2006 San Marino Grand Prix

The 2006 San Marino Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino 2006) was a Formula One motor race held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy on 23 April 2006. The 62-lap race was the fourth round of the 2006 Formula One season, and the 26th running of the San Marino Grand Prix. It was won by Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher, who had started from pole position. It was both his and Ferrari's first win of the season. Championship leader Fernando Alonso finished second for the Renault team, whilst Juan Pablo Montoya completed the podium with third position for McLaren.

2006 San Marino Grand Prix
Race 4 of 18 in the 2006 Formula One World Championship
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari
Race details
Date 23 April 2006
Official name Formula 1 Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino 2006
Location Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari
Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.933 km (3.065 miles)
Distance 62 laps, 305.609 km (189.897 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:22.795
Fastest lap
Driver Spain Fernando Alonso Renault
Time 1:24.569 on lap 23
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Renault
Third McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

As a consequence of the race, Schumacher improved his position in the Drivers' Championship from fourth to second. Alonso lengthened his lead in the standings from 14 to 15 points. Kimi Räikkönen remained in third, 3 points behind Schumacher, whilst his teammate Montoya elevated himself ahead of Button into fifth place as a result of his podium finish. Alonso's Renault teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella, dropped to fourth place but still helped to extend the team's lead to 18 points over McLaren in the Constructors' Championship. Ferrari were then 3 points behind McLaren, on a total of 30 points, 15 more than fourth-placed Honda, and 20 more than fifth-placed BMW Sauber.

It was Schumacher's seventh victory at the San Marino Grand Prix, and his fifth win at Imola in six years. This was the last Formula One race to be held in Imola until the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.[1]

Report

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Friday drivers

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The bottom 6 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. Fabrizio del Monte was set to act as Midland's third driver for this race, but this fell through due to lack of sponsorship.[2]

Constructor Nat Driver
Williams-Cosworth   Alexander Wurz
Honda   Anthony Davidson
Red Bull-Ferrari   Robert Doornbos
BMW Sauber   Robert Kubica
MF1-Toyota   Giorgio Mondini
Toro Rosso-Cosworth   Neel Jani
Super Aguri-Honda none

Qualifying

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Michael Schumacher took pole position, and in doing so, broke Ayrton Senna's record of 65 poles.

Race

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On the first lap, Alonso passed Barrichello at the Tamburello curve. Like the previous Grand Prix, the race started with an accident, this time in the Villeneuve curve. The Super Aguri team's driver Yuji Ide hit MF1's Christijan Albers, putting the Dutchman's car into a series of rolls that left it upside down. Albers was unhurt and Ide was able to continue after replacing his damaged front wing, although he later retired on lap 23. He was reprimanded by the stewards and warned over his future conduct. This incident also formed part of the evidence that led the FIA to withdraw Ide's superlicence later in the season. The Safety Car was deployed for two laps.

Michael Schumacher appeared to have a clear lead coming up to the first set of pit stops, although things started to go wrong after that. His car developed graining in its tyres, which slowed him down considerably. Alonso gained significantly on Schumacher, but could not pass him. The Imola circuit is renowned for being difficult to overtake on.

The race continued normally for some laps, until Toyota driver Jarno Trulli entered the pits to retire following a steering problem. Tonio Liuzzi had a problem and spun his Toro Rosso car in the Variante Alta, a corner which had recently been revised.

Honda driver Rubens Barrichello started the first round of pit stops, on lap 14. His stop lasted 15 seconds, which dropped him to 13th place. Michael Schumacher came into the pits on lap 20, temporarily giving Renault's Fernando Alonso the lead.

Lap 30 saw Honda's Jenson Button make his second stop. The refuelling nozzle got stuck and Button, thinking it had been removed, pulled away from the pits, tearing the nozzle from the refuelling rig. He was delayed in the pitlane while the Honda mechanics removed the nozzle from his car.

