| 2006 San Marino Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 4 of 18 in the2006 Formula One World Championship
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 Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 23 April 2006 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino 2006 | ||||
| Location | Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola,Emilia-Romagna,Italy | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.933 km (3.065 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 62 laps, 305.609 km (189.897 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 1:22.795 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Fernando Alonso | Renault | |||
| Time | 1:24.569 on lap 23 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Renault | ||||
| Third | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2006 San Marino Grand Prix (formally theFormula 1 Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino 2006) was aFormula One motor race held at theAutodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari inImola,Italy on 23 April 2006. The 62-lap race was the fourth round of the2006 Formula One season, and the 26th running of theSan Marino Grand Prix. It was won byFerrari driverMichael Schumacher, who had started from pole position. It was both his and Ferrari's first win of the season. Championship leaderFernando Alonso finished second for theRenault team, whilstJuan Pablo Montoya completed the podium with third position forMcLaren.
As a consequence of the race, Schumacher improved his position in theDrivers' Championship from fourth to second. Alonso lengthened his lead in the standings from 14 to 15 points.Kimi Räikkönen remained in third, 3 points behind Schumacher, whilst his teammate Montoya elevated himself ahead of Button into fifth place as a result of his podium finish. Alonso's Renault teammate,Giancarlo Fisichella, dropped to fourth place but still helped to extend the team's lead to 18 points over McLaren in theConstructors' Championship. Ferrari were then 3 points behind McLaren, on a total of 30 points, 15 more than fourth-placedHonda, and 20 more than fifth-placedBMW Sauber.
It was Schumacher's seventh victory at theSan Marino Grand Prix, and his fifth win at Imola in six years. This was the last Formula One race to be held in Imola until the2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.[1]
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The bottom 6 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.Fabrizio del Monte was set to act asMidland's third driver for this race, but this fell through due to lack of sponsorship.[2]
Michael Schumacher took pole position, and in doing so, brokeAyrton Senna's record of 65 poles.
On the first lap,Alonso passedBarrichello at the Tamburello curve. Like the previous Grand Prix, the race started with an accident, this time in the Villeneuve curve. The Super Aguri team's driverYuji Ide hitMF1'sChristijan Albers, putting the Dutchman's car into a series of rolls that left it upside down. Albers was unhurt and Ide was able to continue after replacing his damaged front wing, although he later retired on lap 23. He was reprimanded by the stewards and warned over his future conduct. This incident also formed part of the evidence that led the FIA to withdraw Ide'ssuperlicence later in the season. The Safety Car was deployed for two laps.
Michael Schumacher appeared to have a clear lead coming up to the first set of pit stops, although things started to go wrong after that. His car developedgraining in its tyres, which slowed him down considerably. Alonso gained significantly on Schumacher, but could not pass him. The Imola circuit is renowned for being difficult to overtake on.
The race continued normally for some laps, untilToyota driverJarno Trulli entered the pits to retire following a steering problem.Tonio Liuzzi had a problem and spun hisToro Rosso car in the Variante Alta, a corner which had recently been revised.
Honda driver Rubens Barrichello started the first round of pit stops, on lap 14. His stop lasted 15 seconds, which dropped him to 13th place.Michael Schumacher came into the pits on lap 20, temporarily givingRenault's Fernando Alonso the lead.
Lap 30 saw Honda'sJenson Button make his second stop. The refuelling nozzle got stuck and Button, thinking it had been removed, pulled away from the pits, tearing the nozzle from the refuelling rig. He was delayed in the pitlane while the Honda mechanics removed the nozzle from his car.
By the halfway point of the race,Ferrari began experiencing problems, specifically tyre degradation. Eight laps were enough for Alonso to bring down the 10 second difference between himself and Schumacher. The duel that took place during the2005 San Marino Grand Prix was to be repeated, this time with Schumacher in the lead.
Lap 41 saw Alonso pit for a second time, ahead of Schumacher. Alonso's out lap was not good enough to put himself in front of Schumacher, so their positions remained the same. Alonso chased hard, but a mistake by running wide into a corner left Schumacher a clear path for the last few laps to win. Meanwhile,David Coulthard had a driveshaft problem and retired on lap 47.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |  Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 62 | 1:31:06.486 | 1 | 10 | |
| 2 | 1 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 62 | +2.096 | 5 | 8 | |
| 3 | 4 |  Juan Pablo Montoya | McLaren-Mercedes | 62 | +15.868 | 7 | 6 | |
| 4 | 6 |  Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 62 | +17.096 | 4 | 5 | |
| 5 | 3 |  Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 62 | +17.524 | 8 | 4 | |
| 6 | 9 |  Mark Webber | Williams-Cosworth | 62 | +37.739 | 10 | 3 | |
| 7 | 12 |  Jenson Button | Honda | 62 | +39.635 | 2 | 2 | |
| 8 | 2 |  Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 62 | +40.200 | 11 | 1 | |
| 9 | 7 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 62 | +45.511 | 6 | ||
| 10 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 62 | +1:17.851 | 3 | ||
| 11 | 10 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Cosworth | 62 | +1:19.675 | 13 | ||
| 12 | 17 |  Jacques Villeneuve | BMW Sauber | 62 | +1:22.370 | 12 | ||
| 13 | 16 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 61 | +1 Lap | 15 | ||
| 14 | 20 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 61 | +1 Lap | 16 | ||
| 15 | 21 |  Scott Speed | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 61 | +1 Lap | 18 | ||
| 16 | 18 |  Tiago Monteiro | MF1-Toyota | 60 | +2 Laps | 19 | ||
| Ret | 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Ferrari | 47 | Driveshaft | 14 | ||
| Ret | 22 |  Takuma Sato | Super Aguri-Honda | 44 | Accident | 21 | ||
| Ret | 15 |  Christian Klien | Red Bull-Ferrari | 40 | Hydraulics | 17 | ||
| Ret | 23 | Yuji Ide | Super Aguri-Honda | 23 | Suspension | 22 | ||
| Ret | 8 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 5 | Steering | 9 | ||
| Ret | 19 |  Christijan Albers | MF1-Toyota | 0 | Collision | 20 | ||
| Source:[5] | ||||||||
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| Previous race: 2006 Australian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2006 season | Next race: 2006 European Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2005 San Marino Grand Prix | San Marino Grand Prix | Next race: None Next race at Imola:2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix |
44°20′38″N11°43′00″E / 44.34389°N 11.71667°E /44.34389; 11.71667
