FERNANDO ALONSO avenged his defeat in Michael Schumacher’s back yard the previous weekend, with a clinical success on his own Barcelona circuit.
The reigning world champion started the race in pole position alongside his Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, with the two Ferrari’s on the second row. Jenson Button began in eighth, and David Coulthard in last, following a crash during qualifying. The grid-placings allowed Fisichella to hold up Schumacher long enough to ensure an Alonso victory in an otherwise uneventful race. The German driver finished almost 19 seconds behind, in second. Felipe Massa took fourth for Ferrari, ahead of Kimmi Raikkonen and Button in sixth. The seventh race of the current season will take place in Monaco on May 28.
The MotoGP world championship continued in Shanghai, with a first pole position for Honda’s Daniel Pedrosa, which the Spanish rookie converted into his debut victory. He was followed home by the American trio of Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards and John Hopkins. Defending champion, Valentino Rossi, dominated the practice sessions, but fell back to qualify in a lowly 13th position. In the race proper, the Italian had worked his way into fifth place, before retiring with tyre problems. The drivers’ table is now led by Hayden, who has a 13-point lead over Ducati’s Loris Capirossi.
