| 2006 British Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 8 of 18 in the2006 Formula One World Championship
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 Silverstone Circuit in 2006 | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 11 June 2006 | ||||
| Official name | 2006 Formula 1 Foster's British Grand Prix[1] | ||||
| Location | Silverstone Circuit,Silverstone, Northamptonshire andBuckinghamshire, England | ||||
| Course | Permanent Road Facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.141 km (3.194 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 60 laps, 308.355 km (191.603 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny, 27°C[2] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Renault | ||||
| Time | 1:20.253 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Fernando Alonso | Renault | |||
| Time | 1:21.599 on lap 21 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First |
| Renault | |||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2006 British Grand Prix (officially the2006 Formula 1 Foster's British Grand Prix) was aFormula One motor race held on 11 June 2006 at theSilverstone Circuit. The 60-lap race was the eighth round of the2006 Formula One season.
The event was held at theSilverstone Circuit inNorthamptonshire for the 41st time in the circuit's history. The Grand Prix was the eighth round of the2006 Formula One World Championship and the 52nd running of theBritish Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.
Ticket sales were rather slow, because the race was scheduled far earlier than normal and localJenson Button had had a rather poor2005 season. Also, the weekend clashed with England's firstWorld Cup match.
This race featured the first everpit stop to involve a woman. During aMidland F1 pit stop forTiago Monteiro,ITV-F1's thenpit lane reporterLouise Goodman was the left rear tyre changer.
Renault'sFernando Alonso was leading the Drivers' Championship with 64 points, ahead ofFerrari'sMichael Schumacher with 43 and both Renault teammateGiancarlo Fisichella andMcLaren driver with 27. In the Constructors' Championship, Renault topped the standings with 91 points, ahead of Ferrari (63) and McLaren (50).
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race: two on Friday, both lasting 90 minutes, and one on Saturday for 60 minutes.[3] The first session was led byWilliams's third driverAlexander Wurz, the second byBMW Sauber's third driverRobert Kubica and the third, arguably the most representative session, byMichael Schumacher in theFerrari.[4]
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.
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]
Fernando Alonso became the firstSpanish driver and the youngest driver ever (24 years and 317 days) to get ahat trick (pole position, winning and fastest lap in the same race). He fell one lap short of clinching aGrand Chelem (complementing the hat trick by leading every lap). He would finally achieve this at the2010 Singapore Grand Prix.
The race was held on 11 June 2006 and was run for 60 laps.[6]
The start brought no changes in the order at the front, but further back,Scott Speed pushedRalf Schumacher'sToyota right in the path ofMark Webber. Schumacher and Webber retired on the spot, while Speed crawled to the pits and drove straight into the garage at the end of the lap. Thesafety car was deployed for three laps.[2]
At the restart,Michael Schumacher challengedKimi Räikkönen for second, but theFinn held on. Alonso gradually built a gap of three seconds to Raikkonen, and on lap 18, Schumacher was the first topit. The championship leader looked to have the win secured, especially when his lead had grown to 13 seconds after the first round of stops.
Schumacher managed to leapfrog Räikkönen at the second round of stops, but never managed to get closer to his rival in theRenault. Räikkönen slowly fell into the clutches ofGiancarlo Fisichella but held on to his podium finish.
Juan Pablo Montoya andJacques Villeneuve finished sixth and eighth, respectively, and scored the final World Championship points of their careers.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 60 | 1:25:51.927 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 5 |  Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 60 | +13.951 | 3 | 8 |
| 3 | 3 |  Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 60 | +18.672 | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | 2 |  Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 60 | +19.976 | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | 6 |  Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 60 | +31.559 | 4 | 4 |
| 6 | 4 |  Juan Pablo Montoya | McLaren-Mercedes | 60 | +1:04.769 | 8 | 3 |
| 7 | 16 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 60 | +1:14.594 | 9 | 2 |
| 8 | 17 |  Jacques Villeneuve | BMW Sauber | 60 | +1:18.299 | 10 | 1 |
| 9 | 10 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Cosworth | 60 | +1:19.008 | 12 | |
| 10 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 59 | +1 lap | 6 | |
| 11 | 8 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 59 | +1 lap | 22 | |
| 12 | 14 |  David Coulthard | Red Bull-Ferrari | 59 | +1 lap | 11 | |
| 13 | 20 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 59 | +1 lap | 13 | |
| 14 | 15 |  Christian Klien | Red Bull-Ferrari | 59 | +1 lap | 14 | |
| 15 | 19 |  Christijan Albers | MF1-Toyota | 59 | +1 lap | 18 | |
| 16 | 18 |  Tiago Monteiro | MF1-Toyota | 58 | +2 laps | 16 | |
| 17 | 22 |  Takuma Sato | Super Aguri-Honda | 57 | +3 laps | 21 | |
| 18 | 23 |  Franck Montagny | Super Aguri-Honda | 57 | +3 laps | 20 | |
| Ret | 12 | Jenson Button | Honda | 8 | Oil leak | 19 | |
| Ret | 21 |  Scott Speed | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 1 | Collision damage | 15 | |
| Ret | 7 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 0 | Collision | 7 | |
| Ret | 9 |  Mark Webber | Williams-Cosworth | 0 | Collision | 17 | |
| Source:[5] | |||||||
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| Previous race: 2006 Monaco Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2006 season | Next race: 2006 Canadian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2005 British Grand Prix | British Grand Prix | Next race: 2007 British Grand Prix |
52°04′43″N1°01′01″W / 52.07861°N 1.01694°W /52.07861; -1.01694
