start against Schumacher, with Alonso storming from fifth to third and even almost passing Schumacher before the safety car phase.

But Alonso dropped to fourth behind Fisichella in the 13th lap while Schumacher regained the lead in the 31st lap for victory in 1 hour 34 minutes 35.199 seconds for the 73-lap race over 306.016 kilometres.

Behind the top three and also in the points were Jarno Trulli in a Toyota, Alonso, Barrichello in a Honda, David Coulthard in a Red Bull and and Vitantonio Liuzzi in a Toro Rosso.

The next race is the French Grand Prix in Magny-Cours on July 16.