You won’t believe what happened today! Michael Schumacher’s 91st and final F1 victory was an incredible surprise!

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For starters, it was Michael who looked to be in trouble as Fernando raced into the distance on a wet Shanghai track made treacherous by standing water and heavy spray. While Fisi was second, Michael had to fight to overtake the Hondas of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, and the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen.

After 13 laps, Fernando was 16.4 seconds ahead of Kimi, who had passed Fisi on that lap. Michael had just gotten rid of Jenson and was fourth, a worrying 25 seconds behind his championship rival. I remember thinking that his title hopes were really dwindling.

At that moment, Fernando seemed to have another victory in his pocket. But then everything started to go wrong.

Michael refueled first, on lap 21. Fernando did the same a lap later. Fisi one lap later still. But while Schumacher and Fisichella stayed on their original intermediate tires (Bridgestone and Michelin respectively), Fernando was worried about the wear on his left front tire and decided to change both front tires.

However, it was a mistake that drastically hampered his pace, as the new rubber refused to reach its optimal operating temperature lap after lap. Suddenly both Fisichella and Schumacher, now third after Kimi retired his McLaren with a throttle problem after 19 laps, were dragging him.

Incredibly, in just five laps, Alonso had to block his own teammate, who had Schuey over him like a red blanket.

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Fernando held on until he had to inevitably give way to his teammate on lap 30, while Michael metaphorically rubbed his hands. Historically, this was the only circuit that had never smiled on him, but he would soon give him a very nice parting gift: Schumacher had announced in the previous race at Monza that he would be leaving the sport at the end of the year.

He overtook Alonso on lap 31, and the Spaniard lost more time (a crucial 13 seconds) during his second stop on lap 35 when the wheel nut came off the right rear clamping gun when he switched to dry tires. .

Now only Fisi could stop a disaster for Renault. Schumacher stopped for dry tires on lap 40, by which time his intermediates were almost finished.

Fisichella did the same a lap later and rejoined still in the lead. But that only lasted until he reached the first turn. And there he made a fateful mistake.

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“It was clear that Turn 1 was going to be difficult,” Michael said afterwards. “I had a moment there myself. I took it pretty slow, but I still almost went in too fast. Then I thought it might be a problem with Giancarlo and there it was, he went wide.

“I took advantage of the opportunity and was able to lower the revs and drive safely home.”

The Italian, who would lead Renault in 2007 when Fernando was set to embark on what would prove a super frustrating spell with McLaren alongside a rookie partner called Lewis Hamilton, looked as dejected as he did after losing to Kimi in Japan in similar circumstances. last year. And he might as well have done so.

Now Fernando’s new dry tires were working and he proceeded to set a series of fastest laps. He soon overtook Fisi for second place and two valuable bonus points on lap 48, and at the end was just 3.1 seconds behind Michael.

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But Fernando’s lead for the title had practically disappeared. If Fisi had been able to hold off the Ferrari driver, who knows what opportunity that might have created for the champion?

“Giancarlo and Michael came to me very quickly,” said Fernando about his intermediate stint. “When I stopped again, we switched to dry tires early and hoped for a miracle.

“But I think the weekend has been fantastic and we have to take the positive, that the intermediate stint was the only part of the race in which we were not fast. “I have a lot of confidence in the last two races, but this was a missed opportunity.”

Schumacher, meanwhile, was elated.

“It was a very exciting and extreme weekend,” he said with a megawatt smile. “It was a gamble to keep the original set of tires, but it was worth it. Now we are on equal points.

“If we look back a while ago, it is a miracle that we are here, but thanks to everyone’s great work we have achieved it and we are going to fight in the last two races.

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“I think we will have to wait until the last to make a decision, so we are facing an interesting couple of weeks. “I’m really looking forward to that.”

As he bid farewell to his legion of Chinese fans, the soon-to-retire racer savored his first decent race in Shanghai and said smiling: “Today was a little gift for me.”

But as the championship fight could not have been better prepared as we headed to Suzuka, none of us that day could have known that his record 91st Grand Prix would also be the last of his brilliant career.

In the end, of course, Michael’s engine failed while leading in Japan, and he was only fourth in the final in Brazil after problems in qualifying and a puncture early in the race.

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Meanwhile, Fernando won in Japan and finished second to Schumacher’s teammate Felipe Massa at Interlagos to take the second of his two titles. In his case, we could not know that there would not be (until now) a third party…