2006 European Grand Prix
 2006 European Grand Prix
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|---|---|
| Date | May 7, 2006 |
| Round | 5 |
| Track | Nurburgring |
| Laps | 60 |
| Weather | Hot & Sunny |
| | |
| Driver | Fernando Alonso |
| Time | 1:29.816 |
| | |
| Driver | Michael Schumacher |
| Time | 1:32.099 |
Round Five of the 2006 Formula One World Championship took place at the Nurburgring, Germany, for the European Grand Prix.
After the incident involving Yuji Ide of Super Aguri, the FIA said to Super Aguri that Ide he was not of F1 standard, and needed to work on his driving. Super Aguri forced through the polite, yet unsubtle, hint from the FIA, and released him from his contract. Renault test-driver Franck Montagny took over from him. He became the first Frenchman to drive in a Formula One Grand Prix since the end of the 2004 season, when Olivier Panis retired.
The new qualifying system had it's first major drama. With 3:24 remaining in the Qualifying 1, there was a fake red-flag, which caught out some teams. The session restarted unofficially, but the delay had caused drivers to slow on what would be their final lap to get into the top 16. Chaos ensued. Jacques Villeneuve was distraught. He happened to be crossing the finish line at the time of the red flag, so his time was not counted initially. It was later re-instated. Christijan Albers was more unlucky. After a quick first two sectors - enough to get him through to Qualifying 2 - the flag was thrown. He eased off, and lost the lap. The decision was to reinstate the laps that were completed or affected by the red flag. This helped Villeneuve, but not Albers.
Qualifying 2 saw more drama, as after Giancarlo Fisichella was surprisingly eliminated for Renault, he stormed down to the BMW-Sauber garage, where he confronted Villeneuve. Fisichella blamed Villeneuve of slowing him down. After a review, Villeneuve was dropped one place on the grid.
Fernando Alonso eventually snatched pole from Michael Schumacher, who's Ferrari team-mate came third.
Ferrari's tactics were the advantage. Schumacher was in second behind Fernando Alonso until the second round of pit stops, when Schumacher overtook Alonso. He then gave himself a ten second advantage, that he was never to relinquish.
Renault's Fernando Alonso came second, with Felipe Massa in third. Kimi Raikkonen finished strongly for McLaren-Mercedes in fourth. Alonso was battling oversteer after his second pitstop, and was being closed down by Massa and Raikkonen, but he held on to second.
Rubens Barrichello had his best result of the season so far, to finish fifth in his Honda. Giancarlo Fisichella of Renault came back to finish sixth, closely followed in seventh by Nico Rosberg of Williams-Cosworth, who came from 22nd and last on the grid after a ten place penalty for an engine change. After the adventures of Qualifying, it was a substantially calmer race for Jacques Villeneuve, who finished eighth in the last points position.
Schumacher's win infront of his home crowd was his second win in a row. It had moved him to within 13 points of Alonso at the top of the standings. The two were well clear of the rest of the field, and it was beginning to look like a Schumacher v Alonso battle for the Championship. A lot depended on how Schumacher when the tables turned, when Alonso had home advantage.
[edit] Results
| Rank | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 60 | 1:35:58.765 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 |  Fernando Alonso | Renault | 60 | +3.7 sec | 1 | 8 |
| 3 |  Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 60 | + 4.4 sec | 3 | 6 |
| 4 |  Kimi Raikkonen | McLaren | 60 | + 4.8 sec | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 60 | +72.5 sec | 4 | 4 |
| 6 |  Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 60 | + 74.1 sec | 11 | 3 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Williams | 60 | +74.5 sec | 22 | 2 |
| 8 |  Jacques Villeneuve | BMW Sauber | 60 | +89.3 sec | 9 | 1 |
| 9 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 59 | +1 lap | 7 | |
| 10 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 59 | +1 lap | 13 | |
| 11 |  Scott Speed | Toro Rosso | 59 | +1 lap | 17 | |
| 12 |  Tiago Monteiro | Midland | 59 | +1 lap | 18 | |
| 13 |  Christijan Albers | Midland | 59 | +1 lap | 16 | |
| Ret | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 52 | Engine | 10 | |
| Ret |  Juan Pablo Montoya | McLaren | 52 | Engine | 8 | |
| Ret |  Takuma Sato | Super Aguri | 45 | Hydraulics | 20 | |
| Ret |  Franck Montagny | Super Aguri | 29 | Hydraulics | 21 | |
| Ret |  Jenson Button | Honda | 28 | Engine | 6 | |
| Ret |  Christian Klien | Red Bull | 28 | Gearbox | 15 | |
| Ret |  Mark Webber | Williams | 12 | Hydraulics | 19 | |
| Ret | David Coulthard | Red Bull | 2 | Damage | 12 | |
| Ret | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Toro Rosso | 0 | Damage | 14 |
| 2006 Formula One Season | |
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| 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1999 • 2000 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 |
| Tracks: Brands Hatch • Donington Park • Jerez • Nurburgring • Valencia |
| Honorary European GPs: 1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1954 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 |
