| 2006 United States Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 10 of 18 in the2006 Formula One World Championship
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 The Indianapolis circuit | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | July 2, 2006 | ||||
| Official name | 2006 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix | ||||
| Location | Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana[1] | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.195 km (2.606 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 73 laps, 306.016 km (190.238 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny, hot | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 1:10.832 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:12.719 on lap 56 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | Renault | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2006 United States Grand Prix (formally the2006 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix)[2] was aFormula Onemotor race held at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway inSpeedway, Indiana on July 2, 2006. It was the tenth race of the2006 Formula One season and the 40th United States Grand Prix. The 73-lap race was won byFerrari driverMichael Schumacher after starting frompole position. TeammateFelipe Massa finished second withRenault driverGiancarlo Fisichella third.
As a consequence of the race,Michael Schumacher scored his third win of the season, ending championship rivalFernando Alonso's run of four consecutive wins and reducing the2005 World Drivers' Champion's lead in the points standings to 19 over the German. Schumacher's Ferrari teammateFelipe Massa made it a Ferrari one-two by finishing in second place as the Maranello-based team also reduced Renault's constructors points advantage to 26.
The race also markedthe anniversary of the tyre controversy a year earlier, when 14 cars withdrew before the race began because of safety concerns about the supply of Michelin tyres provided to them – which had resulted in crashes during practice. This was also the last race forMcLaren driverJuan Pablo Montoya, after he announced that he would be leaving to race inNASCAR in 2007. As of 2025[update], this is the last time a Colombian driver participated in a Formula One race.
This was the last race until the2015 Malaysian Grand Prix that neither McLaren was classified.
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.
The Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams with two drivers each. The teams (also known asConstructors) wereRenault,McLaren,Ferrari,Toyota,Williams,Honda,Red Bull,BMW Sauber,MF1,Toro Rosso andSuper Aguri.
Going into the race, Renault driverFernando Alonso led theDrivers' Championship with 84 points, ahead ofMichael Schumacher on 59 points andKimi Räikkönen on 39 points.Giancarlo Fisichella was fourth with 37 points whileFelipe Massa was fifth on 28 points. In theConstructors' Championship, Renault were leading with 121 points, Ferrari and McLaren were second and third with 87 and 65 points respectively, while Honda on 29 and BMW Sauber on 19 points contended for fourth place. Renault and Fernando Alonso had so far won the majority of the races, including victory in the precedingCanadian Grand Prix. Championship contenders Schumacher and Fisichella had each gained victories, and Räikkönen,Juan Pablo Montoya had each gained second-place finishes. Massa,Jenson Button,Ralf Schumacher andDavid Coulthard had achieved third place podium finishes.
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race – two on Friday, and one on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions each lasted 90 minutes; the third session, on Saturday morning, lasted for an hour.[3]
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.[3]
Michael Schumacher andFelipe Massa earnedFerrari a front row lockout, ahead ofGiancarlo Fisichella andRubens Barrichello.Jarno Trulli's car was still being repaired when cars were sent to parc fermé; because of that, Trulli had to start from the pit lane.Nico Rosberg was penalised for ignoring a signal during the qualification session, requiring him to get his car weighed at theFIA garage. The FIA cancelled all his qualifying times, and he started from 21st position.Toro Rosso'sVitantonio Liuzzi had the engine of his car changed, and had to start from 20th position on the grid.
The race started with two big accidents at the first corner, which eliminated 7 cars. At Turn 1,Mark Webber collided withChristian Klien, who then spun around and was taken out byFranck Montagny. In Turn 2,Juan Pablo Montoya nudged his teammateKimi Räikkönen into a spin. Montoya then cloutedJenson Button whose front right tyre got caught byBMW Sauber'sNick Heidfeld who was launched into a triple barrel roll; Montoya also clippedScuderia Toro Rosso'sScott Speed in the incident. None of the drivers were injured. After that, the order stayed the same at the front, the only action being a battle at the back betweenDavid Coulthard,Nico Rosberg, andVitantonio Liuzzi. Rosberg lost out and was the only finishing driver not to score in the race, with Liuzzi gaining Toro Rosso's first ever point. Montoya departedMcLaren days after the race, announcing his move toNASCAR for the 2007 season forChip Ganassi Racing.[4] Michael Schumacher led home teammate Felipe Massa for a Ferrari one-two finish - the Maranello team's first of the season. This was Schumacher's fifth overall victory in the United States Grand Prix and his fourth consecutive win at this particular event.Giancarlo Fisichella came home a distant third in his Renault with his teammate and championship leaderFernando Alonso 5th behind the Toyota ofJarno Trulli.[5][6]
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| Previous race: 2006 Canadian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2006 season | Next race: 2006 French Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2005 United States Grand Prix | United States Grand Prix | Next race: 2007 United States Grand Prix |
39°47′42″N86°14′05″W / 39.79500°N 86.23472°W /39.79500; -86.23472
