| 2006 Turkish Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 14 of 18 in the2006 Formula One World Championship
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 Istanbul Park | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 27 August 2006 | ||||
| Official name | 2006 Formula 1Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix | ||||
| Location | Istanbul Racing Circuit,Tuzla,Turkey | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.338 km (3.317 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 58 laps, 309.356 km (192.225 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny, hot | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 1:26.907 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:28.005 on lap 55 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Renault | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2006 Turkish Grand Prix (officially the2006 Formula 1 Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix)[1] was aFormula Onemotor race, held on 27 August 2006. The 58-lap race, which was the fourteenth round of the2006 Formula One season, and the secondTurkish Grand Prix, was held atIstanbul Park inTuzla,Turkey.Felipe Massa, driving for theFerrari team, took his first pole position, and then his first race victory.Fernando Alonso, who drove forRenault finished the race in second position and Massa's teammateMichael Schumacher occupied the final position on the podium. The race was also the first Grand Prix meeting for future quadruple world championSebastian Vettel, who was assigned a Friday test driver role for theBMW Sauber team. Vettel received a $1,000 fine for speeding in the pit-lane only 6 seconds after he got out onto the track.
As a consequence of the race, Fernando Alonso extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 12 points from Michael Schumacher. With victory, Felipe Massa retained third place in the standings, and despite closing the gap between himself and Schumacher to 34 points, it was still near impossible for him to surpass his teammate's points total. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari closed the gap to leaders Renault to just two points.McLaren remained in third position, 69 points behind the top two teams.
This race also marked 200th Grand Prix races forMcLaren andMercedes engine partnership since 1995.
Prior to the Grand Prix weekend,Renault'sFernando Alonso led theFormula One World Drivers' Championship on 100 points. He held a ten-point lead over his main rivalMichael Schumacher, despite retiring from the preceding race inHungary.Ferrari teammates, Schumacher andFelipe Massa lay second and third in the standings on 90 and 52 points respectively, ahead of the second Renault ofGiancarlo Fisichella and theMcLaren ofKimi Räikkönen, both on 49 points.
Renault led the Constructors' Championship with 149 points, seven clear of Ferrari, while McLaren were in third position with 89 points. They were ahead ofHonda F1, who sat in fourth with 52 after picking up their first and to be only victory since their return, three weeks before in Hungary. BMW Sauber completed the top five with 26 points.
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.
Kimi Räikkönen set the fastest time in the first free practice session, despite only completing five laps; ahead ofMichael Schumacher andJenson Button, who were both just within half a second of Räikkönen's time. In the bottom half of the order,Felipe Massa finished the session 17th andFernando Alonso 23rd. Neither of theWilliams left the garage during the session.[2]Sebastian Vettel impressed many as he set the fastest time in the second free practice session, on his first Grand Prix weekend appearance.[3]
The following day in qualifying, however, it was Felipe Massa who set the fastest time, taking the first pole position of his career, ahead of Schumacher by one tenth of a second. The two Renaults occupied the next row with Alonso in front of Fisichella again. Fifth spot was initially taken up byRalf Schumacher'sToyota, before he was demoted to fifteenth for a gearbox change. This was also true forChristijan Albers, who was taken from a good sixteenth place qualifying for theMidland team, to the back of the grid. Only four hundredths of a second separatedNick Heidfeld, Button and Räikkönen qualified from sixth to eighth before all moving up a place after Ralf Schumacher's penalty.Robert Kubica andMark Webber completed the top ten fastest times, withChristian Klien completing the top ten on the starting grid.
The start of the race was affected by a multi-car accident entering the first corner. Massa, Michael Schumacher, Alonso and Fisichella all battled for position entering the first corner, with Fisichella spinning, causing achain reaction behind him. During the chain reaction,Scott Speed collided with the McLaren of Räikkönen, causing one of Räikkönen's rear tyres to puncture. Räikkönen pitted for a new set of tyres, but soon faced a similar problem due to damaged bodywork; because of this he went straight off the outside of turn 4 and into a barrier, on the next lap.Nick Heidfeld, Fisichella, Speed and Ralf Schumacher all needed repairs from the incident, and theMidland ofTiago Monteiro was forced to retire.
