2006 British Grand Prix Explained

Type:F1
Country:United Kingdom
Grand Prix:British
Date:11 June
Year:2006
Race No:8
Season No:18
Official Name:2006 Formula 1 Foster's British Grand Prix[1]
Location:Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England
Course:Permanent Road Facility
Course Mi:3.194
Course Km:5.141
Distance Laps:60
Distance Mi:191.603
Distance Km:308.355
Weather:Sunny
Pole Driver:Fernando Alonso
Pole Country:Spain
Pole Team:Renault
Pole Time:1:20.253
Fast Driver:Fernando Alonso
Fast Country:Spain
Fast Team:Renault
Fast Time:1:21.599
Fast Lap:21
First Driver:Fernando Alonso
First Country:Spain
First Team:Renault
Second Driver:Michael Schumacher
Second Country:Germany
Second Team:Ferrari
Third Driver:Kimi Räikkönen
Third Country:Finland
Third Team:McLaren-Mercedes

The 2006 British Grand Prix (officially the 2006 Formula 1 Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 11 June 2006 at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. The 60-lap race was the eighth round of the 2006 Formula One season.

Ticket sales were rather slow; the race was scheduled far earlier than normal, and local Jenson Button had a rather poor season the previous year. When the race sold out in 2005, Button had been coming off one of his best years. Also, the weekend clashed with England's first World Cup match. Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya both scored their final World Championship points by finishing in eighth and sixth respectively.

Button had a very poor qualifying run and started the race 19th; after a blinding first few laps, Jenson's engine caught fire on lap 9, due to an oil leak that also caused the car to spin out of the race. Scotsman David Coulthard also had a poor race suffering from understeer.

Fernando Alonso became the first Spanish driver and the youngest driver (24 years and 317 days) to get a hat trick (pole position, winning and fastest lap in the same race). He fell one lap short of clinching a Grand Chelem (leading every lap, he would finally achieve this at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix).

This race also featured the first ever pit stop to have involved a woman, during a Midland F1 pit stop for Tiago Monteiro, ITV-F1's then pit-lane reporter Louise Goodman was the left rear tyre changer.

The only other noticeable incident of the race happened on the first lap, when Scott Speed pushed Ralf Schumacher's Toyota right in the path of Mark Webber at the entrance on the Hangar Straight. Schumacher and Webber retired on the spot, while Speed crawled to the pits and drove straight into the garage at the end of lap 1.

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.

Constructor Nat Driver
Williams-CosworthAlexander Wurz
HondaAnthony Davidson
Red Bull-FerrariRobert Doornbos
BMW SauberRobert Kubica
MF1-ToyotaGiorgio Mondini
Toro Rosso-CosworthNeel Jani
Super Aguri-HondaSakon Yamamoto

Classification

Qualifying

DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q3
11 Renault1:21.0181:20.2711:20.2531
23 McLaren-Mercedes1:21.6481:20.4971:20.3972
35 Ferrari1:22.0961:20.6591:20.5743
46 Ferrari1:21.6471:20.8461:20.7644
52 Renault1:22.4111:20.5941:20.9195
611 Honda1:22.9651:20.9291:20.9436
77 Toyota1:22.8861:21.0431:21.0737
84 McLaren-Mercedes1:22.1691:20.8161:21.1078
916 BMW Sauber1:21.6701:20.6291:21.3299
1017 BMW Sauber1:21.6371:20.6721:21.59910
1114 Red Bull-Ferrari1:22.4241:21.44211
1210 Williams-Cosworth1:23.0831:21.56712
1320 Toro Rosso-Cosworth1:22.6851:21.69913
1415 Red Bull-Ferrari1:22.7731:21.99014
1521 Toro Rosso-Cosworth1:22.5411:22.07615
1618 MF1-Toyota1:22.8601:22.20716
179 Williams-Cosworth1:23.12917
1819 MF1-Toyota1:23.21018
1912 Honda1:23.24719
2022 Super Aguri-Honda1:26.15821
2123 Super Aguri-Honda1:26.31620
228 ToyotaNo time22
Source:[2]
Notes

Race

Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
11 Fernando Alonso Renault601:25:51.927110
25 Michael Schumacher Ferrari60+13.95138
33 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes60+18.67226
42 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault60+19.97655
56 Felipe Massa Ferrari60+31.55944
64 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes60+1:04.76983
716 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber60+1:14.59492
817 Jacques Villeneuve BMW Sauber60+1:18.299101
910 Williams-Cosworth60+1:19.00812
1011 Honda59+1 lap6
118 Toyota59+1 lap22
1214 Red Bull-Ferrari59+1 lap11
1320 Toro Rosso-Cosworth59+1 lap13
1415 Red Bull-Ferrari59+1 lap14
1519 MF1-Toyota59+1 lap18
1618 MF1-Toyota58+2 laps16
1722 Super Aguri-Honda57+3 laps21
1823 Super Aguri-Honda57+3 laps20
Ret12 Honda8Oil leak19
Ret21 Toro Rosso-Cosworth1Collision damage15
Ret7 Toyota0Collision7
Ret9 Williams-Cosworth0Collision17
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
DriverPoints
1 Fernando Alonso74
2 Michael Schumacher51
13 Kimi Räikkönen33
14 Giancarlo Fisichella32
5 Juan Pablo Montoya26
Source: [4]
Constructors' Championship standings
ConstructorPoints
1 Renault106
2 Ferrari75
3 McLaren-Mercedes59
4 Honda29
5 BMW Sauber17
Source:

See also

External links

Race reports

52.0786°N -1.0169°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: British. Formula1.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20061020075743/http://www.formula1.com/race/circuitdetail/758.html. 2 January 2021. 20 October 2006.
  2. Book: Domenjoz, Luc. Formula One Yearbook 2006–2007. February 2007. Chronosports S.A.. 978-2-84707-110-8. 132. etal.
  3. Book: Domenjoz, Luc. Formula One Yearbook 2006–2007. February 2007. Chronosports S.A.. 978-2-84707-110-8. 135. etal.
  4. Web site: Britain 2006 - Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 14 March 2019.