United States GP: 2 July
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Loaction: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana
Raceday: Sunday, 2 July 2006
Time: 0100 Mon (+12 GMT)
2005 winner: M Schumacher
Number of laps: 73
Circuit length: 4.192 Km
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The oldest track still in use today, Indianapolis is a true motor sport institution. Built in 1908, the original track cost $75,000 to build and was originally constructed of crushed stone and tar. Following a spate of accidents however, the decision was taken to replace the surface with bricks: 3.2 million of them to be precise. Thus the legend of 'the brickyard' was born.
The first Indianapolis 500 took place in 1911 and when Formula One was incepted in 1950, the Indy 500 was a championship round. And so it remained for 11 seasons, its final running as a Formula One event coming in 1960. Formula One teams carried on turning up to Indy for the fun of it and, following the resurfacing of the brickyard in asphalt in the early '60s, the rear-engined cars of Lotus blew the chunky American roadsters out of the water. Jim Clark scored a memorable victory in 1965 and Graham Hill took the spoils in 1966.
In 1998 Indianapolis made a deal with Formula One to host a round of the World Championship again. A brand new infield course was constructed and in 2000, almost a century after the track was built, Formula One racing returned to the world's most revered circuit. With the sport building its fan base up in America every year, this is one race that looks sure to go from strength to strength. -
Suspected as much - Michelin's still having trouble with this circuit. Looks like they may have overcompensated for last year - the tyres are now too rigid and are causing understeer.
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even those underdogs have slaughtered the michelinsOriginally posted by Gedanken:Suspected as much - Michelin's still having trouble with this circuit. Looks like they may have overcompensated for last year - the tyres are now too rigid and are causing understeer.
Giant-killers shine at Indianapolis
Formula 1's smallest teams both had cause for celebration after qualifying for the United States Grand Prix, as Midland and Super Aguri produced their best ever performances.
Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro secured 14th and 15th for MF1 Racing - the first time that the team had got both cars through to the second segment of qualifying.
Meanwhile Takuma Sato took his Super Aguri to 18th, outpacing the likes of Nico Rosberg, Jarno Trulli and Vitantonio Liuzzi.
Monteiro was jubilant about his team's achievement, which came a day after Midland put two cars into the top seven in Friday practice.
"We finally got both cars into the second session, and that's a major boost for everyone," he said.
"After our performance yesterday, we knew there was potential, so we went for it, and both cars were very competitive today.
"In my last run, I lost two or three tenths in the last corner that leads to the straight.
"The back end stepped out on me as a result of pushing so hard, but I took the risk because I thought we might even be able to get into the top ten."
But his team-mate Albers refused to get too excited about their grid positions.
"The session may have looked good on paper, but we still have a lot of work to do for tomorrow, because tomorrow is the day that counts, not today," he said.
"Today we were able to celebrate a little bit, but we don't get points for qualifying, so we have to remain focused on running a good race.
"I'm still finding it quite difficult to set quick times, to be honest.
"So we need to work overnight and see what we can do, because I'm sure we can still go faster."
By contrast, Sato was all smiles after earning 18th.
"It was a fantastic qualifying session," he said.
"We made good progress throughout the practice sessions and the car has felt good all weekend.
"To be able to set our best qualifying position and to be competitive in quite gusty and very hot conditions is great."
Team boss Aguri Suzuki paid tribute to Sato's efforts.
"He did a very good job, his qualifying time was perfect and his car was performing well," he said. -
United States Grand Prix grid
1. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari
2. MASSA Ferrari
3. FISICHELLA Renault
4. BARRICHELLO Honda
5. ALONSO Renault
6. VILLENEUVE BMW
7. BUTTON Honda
8. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota
9. RAIKKONEN McLaren
10. HEIDFELD BMW
11. MONTOYA McLaren
12. WEBBER Williams
13. SPEED Toro Rosso
14. ALBERS Midland
15. MONTEIRO Midland
16. KLIEN Red Bull
17. COULTHARD Red Bull
18. SATO Super Aguri
19. TRULLI Toyota
20. LIUZZI Toro Rosso
21. MONTAGNY Super Aguri
22. ROSBERG Williams*
* sent to the back for missing weighbridge call -
United States Grand Prix result - 73 laps
1. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari
2. MASSA Ferrari +7.9s
3. FISICHELLA Renault +16.5s
4. TRULLI Toyota +23.6s
5. ALONSO Renault +28.4s
6. BARRICHELLO Honda +36.5s
7. COULTHARD Red Bull +1 lap
8. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +1 lap
9. ROSBERG Williams +1 lap
R. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota +11 laps
R. ALBERS Midland +36 laps
R. VILLENEUVE BMW +50 laps
R. MONTEIRO Midland +64 laps
R. SATO Super Aguri +67 laps
R. BUTTON Honda +70 laps
R. RAIKKONEN McLaren +73 laps
R. HEIDFELD BMW +73 laps
R. MONTOYA McLaren +73 laps
R. WEBBER Williams +73 laps
R. SPEED Toro Rosso +73 laps
R. KLIEN Red Bull +73 laps
R. MONTAGNY Super Aguri +73 laps
the 1st corner is really dangerous
Monteiro and Heidfeld were the most unlucky -
It was a piss-boring race...I fell asleep towards the end.
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haha same here... the only action i can see was... noneOriginally posted by Kuali Baba:It was a piss-boring race...I fell asleep towards the end.
