AutoRacing - Fernando Alonso steals first place from Schumacher

Fernando Alonso took the crown in Sunday on the inaugural race of the 2006 F1 Season in Bahrain. The Renault driver took the first championship of the season from Ferrari driver and 6 time world champion Michael Schumacher by a close margin in the last run to the chequered flag. Michael Schumacher took the pole position during qualifying and it is clear that Ferrari had a more competitive car this year compared to the previous season. On the other hand, Kimi Raikkonen went on to take the last placing in the podium after starting at the back end of the race. This goes to indicate the pace that this year's Mercedes McLaren has. The other Mercedes McLaren driver, Juan Pablo Montoya completed the race in the 5th position, behind Honda's Jenson Button, to give Mercedes McLaren a similar standing to Renault in the Team Championship. Ferrari remains 3rd in the rankings table.

The next F1 race will be held in Malaysia at the Sepang race track between 17-19 March 2006. Most teams that did not win any points in Bahrain should look forward to the next race. However, fans would not be disappointed with the competition shown so far.