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2006 Australian Grand Prix

Coordinates: 37°50′59″S 144°58′06″E / 37.84972°S 144.96833°E / -37.84972; 144.96833
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2006 Australian Grand Prix
Race 3 of 18 in the 2006 Formula One World Championship
Albert Park Street Circuit
Albert Park Street Circuit
Race details
Date 2 April 2006
Official name 2006 Formula 1 Foster's Australian Grand Prix
Location Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit
Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 5.303 km (3.295 miles)
Distance 57 laps, 302.271 km (187.823 miles)
Scheduled distance 58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 miles)
Weather Cloudy with sunny breaks. Air temperature 20°C
Attendance 103,000[1]
Pole position
Driver
Honda
Time 1:25.229
Fastest lap
Driver Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:26.045 on lap 57
Podium
First
Renault
Second
McLaren-Mercedes
Third
Toyota
Lap leaders

The 2006 Australian Grand Prix (officially the 2006 Formula 1 Foster's Australian Grand Prix)[2] was a Formula One motor race held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne on 2 April 2006. It was the third race of the 2006 Formula One season.

The race was won by Renault's Fernando Alonso (Renault's third win from three races), with the McLaren of Kimi Räikkönen second. Ralf Schumacher finished in third place to take the last podium of his career with the Toyota team. Polesitter Jenson Button retired from the race when his engine blew on the final lap. He eventually stopped roughly ten metres from the finish line, losing a points scoring position (fifth place) in the process.

This was the last race until the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix that neither Ferrari was classified.[3]

Report

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Background

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The Australian Grand Prix had been the season opener since 1996, but this race was held later due to the 2006 Commonwealth Games being held in Melbourne at the time of the opening round. A pre-season test scheduled at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, in Spain from 24–26 February was also rescheduled and moved to the Bahrain International Circuit, in Bahrain. The season was instead opened in Bahrain, and Australia regained its first round of the season slot for 2007.

Murray Walker made a return to the commentary box for a one-off with Australia's Network Ten.

Friday drivers

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The bottom six teams in the 2005 Constructors' Championship and Super 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.

Constructor Nat Driver
Williams-Cosworth Austria Alexander Wurz
Honda United Kingdom Anthony Davidson
Red Bull-Ferrari Netherlands Robert Doornbos
BMW Sauber Poland Robert Kubica
MF1-Toyota Germany Markus Winkelhock
Toro Rosso-Cosworth Switzerland Neel Jani

Race

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Juan Pablo Montoya spun as he completed the formation lap and lined up at the back of the grid. However, Giancarlo Fisichella then stalled his engine on the grid, forcing the start to be red flagged. Fisichella had to start from the pit lane, while Montoya reclaimed his original grid position.

On the first lap, Felipe Massa collided with Nico Rosberg and Christian Klien. The Williams and Red Bull sandwiched Massa's Ferrari as the Brazilian attempted to squeeze between them, pitching him into the wall hard and out of the race. Rosberg lost his rear wing, while Klien continued the race unharmed. The safety car was deployed as a result of the incident. Fisichella spun but continued, again in the Jones corner. Alonso passed Button on the start/finish straight when the safety car was recalled two laps later.

On the third lap, Christian Klien crashed heavily near Clark Chicane after a suspension failure. Due to debris on the track, the safety car was deployed again. When the race resumed, Räikkönen attacked and passed Button.

Mark Webber led his home race for Williams

Pit stops began around ten laps later, with Montoya, Button and Trulli pitting first. Alonso and Räikkönen stopped, giving Mark Webber the lead of his home Grand Prix. When Webber took the lead on lap 21 in his Williams-Cosworth he became the first Australian driver to lead his home Grand Prix since John Bowe led the early laps of the non-championship 1984 race driving a Ralt RT4 Ford.

On lap 32, Montoya touched the grass in the Prost turn, but managed to return to the track. Michael Schumacher ran wide at the same spot but lost control and struck the barriers. He said that his car was not easy to drive, and that the tires were not warm enough. This incident led to a third safety car deployment, during which many drivers made pit stops. Räikkönen entered just before Montoya, making a queue.

On lap 35 the safety car was recalled and the race restarted. Alonso left a large gap to the safety car to slow down the cars behind, before accelerating to create a 3-second gap between the two leading cars.

The 36th lap saw the safety car deployed once again, after Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed heavily near Whiteford. Liuzzi blamed Villeneuve for his crash.[4] The race restarted on lap 40, and Alonso employed the same strategy as he had at the previous restart to gain a small lead over Räikkönen.

On lap 39, Tiago Monteiro retired with a mechanical problem. Lap 46 saw Montoya retired with an electrical problem, caused when he ran wide and bounced over a kerb.

