| 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 1 of 18 in the2006 Formula One World Championship
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 The Bahrain Circuit in Sakhir | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 12 March 2006 | ||||
| Official name | 2006 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix | ||||
| Location | Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir,Bahrain | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.412 km (3.363 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 57 laps, 308.238 km (191.530 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Fine, Dry and Hot Air Temp 23 °C (73 °F)[1] Track Temp 40 °C (104 °F)[1] dropping to34 °C (93 °F) | ||||
| Attendance | 77,000 (Weekend)[2] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 1:31.431 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Nico Rosberg | Williams-Cosworth | |||
| Time | 1:32.408 on lap 42 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Renault | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2006 Bahrain Grand Prix (officially the2006 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix)[3] was aFormula One motor race held at theBahrain International Circuit inSakhir,Bahrain on 12 March 2006. The 57-lap race was the opening round of the2006 Formula One season and the third running of theBahrain Grand Prix. It was won by the2005 World Champions,Fernando Alonso and theRenault team.Ferrari driver and polesitterMichael Schumacher began his final season in Formula One (before his return withMercedes in2010) with second position.Kimi Räikkönen completed the podium after he finished in third place with theMcLaren team, despite starting in last position.
The race was the first Grand Prix for future world championNico Rosberg, son ofWorld ChampionKeke Rosberg, who raced with theWilliams team. He set the fastest lap of the race and, at the age of 20 years and 258 days, broke the record for the youngest driver to do so, which he held untilMax Verstappen scored his first fastest lap, at age 19, at the2016 Brazilian Grand Prix. It was also the debut race for theBMW Sauber,Toro Rosso,Midland F1 andSuper Aguri teams, and driversScott Speed andYuji Ide. This race was also the debut of the debut of new 2.4 litre naturally aspirated V8 engine configuration in the sport which was by 10 of the 11 teams entered into the race and would remain in service in F1 until the end of the2013 season.
This was the first race for theMidland,BMW Sauber,Toro Rosso,Honda F1 andSuper Aguri teams, although only Super Aguri was a completely new team, the others all representing buyouts or rebrandings of existing teams. Along with Rosberg,Scott Speed andYuji Ide were also making their Grand Prix débuts.
It also saw the début of the 2.4 litre (146.4 cu in) naturally-aspirated V8 engines which were used by all teams except Toro Rosso, who were still using the 3.0 litre (183 cu in) V10 engines that were used from1995 to2005, as the team's chassis, theSTR1, was reused from theRed Bull RB1 from the 2005 season. This race notably marked the first time teams had fieldedV8-powered cars, since the1996 Japanese Grand Prix.
Ben Edwards leftBBC Radio 5 Live after 2005 and was replaced byDavid Croft. Meanwhile on theITV front,Jim Rosenthal was also gone and was replaced bySteve Rider in his first race as anchor since the1997 European Grand Prix.
The bottom six teams in the2005 Constructors' Championship andSuper 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 |  | Robert Kubica |
| MF1-Toyota | | Markus Winkelhock |
| Toro Rosso-Cosworth |  | Neel Jani |
The race was the first run under the new2006 qualifying rules, in which the one-hour session is split into three 'knock out' parts. The first part eliminatedKimi Räikkönen (rear wishbone failure) andRalf Schumacher, who was caught out by the red flag after Räikkönen's accident and failed to set a competitive time, as well as the MF1's and the two Super Aguris. The second part saw fewer surprises, with the expected runners lining up for the final top 10 part. The result was that the Ferraris swept the front row.
At the start of the race,Fernando Alonso moved up to second in the first lap, only forMichael Schumacher to begin to pull away. Alonso was involved in a near collision with Schumacher's teammateFelipe Massa, who spun at the first corner. Massa was never a threat after this point, not helped by a delay in his pit stop to change tyres the same lap. Alonso's teammateGiancarlo Fisichella also played little part in the race due to an engine mapping problem which restricted power. He retired on the 21st lap due to hydraulic failure. A live team radio broadcast in which the team informed him that he would have to cope with the engine as well as he could led to Fisichella swearing in response;[4] this incident resulted in future team radio broadcasts being time-delayed. To the surprise of few,Kimi Räikkönen quickly moved his way up the field, only being delayed byJacques Villeneuve and Fisichella for a short period of time, before passing both men.
