From 19th to fourth: Schumacher’s final Ferrari race

A puncture dropped Michael Schumacher to 19th in his final race for Ferrari. He fought back to fourth in the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix on 22 October, a remarkable recovery after qualifying had already gone wrong.

Schumacher entered the race ten points behind Fernando Alonso. His only path to the title was to win while Alonso finished outside the top eight without scoring. In Q3, fuel pressure failed as Schumacher left the pit lane; he could not set a time and started 10th, while Alonso lined up fourth. Ferrari later concluded that a faulty fuel pump was responsible.

The puncture came on lap nine as Schumacher tried to pass Giancarlo Fisichella. It followed light contact with the Renault’s front wing, but the cause was never fully resolved: the contact may have caused it, or debris from an earlier crash may have. A slow lap back to the pits left Schumacher 19th.

He then passed Fisichella and Kimi Räikkönen, recorded the fastest lap and finished fourth. Alonso won the championship with 134 points to Schumacher’s 121. Schumacher’s Ferrari departure had been announced weeks earlier, after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Brazil was not the reason he left; it was the last race of his Ferrari chapter.