2006 Australian Grand Prix
 2006 Australian Grand Prix
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|---|---|
| Date | April 2, 2006 |
| Round | 3 |
| Track | Melbourne |
| Laps | 58 |
| Weather | Mild & Sunny |
| | |
| Driver | Jenson Button |
| Time | 1:25.229 |
| | |
| Driver | Kimi Raikkonen |
| Time | 1:26.045 |
The F1 circus eventually got to Australia for Round Three of the 2006 Season. The race was moved from its' opening spot, as Melbourne was hosting the Commonwealth Games.
Qualifying saw surprises, as Rubens Barrichello was knocked-out in Qualifying 1 for Honda, but Qualifying 2 was much worse. Both Ferrari's missed out on the pole-position shoot-out, with Michael Schumacher coming 11th, and Felipe Massa crashing on the back chicane to prevent him setting a time.
Qualifying 3 saw Jenson Button take pole position by almost half a second from Giancarlo Fisichella, suggesting he was light fuelled for the race. Championship leader Fernando Alonso was third, and Kimi Raikkonen was fourth.
The race started unusually, as Fisichella stalled his car on the start line after the formation lap. This meant there was another formation lap, reducing the race length by 1 lap to 57 laps, and forcing Fisichella to start from the pit lane. This reprimanded Juan Pablo Montoya. He was swerving to get heat into his tyres on an unusually cool Melbourne day, and as a result, he span. He had to wait for all the cars to pass him before starting last. Due to the extra formation lap, Montoya was allowed to overtake the field on that lap, to take up his fifth place on the grid.
When the race eventually got underway, Button was immediately put under pressure by the as usual fast-starting Renault of Fernando Alonso. Alonso soon took the lead. There was an accident involving Felipe Massa, Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg on the opening lap, forcing an appearance from the safety car.
Upon the restart, Button continued to go backwards, as Kimi Raikkonen went straight past him]]. Another safety car was needed on Lap 4, after a crash from Christian Klien, and again, Button fell backwards. He had a problem - he couldn't warm up his tyres on slow laps, he needed to do laps at race pace to warm them.
Michael Schumacher ditched his car into the wall on the last corner on Lap 32, as he pushed too hard, and didn't get out of the corner with the right line, causing him to slide on the grass - great news for Alonso.
Alonso came under pressure from Raikkonen at the end, but he was always comfortable, and recorded his second win of the season. He had now opened up a seventeen point lead on Schumacher and was still well ahead of Raikkonen.
Jenson Button's day got worse after Alonso crossed the chequered flag. On the last corner, his engine blew, forcing him to retire a hundred yards short of the line. This move was called by the team, believing that avoiding a 10-place drop for an engine change in the next round, in San Marino to be a better alternative than taking the three points on offer if Button could get the car across the line, which due to the speeds he was travelling at at the time of the blow out, would have been a possibility. However, to the casual observer, it looked like a hard luck story.
[edit] Results
| Rank | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Fernando Alonso | Renault | 57 | 1:34:27.870 | 3 | 10 |
| 2 |  Kimi Raikkonen | McLaren | 57 | +1.8 sec | 4 | 8 |
| 3 |  Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 57 | + 24.8 sec | 6 | 6 |
| 4 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 57 | + 31.0 sec | 8 | 5 |
| 5 |  Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 57 | +38.1 sec | 2 | 4 |
| 6 |  Jacques Villeneuve | BMW Sauber | 57 | + 49.5 sec | 19 | 3 |
| 7 |  Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 57 | +51.9 sec | 16 | 2 |
| 8 |  David Coulthard | Red Bull | 57 | +53.9 sec | 11 | 1 |
| 9 |  Scott Speed | Toro Rosso | 57 | +78.8 sec | 18 | |
| 10 | Jenson Button | Honda | 56 | +1 lap | 1 | |
| 11 |  Christijan Albers | Midland | 56 | +1 lap | 17 | |
| 12 |  Takuma Sato | Super Aguri | 55 | +2 laps | 21 | |
| 13 | Yuji Ide | Super Aguri | 54 | +3 laps | 22 | |
| Ret |  Juan Pablo Montoya | McLaren | 46 | Electrical | 5 | |
| Ret |  Tiago Monteiro | Midland | 39 | Mechanical | 20 | |
| Ret | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Toro Rosso | 37 | Accident | 12 | |
| Ret | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 32 | Accident | 10 | |
| Ret |  Mark Webber | Williams | 22 | Transmission | 7 | |
| Ret |  Christian Klien | Red Bull | 4 | Accident | 13 | |
| Ret | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 0 | Accident | 9 | |
| Ret | Nico Rosberg | Williams | 0 | Damage | 14 | |
| Ret | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 0 | Accident | 15 |
| 2006 Formula One Season | |
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| Tracks: Adelaide • Melbourne |
