Race Notes - Alonso wins Bahrain GP

Fernando Alonso won the Bahrain GP in his Renault to take the opening race of the 2006 season. Second place went to polesitter Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari, one second behind, while third place went to Kimi Raikkonen, some 19 seconds behind, who ran the race on a one-stop strategy after starting in last place.

Fouth place went to Jenson Button in his Honda, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya in his McLaren-Mercedes in fifth, Mark Webber in the Williams in sixth, his team mate Nico Rosberg in his debut race for Williams in seventh and Christian Klien in the Red Bull in the final points paying position.

At the start Michael Schumacher retained his pole to take the lead followed by his team mate Felipe Massa. During the first lap Fernando Alonso made a pass to take second place from Massa.

At lap 5 the order was Michael Schumacher, Alonso, Massa, Montoya, Button, Barrichello, Klien and Fisichella.

On lap 7 Massa spun under braking for the first corner rejoining in sixth and then pitting on the next lap - having a 46 second stop due to a failure with an air line for a rear air gun - and rejoined the field in last.

On lap 10 Button passed Montoya for third place and Webber passed Fisichella for seventh place.

On lap 15 Schumacher pits from the lead, rejoining in fifth, followed by Barrichello and Fisichella on lap 16, Heidfeld on lap 17, Button on lap 18, Alonso on lap 19.

At lap 20, the order was Montoya, Schumacher, Alonso, Klien, Webber, Raikkonen, Villeneuve and Button.

On lap 21 Fisichella suffered an electronic failure and limped back to the pits.

On lap 22 Klien and Liuzzi pitted, followed by Montoya from the lead, Webber and Villeneuve on lap 23.

At lap 25 the order was Schumacher with a 1 second lead over Alonso, Raikkonen, Montoya, Button, Coulthard, Webber and Klien.

On lap 28, Button passes Montoya for fourth.

On lap 30 Raikkonen pits from third place on a one stop strategy, along with Coulthard, completing all the first stops. Villeneuve retires after suffering a large engine failure.

On lap 31 Schumacher led by 1 second over Alonso, Button, Montoya, Webber, Raikkonen, Klien and Liuzzi.

On lap 33 Massa made his second stop followed by Schumacher on lap 36, Alonso on lap 39 just coming out in from of Schumacher. Webber and Liuzzi also pitted, followed by Button on lap 40, Klien on lap 41, and Montoya on lap 44.

At lap 45 with all the front runners good to go to the finish, the order was Alonso one second ahead of Schumacher, Raikkonen, Button, Montoya, Webber, Klien and Coulthard.

On lap 49, Nico Rosberg took eighth place from Coulthard and then took Klien on lap 56.