2006 Italian Grand Prix

The 2006 Italian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2006)[2] was a Formula One motor race held on 10 September 2006 at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. It was the fifteenth race of the 2006 Formula One season, and was won by Michael Schumacher driving a Ferrari car.

2006 Italian Grand Prix
Race 15 of 18 in the 2006 Formula One World Championship
The Monza circuit after modified in 2000
The Monza circuit after modified in 2000
Race details
Date 10 September 2006
Official name Formula 1 Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2006
Location Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza, Italy
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.793 km (3.6 miles)
Distance 53 laps, 307.029 km (190.8 miles)
Weather Warm and sunny with temperatures reaching up to 27 °C (81 °F)[1]
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1.21.484
Fastest lap
Driver Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:22.559 on lap 13
Podium
First Ferrari
Second
  • Finland Kimi Räikkönen
McLaren-Mercedes
Third BMW Sauber
Lap leaders

Immediately following the race, Schumacher announced that he would retire from motor racing at the end of the 2006 season. Robert Kubica achieved his first career podium finish, in only his third Grand Prix. It was also only the second Grand Prix meeting appearance of Kubica's Friday driver successor, Sebastian Vettel. Vettel had impressed at the Turkish Grand Prix by setting the fastest time in one session, but he set the fastest time in both Friday practice sessions at this Grand Prix.[3][4] The race was also the first race to see the introduction of a new High Speed Barrier developed by the FIA Institute and the FIA. The system, which was installed at the end of the run-off areas at the circuit's second chicane and Parabolica corners, was designed for use at corners with high speed approaches and limited run-off areas.[5] Also this was the last race of the Red Bull driver Christian Klien, until his return to a race seat at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix.

After the race, in the press conference, Schumacher announced his retirement from Formula One.[6] On the same day, it was announced that Ferrari would replace Schumacher with Kimi Räikkönen. The race was his 90th victory. Four years later however in 2010, Schumacher returned to F1 with Mercedes.

Friday drivers edit

The bottom 6 teams in the 2005 Constructors' Championship and Super Aguri were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race.

Constructor Nat Driver
Williams-Cosworth   Alexander Wurz
Honda   Anthony Davidson
Red Bull-Ferrari   Robert Doornbos
BMW Sauber   Sebastian Vettel
MF1-Toyota   Giorgio Mondini
Toro Rosso-Cosworth   Neel Jani
Super Aguri-Honda   Franck Montagny

Race report edit

At the start Kimi Räikkönen got away in the lead with Michael Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld tussling over 2nd. By lap 2 Fernando Alonso was up to 6th past Heidfeld as Schumacher and Räikkönen begin to pull clear of the rest. On lap 10 Nico Rosberg lost power in his Williams and was the first retirement, his 4th consecutive retirement. On lap 15 Räikkönen pitted from the lead and two laps later Schumacher came in and jumped him, Robert Kubica took the lead stopping much later, on lap 23, which allowed Schumacher into the lead for the first time in the race. On lap 44 there was drama when Alonso pulled over with a smoky Renault after an engine failure, this caused a problem for Massa who locked up behind him and went off before pitting to change tyres. Michael Schumacher cruised to victory ahead of Räikkönen, with Kubica claiming his first podium in 3rd place.[7]

Classification edit

Qualifying edit

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
1 3   Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.994 1:21.349 1:21.484 1
2 5   Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:21.711 1:21.353 1:21.486 2
3 16   Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:21.764 1:21.425 1:21.653 3
4 6   Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:22.028 1:21.225 1:21.704 4
5 12   Jenson Button Honda 1:22.512 1:21.572 1:22.011 5
6 17   Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:22.437 1:21.270 1:22.258 6
7 4   Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.422 1:21.878 1:22.280 7
8 11   Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:22.640 1:21.688 1:22.787 8
9 2   Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:22.486 1:21.722 1:23.175 9
10 1   Fernando Alonso Renault 1:21.747 1:21.526 1:25.688 101
11 8   Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:22.093 1:21.924 11
12 10   Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:22.581 1:22.203 12
13 7   Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:22.622 1:22.280 13
14 14   David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari 1:22.618 1:22.589 14
15 21   Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:22.943 1:23.165 15
16 15   Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 1:22.898 No time 16
17 20   Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:23.043 17
18 19   Christijan Albers Spyker MF1-Toyota 1:23.116 18
19 9   Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:23.341 19
20 18   Tiago Monteiro Spyker MF1-Toyota 1:23.920 20
21 22   Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:24.289 21
22 23   Sakon Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda 1:26.001 22
Source:[8]
Notes
  • ^1 – Fernando Alonso originally qualified with a time of 1:21.829 in Q3, but had his three fastest Q3 times deleted, effectively demoting him from fifth to tenth, after Monza stewards controversially penalized him, judging he had impeded Ferrari's Felipe Massa during qualifying.[9]

Race edit

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5   Michael Schumacher Ferrari 53 1:14:51.975 2 10
2 3   Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 53 +8.046 1 8
3 17   Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 53 +26.414 6 6
4 2   Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 53 +32.045 9 5
5 12   Jenson Button Honda 53 +32.685 5 4
6 11   Rubens Barrichello Honda 53 +42.409 8 3
7 8   Jarno Trulli Toyota 53 +44.662 11 2
8 16   Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 53 +45.309 3 1
9 6   Felipe Massa Ferrari 53 +45.995 4
10 9   Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 53 +72.602 19
11 15   Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 52 +1 lap 16
12 14   David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari 52 +1 lap 14
13 21   Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth 52 +1 lap 15
14 20   Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth 52 +1 lap 17
15 7   Ralf Schumacher Toyota 52 +1 lap 13
16 22   Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 51 +2 laps 21
17 19   Christijan Albers Spyker MF1-Toyota 51 +2 laps 18
Ret 18   Tiago Monteiro Spyker MF1-Toyota 44 Brakes 20
Ret 1   Fernando Alonso Renault 43 Engine 10
Ret 4   Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 20 Engine 7
Ret 23   Sakon Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda 18 Hydraulics 22
Ret 10   Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 9 Driveshaft 12
Source:[10]

Championship standings after the race edit

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
  • Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Weather info for the 2006 Italian Grand Prix at Weather Underground
  2. ^ "Italia". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  3. ^ "FORMULA 1 Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2006". formula1.com. Formula One Administration. Archived from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  4. ^ "FORMULA 1 Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2006". formula1.com. Formula One Administration. Archived from the original on 15 August 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  5. ^ The High Speed Safety Barrier FIA.com. Retrieved 4 October 2006 Archived 17 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Schumacher confirms his retirement". formula1.com. Formula One Administration. Archived from the original on 21 November 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  7. ^ "As it happened: Italian GP". BBC Sport. 10 September 2006. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Italian GP - Saturday - Qualifying Session 1 Results". GrandPrix.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  9. ^ "Alonso punished for blocking Massa". Archived from the original on 27 January 2007. Retrieved 8 September 2006.
  10. ^ "Italian GP - Sunday - Race Results". GrandPrix.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  11. ^ a b "Italy 2006 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.


Previous race:
2006 Turkish Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2006 season
Next race:
2006 Chinese Grand Prix
Previous race:
2005 Italian Grand Prix
Italian Grand Prix Next race:
2007 Italian Grand Prix

45°36′56″N 9°16′52″E / 45.61556°N 9.28111°E / 45.61556; 9.28111