On the final lap, two corners from the chequered flag, Jenson Button's engine blew, causing Fisichella right behind him to be covered in oil and struggling to control the car. Button pulled off the track about 10 metres from the finish line. He did so deliberately, giving up a points-scoring position, to avoid a 10-place position penalty in the next race.[5]

Alonso wrapped up his tenth career victory, while Räikkönen took second place on the podium and Ralf Schumacher scored what proved to be the sole podium for Toyota in the season, and ultimately, his final podium in Formula One. This was despite a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Post-race

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After the race, the stewards issued a reprimand to Takuma Sato for failing to pay attention to blue flags, and a 25-second penalty to Scott Speed for failing to heed yellow flags. The American driver was also fined $5000 for using abusive language during a post-race hearing.[6]

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
1 12 United Kingdom Jenson Button Honda 1:28.081 1:26.337 1:25.229 1
2 2 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:27.765 1:26.196 1:25.635 2
3 1 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 1:28.569 1:25.729 1:25.778 3
4 3 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.193 1:26.161 1:25.822 4
5 4 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.079 1:25.902 1:25.976 5
6 7 Germany Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:28.007 1:26.596 1:26.612 6
7 9 Australia Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:27.669 1:26.075 1:26.937 7
8 16 Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:27.796 1:26.014 1:27.579 8
9 17 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BMW Sauber 1:28.460 1:26.714 1:29.239 191
10 8 Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:27.748 1:26.327 No time2 9
11 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:28.228 1:26.718 10
12 14 United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari 1:28.408 1:27.023 11
13 20 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:28.999 1:27.219 12
14 15 Austria Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 1:28.757 1:27.591 13
15 10 Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:28.351 1:29.422 14
16 6 Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:28.868 No time3 15
17 11 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:29.943 16
18 19 Netherlands Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:30.226 17
19 21 United States Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:30.426 18
20 18 Portugal Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:30.709 20
21 22 Japan Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:32.279 21
22 23 Japan Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda 1:36.164 22
Source:[7][8]
Notes
  • ^1 – Jacques Villeneuve was handed a 10 place grid penalty following an engine change before qualifying.[9]
  • ^2 – Jarno Trulli qualified for the final session however did not completed a timed lap due to gearbox problems.[9]
  • ^3 – Felipe Massa lost control of his Ferrari during the second qualifying session (Q2) after running over a curb through turn 11 and crashing his car into the wall. It also prompted the session to be red flagged for some time.[9]

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 57 1:34:27.870 3 10
2 3 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 57 +1.829 4 8
3 7 Germany Ralf Schumacher Toyota 57 +24.824 6 6
4 16 Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 57 +31.032 8 5
5 2 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 57 +38.421 PL4 4
6 17 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BMW Sauber 57 +49.554 19 3
7 11 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Honda 57 +51.904 16 2
8 14 United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari 57 +53.983 11 1
9 21 United States Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth 57 +1:18.8175 18
10 12 United Kingdom Jenson Button Honda 56 Engine 1
11 19 Netherlands Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 56 +1 lap 17
12 22 Japan Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 55 +2 laps 21
13 23 Japan Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda 54 +3 laps 22
Ret 4 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 46 Electrical 5
Ret 18 Portugal Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 39 Hydraulics 20
Ret 20 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth 37 Accident 12
Ret 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 32 Accident 10
Ret 9 Australia Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 22 Transmission 7
Ret 15 Austria Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 4 Accident 13
Ret 8 Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 0 Collision 9
Ret 10 Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 0 Collision damage 14
Ret 6 Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 0 Collision 15
Source:[10]
Notes

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ "Aussie GP to revert to opening race in 2007". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2 April 2006.
  2. ^ "2006 FORMULA 1 Foster's Australian Grand Prix - Race". Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  3. ^ "F1 Mexican Grand Prix: Ferrari counts costs of first double DNF since 2006". crash.net. 2 November 2015. Archived from the original on 3 November 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  4. ^ "Villeneuve: Crash not my fault". 15 March 2001. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  5. ^ ""Get Out, Push the Car": When Jenson Button Was Asked to Push the Car to Finish Line in a Heartbreaking Finish". EssentiallySports. 9 April 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  6. ^ Noble, Jonathan (2 April 2006). "Speed loses point after penalty". autosport.com. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  7. ^ "2006 FORMULA 1 Foster's Australian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 1 April 2006. Archived from the original on 29 August 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  8. ^ Domenjoz, Luc; et al. (February 2007). Formula One Yearbook 2006–2007. Chronosports S.A. p. 96. ISBN 978-2-84707-110-8.
  9. ^ a b c "Button stuns with Australian pole". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 1 April 2006. Archived from the original on 24 December 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  10. ^ Domenjoz, Luc; et al. (February 2007). Formula One Yearbook 2006–2007. Chronosports S.A. p. 99. ISBN 978-2-84707-110-8.
  11. ^ "Australian GP". www.grandprix.com. www.grandprix.com. 2 April 2006.
  12. ^ "2006 FORMULA 1 Foster's Australian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 2 April 2006. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  13. ^ "Speed loses point after penalty". Autosport.com. 2 April 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Australia 2006 – Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2006 Australian Grand Prix.


Previous race:
2006 Malaysian Grand Prix 		FIA Formula One World Championship
2006 season 		Next race:
2006 San Marino Grand Prix
Previous race:
2005 Australian Grand Prix 		Australian Grand Prix Next race:
2007 Australian Grand Prix

37°50′59″S 144°58′06″E / 37.84972°S 144.96833°E / -37.84972; 144.96833

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