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The general consensus was that the main reason for Ferrari's lack of form was down to the Bridgestone tyres the team used, which were poor in comparison to the Michelin tyres that were used by the majority of teams that were competing for glory with Ferrari (Renault, McLaren, Toyota, Williams, BAR, Red Bull Racing and Sauber all had Michelin). The best result achieved all season was a first and second placed finish at the United States Grand Prix, where, due to Michelin claiming that their tyres were unsafe, only six cars competed (Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi all raced on Bridgestone tyres, the tyre they had been using all season). This was to be Ferrari's and Michael Schumacher's only race win of the season. The most competitive races for Ferrari where all twenty cars competed were at the San Marino and Hungarian Grands Prix. At Imola, Michael Schumacher qualified thirteenth after making a mistake in the second qualifying session the day before, but on race day Bridgestone were at their most competitive, with Michael storming through the field to challenge eventual race winner Fernando Alonso, putting a huge amount of pressure on the 2005 World Champion, but being unable to find a way past. As for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher qualified on pole, almost a second ahead of second placed Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren-Mercedes) and led the race on a track where the Michelin tyre was expected to hold an advantage over their Japanese rivals. Michael had a light fuel load, and was eventually beaten by McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen, who at the end of the day had a better pit stop strategy. Apart from those two races, Ferrari often never looked in contention for race victories, and eventually finished a distant third in the constructors championship, with Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello suffering their worst championship positions in recent memory with Schumacher scoring 62 points, and Barrichello only 38 points. Barrichello left for the Honda team by the end of the season, and was replaced by fellow Brazilian Felipe Massa for the 2006 season. |
