2006 Spanish Grand Prix
| 2006 Spanish Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 6 of 18 in the 2006 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
.svg) Circuit de Catalunya | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | May 14, 2006 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 Gran Premio Telefónica de España 2006 | ||||
| Location | Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain[1] | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.627 km (2.875 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 66 laps, 305.256 km (189.75 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny, 28°C[2] | ||||
| Attendance | 131,200 | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Renault | ||||
| Time | 1:14.648 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |
 Felipe Massa | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:16.648 on lap 42 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Renault | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | Renault | ||||
|
Lap leaders | |||||
The 2006 Spanish Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Gran Premio Telefónica de España 2006)[3] was a Formula One motor race held on 14 May 2006 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. It was the sixth round of the 2006 Formula One season and the forty-eighth Spanish Grand Prix. The 66-lap race was won by Fernando Alonso for the Renault team, from a pole position start. Michael Schumacher finished second in a Ferrari with Alonso's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella third.
As a consequence of the race, Alonso stretched his lead to fifteen points in the Drivers' Championship over Schumacher. Alonso's team, Renault, also increased their lead, but did so in the Constructors' Championship standings. This put them nineteen points ahead of Ferrari.
Background
[edit]Championship standings before the race
[edit]Before the race, Renault driver Fernando Alonso led the Drivers' Championship with 44 points; Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher was second on 31 points. Behind Alonso and Schumacher in the Drivers' Championship, Kimi Räikkönen was third on 23 points in a McLaren, with Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa on 18 and 15 points respectively. In the Constructors' Championship, Renault were leading on 62 points and Ferrari were second on 46 points, with McLaren third on 42 points.
Entrants
[edit]The Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams with two drivers each. The teams (also known as Constructors) were Renault, McLaren, Ferrari, Toyota, Williams, Honda, Red Bull, BMW, MF1, Toro Rosso and Super Aguri.
Practice
[edit]Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race: two on Friday, both lasting 90 minutes, and one on Saturday for 60 minutes.[4] The first session was led by Ferrari's Felipe Massa, the second by Honda's third driver Anthony Davidson and the third by Massa's teammate Michael Schumacher.[5]
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.
Qualifying
[edit]Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part ran for 15 minutes, and cars that finished the session 17th position or lower were eliminated from qualifying. The second part of the qualifying session lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 16. The final part of the qualifying session ran for 20 minutes which determined the positions from first to tenth, and decided pole position. Cars which failed to make the final session could refuel before the race, so ran lighter in those sessions.[4]
Championship leader Fernando Alonso clinched his second pole position of the season with a time of 1:14.648 and was joined on the front row by Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa put their Ferraris on the second row of the grid.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Fernando Alonso
|
Renault | 1:15.816 | 1:15.124 | 1:14.648 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |  Giancarlo Fisichella
|
Renault | 1:16.046 | 1:14.766 | 1:14.709 | 2 |
| 3 | 5 |  Michael Schumacher
|
Ferrari | 1:16.049 | 1:14.637 | 1:14.970 | 3 |
| 4 | 6 | Felipe Massa
|
Ferrari | 1:16.359 | 1:15.245 | 1:15.442 | 4 |
| 5 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello
|
Honda | 1:16.266 | 1:15.258 | 1:15.885 | 5 |
| 6 | 7 | Ralf Schumacher
|
Toyota | 1:16.234 | 1:15.164 | 1:15.885 | 6 |
| 7 | 8 | Jarno Trulli
|
Toyota | 1:16.174 | 1:15.068 | 1:15.976 | 7 |
| 8 | 12 |  Jenson Button
|
Honda | 1:16.054 | 1:15.150 | 1:16.008 | 8 |
| 9 | 3 |  Kimi Räikkönen
|
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:16.613 | 1:15.422 | 1:16.015 | 9 |
| 10 | 16 | Nick Heidfeld
|
BMW Sauber | 1:16.322 | 1:15.468 | 1:17.144 | 10 |
| 11 | 9 |  Mark Webber
|
Williams-Cosworth | 1:16.685 | 1:15.502 | 11 | |
| 12 | 4 |  Juan Pablo Montoya
|
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:16.195 | 1:15.801 | 12 | |
| 13 | 10 | Nico Rosberg
|
Williams-Cosworth | 1:17.213 | 1:15.804 | 13 | |
| 14 | 17 |  Jacques Villeneuve
|
BMW Sauber | 1:16.066 | 1:15.847 | 221 | |
| 15 | 15 |  Christian Klien
|
Red Bull-Ferrari | 1:16.627 | 1:15.928 | 14 | |
| 16 | 20 | Vitantonio Liuzzi
|
Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 1:17.105 | 1:16.661 | 15 | |
| 17 | 21 |  Scott Speed
|
Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 1:17.361 | 16 | ||
| 18 | 18 |  Tiago Monteiro
|
MF1-Toyota | 1:17.702 | 17 | ||
| 19 | 19 |  Christijan Albers
|
MF1-Toyota | 1:18.024 | 18 | ||
| 20 | 22 |  Takuma Sato
|
Super Aguri-Honda | 1:18.920 | 19 | ||
| 21 | 23 |  Franck Montagny
|
Super Aguri-Honda | 1:20.763 | 20 | ||
| 22 | 14 | David Coulthard
|
Red Bull-Ferrari | No time | 21 | ||
| Source:[6] | |||||||
- Notes
- ^1 – Jacques Villeneuve started 22nd after taking a 10 spot penalty for an engine change. The engine was damaged during transport to Barcelona.
Race
[edit]The race was held on 14 May 2006 and was run for 66 laps.[7]
Race report
[edit]
At the start, the first four remained in formation, although Felipe Massa was pressured by Kimi Räikkönen, who had jumped up from ninth to fifth. Fernando Alonso managed to break away while teammate Giancarlo Fisichella held up the chasers. The first round of pit stops was initiated by Alonso on lap 17. Fisichella followed him on lap 18 and Massa on lap 19.[2]
Suddenly, Juan Pablo Montoya spun at high speed and beached his McLaren on a kerb. If the safety car was deployed, it would give Schumacher a big advantage, but Montoya's car was lifted away by a crane. Alonso lost time while passing one of the Midlands and Schumacher lost time when he made a rare mistake on his own. The German pitted on lap 23 and rejoined 10 seconds behind the race leader, but crucially just ahead of Fisichella.
The second round of pit stops did not lead to any changes in the leading pack and Alonso took his third win of the season, extending his championship lead to 15 points.
Race classification
[edit]Championship standings after the race
[edit]
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "2006 Spanish Grand Prix". Motor Sport. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- ^ a b "2006 Spanish Grand Prix". Pitpass.com. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
- ^ "Spanish". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2006-10-20. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
- ^ a b "2006 Formula One Sporting Regulations" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 15 December 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2006. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
- ^ "FORMULA 1™ GRAN PREMIO TELEFÓNICA DE ESPAÑA 2006 - PRACTICE 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
- ^ Domenjoz, Luc; et al. (February 2007). Formula One Yearbook 2006-2007. Chronosports S.A. p. 116. ISBN 978-2-84707-110-8.
- ^ "Spain 2006". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 23 July 2005.
- ^ Domenjoz, Luc; et al. (February 2007). Formula One Yearbook 2006-2007. Chronosports S.A. p. 119. ISBN 978-2-84707-110-8.
- ^ a b "Spain 2006 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
External links
[edit]