Formula 1
Win possible for Ferrari in Melbourne?
Renault was dominant in the first two races of 2006, with Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella taking the wins in Bahrain and Malaysia respectively, but Michael Schumacher believes Ferrari's first victory of the season could be possible in ...
Edited: Mar 31, 2006, 4:16 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Renault was dominant in the first two races of 2006, with Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella taking the wins in Bahrain and Malaysia respectively, but Michael Schumacher believes Ferrari's first victory of the season could be possible in Australia. The German was on the podium at Sakhir and although an engine change penalty demoted him on the Sepang grid, he believes Ferrari has the pace to win.
Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher.
Photo by xpb.cc.
"It is not impossible that we could take our first win here," Schumacher said at a media meeting ahead of this weekend's Australian Grand Prix. "We are certainly quite happy with where we are compared to the others at the moment and we believe in the strength of our development programme."
"In terms of reliability, we were concerned about our engine in Malaysia which is why we changed it, but it turns out it was not really necessary so we have no concerns in that area at the moment."
Felipe Massa started at the back in Malaysia, also a victim of the engine penalty, and finished one place ahead of Schumacher in fifth. Schumacher had started 14th but Massa's one stop strategy played out better and the former champion professed to not be surprised that his young teammate finished ahead of him.
"Felipe had a good race and was quick," Schumacher commented. "That is no surprise to me as he was quick all through winter testing. I did not have an ideal run in terms of traffic, so if you read the race correctly it was no surprise."
Massa himself was, naturally, happy to finish ahead and score his first points for Ferrari. "I had a good race, starting from the back and making up a lot of positions," he said.
"I enjoyed my fight with Michael. We pushed each other quite hard in the last ten laps. For me it was a great result and a great achievement. I hope we can continue fighting one another in this clean way throughout the season."
The Brazilian hasn't had a great deal of luck in Melbourne previously but he hopes that will change this weekend. "I have never done too well here in the races: a few years ago I got involved in a first corner accident," Massa recalled.
"Then I had an engine problem and last year I finished ninth. So, this year, I really expect us to have a package that's good enough to see us on the podium on Sunday afternoon."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Australia hosts last of the early flyaway races
Next article Raikkonen the bus driver
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Felipe Massa
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Formula 1
Formula 1
Italian GP
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Formula 1
Formula 1
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
Formula 1
Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
More from
Ferrari
Robert Kubica announces exit from AF Corse’s privateer Hypercar in WEC
WEC
WEC
Monza
7 h
Robert Kubica announces exit from AF Corse’s privateer Hypercar in WEC
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
8 h
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Latest news
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
1 h
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
5 h
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
6 h
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
6 h
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Feature
Discover prime content
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Formula 1
By Pat Symonds
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe