| 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 13 of 18 in the2006 Formula One World Championship
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 The Hungaroring after being modified in 2003. | |||||
| Race details[1][2] | |||||
| Date | 6 August 2006 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 Magyar Nagydíj 2006 | ||||
| Location | Hungaroring,Mogyoród,Pest, Hungary[3] | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.381 km (2.722 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 70 laps, 306.663 km (190.552 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Cool and rainy with temperatures reaching up to 20 °C (68 °F)[4] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:19.599 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Felipe Massa | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:23.516 on lap 65 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Honda | ||||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Third | BMW Sauber | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2006 Hungarian Grand Prix (officially theFormula 1 Magyar Nagydíj 2006)[5] was aFormula One motor race held on 6 August 2006 at theHungaroring,Mogyoród,Pest, Hungary. It was the 13th race of the2006 Formula One season.
Jenson Button won the race driving aHonda, the first victory of his career, the first race win for aBritish driver sinceDavid Coulthard won theAustralian Grand Prix three years previously, and the first by anEnglishman sinceJohnny Herbert won the1999 European Grand Prix nearly seven years previously, in similarly changeable weather circumstances.Pedro de la Rosa finished second forMcLaren-Mercedes, the only podium finish of his career, andNick Heidfeld finished third, givingBMW Sauber their first podium.
It was the first win for Honda as a constructor sinceJohn Surtees' victory in the1967 Italian Grand Prix 39 years prior, the first win for a Honda engine sinceGerhard Berger's full-worksHonda-poweredMcLaren triumphed in the1992 Australian Grand Prix, 14 years and 231 races earlier and the first win for a non-European constructor sinceJody Scheckter won with Canadian teamWolf in the1977 Canadian Grand Prix. The race would also prove to be Honda's only win in their second stint in Formula One as a full constructor, ending in late 2008 after Honda decided to pull out of F1 due to theGreat Recession.
It was the last victory for a Honda engine in Formula One untilMax Verstappen won the2019 Austrian Grand Prix for Red Bull. It was also the last victory forHonda as a full constructor entry in Formula One to date. It was also the last all-Michelin podium to date. This was the only race of the season in which neitherRenault norFerrari took a win or a podium finish.
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 originally announced asMidland's third driver.[6]
| Constructor | Nat | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Williams-Cosworth |  | Alexander Wurz |
| Honda |  | Anthony Davidson |
| Red Bull-Ferrari |  | Robert Doornbos |
| BMW Sauber | - | |
| MF1-Toyota |  | Markus Winkelhock |
| Toro Rosso-Cosworth |  | Neel Jani |
| Super Aguri-Honda | - |
During Friday practiceFernando Alonso was given a two-second qualifying penalty by the stewards for dangerous driving and overtaking under a yellow flag condition.[7] This meant that two seconds would be added to his times in each part of qualifying.Christijan Albers was given a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change, his second in as many weekends.Jenson Button received the same penalty after having an engine change when his let go in the final practice session.[8]
In a similar situation to Alonso's penalty,Michael Schumacher was given a two-second penalty for overtakingRobert Kubica and Alonso under "red flag" conditions at the end of Saturday's last free practice session. The decision left Schumacher "fuming," with him saying "I blame myself partly for what did happen, but I didn't expect this kind of penalty."[9]
In qualifying,Kimi Räikkönen achieved pole position with a time of 1:19.599 seconds.Felipe Massa qualified second, withRubens Barrichello starting the race in third.[10]
The track was wet at the start of the race, making it the first wetHungarian Grand Prix. All drivers started the race on intermediate tyres with the exception of Barrichello, who was on wets. PolesitterKimi Räikkönen took the lead early on. Alonso and Schumacher made their way through the field with Schumacher up into 6th place from 11th into the first corner, and Alonso climbing from 15th place with a spectacular first hard-fought lap. He went on to pass Schumacher on the outside of turn 5 after a straight fight for several laps and reached 3rd place. He then took the lead after the McLarens ofPedro de la Rosa and Räikkönen pitted. Bridgestone wet-tyres used to dictate the field in non-dry conditions but today it seemed a one-off for the Japanese rubber. All Bridgestone-drivers, including the Ferraris, were seen struggling and seriously down on pace compared to their competitors. Schumacher fell right back in the clutches ofGiancarlo Fisichella and lost his front wing battling for 5th place, hitting the Italian mid-corner fighting off snap-oversteer. This forced the German to pit, going a lap down. Soon after Jenson Button overtook Massa, Fisichella and Schumacher in just under the space of 2 laps. Räikkönen struggled on his second set of tyres and ended up crashing into the back ofVitantonio Liuzzi'sToro Rosso, vaulting the car and bringing out thesafety car. Alonso then pitted, allowing Schumacher to get back on the lead lap. Another beneficiary of the safety car was Jenson Button, who decided not to pit during the safety car period and climbed up to 2nd place behind Alonso. After the period was over Button began to challenge Alonso, but soon had to pit for fuel. Alonso led, but after a pitstop for dry tyres his right-rear wheel nut detached, causing the Spaniard to lose control and crash. Button inherited the lead and was never challenged from then on. Schumacher made his way up to 2nd by staying on intermediate tyres as others around him pitted for dry weather ones, but this gamble backfired as the cars on drys caught him in the final laps. Schumacher defended his position, including controversially cutting a chicane on consecutive laps without penalty,[11] but Pedro de la Rosa andNick Heidfeld both ultimately passed him. Whilst he was being overtaken Schumacher banged wheels with Heidfeld, damaging his Ferrari's suspension and forcing him out of the race three laps short of the finish.
Button won the race despite beginning in 14th place through relentless driving with de la Rosa scoring his only career's podium with second place, and Heidfeld gettingBMW Sauber's first podium with 3rd.[12] Debutant driverRobert Kubica finished in seventh place and would have scored two points, but was later disqualified as his car was found to be underweight due to excessive tyre wear.[13] This coincidentally meant that Michael Schumacher earned a point despite not finishing, as he was elevated to 8th place in the final results.[13]
In a 2020 watch along of the race onSky Sports F1 withJenson Button,Anthony Davidson andAndrew Shovlin thenBBC Radio 5 LiveFormula One commentatorDavid Croft said "In the BBC 5 live commentary box in my first season inFormula One after starting the day doing a piece on our breakfast show where they said hasJenson Button got any chance of winning and I said no, no chance what so ever. At this stage (15 laps to go) I'm getting irked because they keep asking me to get a score flash for the football or the rugby or the cricket as used to do on 5 Live and I'm like no we got to stick with thisJenson Button can win this race and they finally came over into the talkback, my producer saying no more interruptions Crofty, take it to the chequered flag, bring him home."[14]
Notes
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ITV's coverage of this race won aBAFTA in 2006, in the category "Best Sport".The awards took place May 20, 2007.[18]
| Previous race: 2006 German Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2006 season | Next race: 2006 Turkish Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix | Hungarian Grand Prix | Next race: 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix |
47°34′44″N19°14′55″E / 47.57889°N 19.24861°E /47.57889; 19.24861
