2006 Japanese Grand Prix

  2006 Japanese Grand Prix

Race details
Race 17 of 18 in the 2006 Formula One season
The Suzuka circuit
Date	8 October 2006
Official name	XXXII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.807 km (3.608 mi)
Distance	53 laps, 307.573 km (191.224 mi)
Weather	Fine
Pole position
Driver	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
Time	1:29.599
Fastest lap
Driver	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Time	1:32.676 on lap 14
Podium
First	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Second	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
Third	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault
Lap leaders

The 2006 Japanese Grand Prix was the seventeenth race of the 2006 Formula One season. It was held on 8 October at Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka. It was won by Fernando Alonso, his last win for the Renault team before he moved to McLaren the following season. It was the first Formula One race to be broadcast in HDTV by Fuji Television,^[1] and was the 20th Grand Prix to be held at Suzuka.

Felipe Massa started the race from pole, but Michael Schumacher soon passed him on lap 3 to take the lead. Meanwhile, Alonso was struggling to get past the Toyotas of Trulli and Ralf Schumacher. By lap 10 Alonso was 5.4 seconds off the leader. On lap 15 Alonso managed to pass Massa in the pitstops and set about gradually closing the gap to Schumacher. Alonso succeeded in closing the gap from 5.4 seconds on lap 10 to 4.2 seconds by lap 27 only for it to open up to 5.9 seconds by lap 34 after the two drivers encountered backmarkers. This race was crucial, whoever finished ahead of the two would take the championship lead into the final race. On lap 37, after the two rivals had made their final pitstops, Schumacher's engine failed, his first engine failure since the 2000 French Grand Prix, giving the lead to Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the race. This virtually gave the championship to Alonso. As of 2016, this is the most recent victory for a car running on Michelin tyres, as the manufacturer pulled out of Formula One at the end of the season. Giancarlo Fisichella dedicated his third-place finish to his best friend, Tonino Visciani, who died on 5 October 2006 after a heart attack.^[2]

Report

Practice and qualifying

Friday drivers

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.

Team	Nat	Driver
Williams-Cosworth		Alexander Wurz
Honda		Anthony Davidson
Red Bull-Ferrari		Michael Ammermüller
BMW Sauber		Sebastian Vettel
Spyker MF1-Toyota		Adrian Sutil
Toro Rosso-Cosworth		Neel Jani
Super Aguri-Honda		Franck Montagny

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q3	Q2	Q1	Grid
1	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:29.599	1:29.830	1:30.112	1
2	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:29.711	1:28.954	1:31.279	2
3	7	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1:29.989	1:30.299	1:30.595	3
4	8	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:30.039	1:30.204	1:30.420	4
5	1	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:30.371	1:30.357	1:30.976	5
6	2	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:30.599	1:30.306	1:31.696	6
7	12	Jenson Button	Honda	1:30.992	1:30.268	1:30.847	7
8	11	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:31.478	1:30.598	1:31.972	8
9	16	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:31.513	1:30.470	1:31.811	9
10	10	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth	1:31.856	1:30.321	1:30.585	10
11	3	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes		1:30.827	1:32.080	11
12	17	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber		1:31.094	1:31.204	12
13	4	Pedro de la Rosa	McLaren-Mercedes		1:31.254	1:31.581	13
14	9	Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth		1:31.276	1:31.647	14
15	20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth		1:31.943	1:31.741	15
16	19	Christijan Albers	Spyker MF1-Toyota		1:33.750	1:32.221	16
17	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari			1:32.252	17
18	15	Robert Doornbos	Red Bull-Ferrari			1:32.402	18
19	21	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth			1:32.867	19
20	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda			1:33.666	20
21	18	Tiago Monteiro	Spyker MF1-Toyota			1:33.709	21
22	23	Sakon Yamamoto	Super Aguri-Honda			No time	22
Source:[3]

Race

Michael Schumacher's Ferrari is returned to the pits after an engine failure cost him the race lead, and handed Fernando Alonso a ten-point advantage in the Drivers' Championship with one race remaining.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Fernando Alonso	Renault	53	1:23:52.413	5	10
2	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	53	+16.151	1	8
3	2	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	53	+23.953	6	6
4	12	Jenson Button	Honda	53	+34.101	7	5
5	3	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+43.596	11	4
6	8	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	53	+46.717	4	3
7	7	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	53	+48.869	3	2
8	16	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	53	+1:16.095	9	1
9	17	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	53	+1:16.932	12
10	10	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth	52	+1 lap	10
11	4	Pedro de la Rosa	McLaren-Mercedes	52	+1 lap	13
12	11	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	52	+1 lap	8
13	15	Robert Doornbos	Red Bull-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	18
14	20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	52	+1 lap	15
15	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	52	+1 lap	20
16	18	Tiago Monteiro	Spyker MF1-Toyota	51	+2 laps	21
17	23	Sakon Yamamoto	Super Aguri-Honda	50	+3 laps	22
18	21	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	48	Power steering	19
Ret	9	Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth	39	Accident	14
Ret	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	36	Engine	2
Ret	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari	35	Gearbox	17
Ret	19	Christijan Albers	Spyker MF1-Toyota	20	Driveshaft	16
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

Note, only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings[4] Pos Driver Points 1 Fernando Alonso 126 2 Michael Schumacher 116 3 Felipe Massa 70 4 Giancarlo Fisichella 69 5 Kimi Räikkönen 61

Constructors' Championship standings[4] Pos Constructor Points 1 Renault 195 2 Ferrari 186 3 McLaren-Mercedes 105 4 Honda 78 5 BMW Sauber 36

References

1. ZAKZAK (Japanese)
2. "Fisi dedicates third to dead pal". ITV Sport. Archived from the original on 16 October 2006. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
3. Domenjoz, Luc; et al. Formula One Yearbook 2006-2007. Chronosports S.A. p. 200. ISBN 2-84707-110-5.
4. Domenjoz, Luc; et al. Formula One Yearbook 2006-2007. Chronosports S.A. p. 205. ISBN 2-84707-110-5.

External links

• Detailed Japanese Grand Prix results (archived)

Coordinates: 34°50′35″N 136°32′26″E / 34.84306°N 136.54056°E