By the halfway point of the race, Ferrari began experiencing problems, specifically tyre degradation. Eight laps were enough for Alonso to bring down the 10 second difference between himself and Schumacher. The duel that took place during the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix was to be repeated, this time with Schumacher in the lead.

Lap 41 saw Alonso pit for a second time, ahead of Schumacher. Alonso's out lap was not good enough to put himself in front of Schumacher, so their positions remained the same. Alonso chased hard, but a mistake by running wide into a corner left Schumacher a clear path for the last few laps to win. Meanwhile, David Coulthard had a driveshaft problem and retired on lap 47.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
1 5   Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:24.598 1:22.579 1:22.795 1
2 12   Jenson Button Honda 1:24.480 1:23.749 1:22.988 2
3 11   Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:24.727 1:23.760 1:23.242 3
4 6   Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:24.884 1:23.595 1:23.702 4
5 1   Fernando Alonso Renault 1:23.536 1:23.743 1:23.709 5
6 7   Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:24.370 1:23.565 1:23.772 6
7 4   Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.960 1:23.760 1:24.021 7
8 3   Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.259 1:23.190 1:24.158 8
9 8   Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:24.446 1:23.727 1:24.172 9
10 9   Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:24.992 1:23.718 1:24.795 10
11 2   Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:24.434 1:23.771 11
12 17   Jacques Villeneuve BMW Sauber 1:25.081 1:23.887 12
13 10   Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:24.495 1:23.966 13
14 14   David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari 1:24.849 1:24.101 14
15 16   Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:25.410 1:24.129 15
16 20   Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:24.879 1:24.520 16
17 15   Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 1:25.410 17
18 21   Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:25.437 18
19 18   Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:26.820 19
20 19   Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:27.088 20
21 22   Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:27.609 21
22 23   Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda 1:29.282 22
Source:[3][4]

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5   Michael Schumacher Ferrari 62 1:31:06.486 1 10
2 1   Fernando Alonso Renault 62 +2.096 5 8
3 4   Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 62 +15.868 7 6
4 6   Felipe Massa Ferrari 62 +17.096 4 5
5 3   Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 62 +17.524 8 4
6 9   Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 62 +37.739 10 3
7 12   Jenson Button Honda 62 +39.635 2 2
8 2   Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 62 +40.200 11 1
9 7   Ralf Schumacher Toyota 62 +45.511 6
10 11   Rubens Barrichello Honda 62 +1:17.851 3
11 10   Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 62 +1:19.675 13
12 17   Jacques Villeneuve BMW Sauber 62 +1:22.370 12
13 16   Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 61 +1 Lap 15
14 20   Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth 61 +1 Lap 16
15 21   Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth 61 +1 Lap 18
16 18   Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 60 +2 Laps 19
Ret 14   David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari 47 Driveshaft 14
Ret 22   Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 44 Accident 21
Ret 15   Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 40 Hydraulics 17
Ret 23   Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda 23 Suspension 22
Ret 8   Jarno Trulli Toyota 5 Steering 9
Ret 19   Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 0 Collision 20
Source:[5]

Championship standings after the race

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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "6 reasons to be excited about the three new additions to the 2020 F1 race calendar". formula1.com. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Midland sign del Monte as test driver". Autosport.com. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  3. ^ Domenjoz, Luc; et al. (February 2007). Formula One Yearbook 2006-2007. Chronosports S.A. p. 102. ISBN 978-2-84707-110-8.
  4. ^ "FORMULA 1 Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino 2006 - Qualifying Results". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 22 April 2006. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  5. ^ "FORMULA 1 Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino 2006 - Race Results". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 23 April 2006. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  6. ^ a b "San Marino 2006 - Championship". statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
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Previous race:
2006 Australian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2006 season
Next race:
2006 European Grand Prix
Previous race:
2005 San Marino Grand Prix
San Marino Grand Prix Next race:
None
Next race at Imola: 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

44°20′38″N 11°43′00″E / 44.34389°N 11.71667°E / 44.34389; 11.71667