On lap 13,Vitantonio Liuzzi, who had climbed to seventh place, lost control entering the first turn and spun, stalling the engine. The car was left stranded on the racing line at the exit of the corner, and theSafety Car was deployed. Massa, Schumacher, Alonso, Button, Kubica and Webber all came in to make pit stops whilst the Safety Car circulated. The first four drivers stayed at the front, but Webber and Kubica dropped to near the back of the pack. Alonso, however, was able to jump Schumacher, as his title rival was forced to 'stack' behind Massa before the mechanics could set to work on his car. The final 15 laps of the race were focused on Alonso and Michael Schumacher, who fought for second place behind Massa as part of their championship battle. Schumacher pursued Alonso for the last laps, but was unable to catch Alonso until the final corners of the final lap. Schumacher was right on the gearbox of Alonso exiting the last corner, but did not get past.
Thus, Massa took his first career Formula One victory, making it the second Grand Prix in a row with a first-time winner, following Button's win in Hungary three weeks earlier. It was the first time this had happened since 2003, when Räikkönen and Fisichella won their first victories at the consecutiveMalaysian andBrazilian Grands Prix. Drivers' Championship rivals Alonso and Schumacher completed the podium. Button, de la Rosa, Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher andRubens Barrichello completed the points-scorers and the cars on the lead lap.
The podium display after the race caused controversy when winner Felipe Massa received the trophy fromMehmet Ali Talat, who was referred to as the president of theTurkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. This breakaway area of the island ofCyprus is only recognized byTurkey. The government of theRepublic of Cyprus filed an official complaint with theFIA, the body governing theFormula One world championship. After investigating the incident, the FIA fined the organizers of the Grand Prix $5 million on 19 September 2006.[4][5]
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| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 |  Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 58 | 1:28:51.082 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 1 |  Fernando Alonso | Renault | 58 | +5.575 | 3 | 8 |
| 3 | 5 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 58 | +5.656 | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | 12 |  Jenson Button | Honda | 58 | +12.334 | 6 | 5 |
| 5 | 4 | Pedro de la Rosa | McLaren-Mercedes | 58 | +45.908 | 11 | 4 |
| 6 | 2 |  Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 58 | +46.594 | 4 | 3 |
| 7 | 7 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 58 | +59.337 | 15 | 2 |
| 8 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 58 | +1:00.034 | 13 | 1 |
| 9 | 8 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 57 | +1 lap | 12 | |
| 10 | 9 |  Mark Webber | Williams-Cosworth | 57 | +1 lap | 9 | |
| 11 | 15 |  Christian Klien | Red Bull-Ferrari | 57 | +1 lap | 10 | |
| 12 | 17 |  Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 57 | +1 lap | 8 | |
| 13 | 21 |  Scott Speed | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 57 | +1 lap | 17 | |
| 14 | 16 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 56 | +2 laps | 5 | |
| 15 | 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Ferrari | 55 | Gearbox | 16 | |
| Ret | 19 |  Christijan Albers | MF1-Toyota | 46 | Spin | 22 | |
| NC | 22 |  Takuma Sato | Super Aguri-Honda | 41 | +17 laps | 21 | |
| Ret | 10 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Cosworth | 25 | Water leak | 14 | |
| Ret | 23 | Sakon Yamamoto | Super Aguri-Honda | 23 | Spin | 20 | |
| Ret | 20 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 12 | Spin | 18 | |
| Ret | 3 |  Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1 | Accident | 7 | |
| Ret | 18 |  Tiago Monteiro | MF1-Toyota | 0 | Collision | 19 | |
| Source:[8] | |||||||
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| Previous race: 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2006 season | Next race: 2006 Italian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2005 Turkish Grand Prix | Turkish Grand Prix | Next race: 2007 Turkish Grand Prix |
40°57′20.5″N29°24′29.7″E / 40.955694°N 29.408250°E /40.955694; 29.408250