Further down the field,Nick Heidfeld andNico Rosberg, who was making his Grand Prix début, touched at the first corner. Both men were significantly delayed, but recovered. Heidfeld's day continued to get worse, as an incident withDavid Coulthard was investigated after the race.
Juan Pablo Montoya finished 5th in his McLaren, having never been a threat throughout the race. It was a good day for Williams on a whole, asMark Webber finished in 6th, while Rosberg was the surprise of the race though, ending up a very respectable 7th, passingChristian Klien after catching him in the last few laps of the race, putting Klien down to a still impressive 8th. Rosberg set the fastest lap of the race, becoming the youngest driver ever to achieve this in a Grand Prix, breaking a record held by Alonso.
Honda suffered mixed fortunes throughout the race. Early on fans were treated to a fight betweenRubens Barrichello andJenson Button, as Button slipped down the order due to a slow getaway. Button eventually fought his way back up, twice passing Juan Pablo Montoya at the end of the straight but losing out again in pitstops. He eventually finished 4th, 0.6 seconds behind Räikkönen in 3rd. Räikkönen fought hard throughout the race, stopping only once on his way to the last podium spot. He rose 19 places in the race which is more than any driver sinceFabrizio Barbazza started 25th and finished sixth in the1993 San Marino Grand Prix.[5]
At the second set of pit stops, Alonso was able to take advantage of staying out longer than Schumacher by coming out of the pit lane side by side with Schumacher. As they came into the first corner both cars were neck and neck, but Alonso was able to pull out in front of the former world champion. Despite coming under heavy pressure from Schumacher towards the end, the reigning champion started off the season with a well earned victory.
After a tussle withDavid Coulthard,Nick Heidfeld was reprimanded by stewards post-race for positioning his car in a way that forced Coulthard off the race circuit. Coulthard suffered engine failure on cool-down lap and received a 10-place grid penalty for2006 Malaysian Grand Prix.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Fernando Alonso | Renault | 57 | 1:29:46.205 | 4 | 10 |
| 2 | 5 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 57 | +1.246 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | 3 |  Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 57 | +19.360 | 22 | 6 |
| 4 | 12 | Jenson Button | Honda | 57 | +19.992 | 3 | 5 |
| 5 | 4 |  Juan Pablo Montoya | McLaren-Mercedes | 57 | +37.048 | 5 | 4 |
| 6 | 9 |  Mark Webber | Williams-Cosworth | 57 | +41.932 | 7 | 3 |
| 7 | 10 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Cosworth | 57 | +1:03.043 | 12 | 2 |
| 8 | 15 | Christian Klien | Red Bull-Ferrari | 57 | +1:06.771 | 8 | 1 |
| 9 | 6 |  Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 57 | +1:09.907 | 2 | |
| 10 | 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Ferrari | 57 | +1:15.541 | 13 | |
| 11 | 20 |  Vitantonio Liuzzi | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 57 | +1:25.997 | 15 | |
| 12 | 16 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 56 | +1 Lap | 10 | |
| 13 | 21 |  Scott Speed | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 56 | +1 Lap | 16 | |
| 14 | 7 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 56 | +1 Lap | 17 | |
| 15 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 56 | +1 Lap | 6 | |
| 16 | 8 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 56 | +1 Lap | 14 | |
| 17 | 18 |  Tiago Monteiro | MF1-Toyota | 55 | +2 Laps | PL2 | |
| 18 | 22 |  Takuma Sato | Super Aguri-Honda | 53 | +4 Laps | 20 | |
| Ret | 23 | Yuji Ide | Super Aguri-Honda | 35 | Engine | 21 | |
| Ret | 17 |  Jacques Villeneuve | BMW Sauber | 29 | Engine | 11 | |
| Ret | 2 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 21 | Hydraulics | 9 | |
| Ret | 19 | Christijan Albers | MF1-Toyota | 0 | Driveshaft | 18 | |
| Source:[9] | |||||||
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| Previous race: 2005 Chinese Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2006 season | Next race: 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix | Bahrain Grand Prix | Next race: 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix |
26°01′57″N50°30′38″E / 26.03250°N 50.51056°E /26.03250; 50.51056
