2006 San Marino Grand Prix

2006 San Marino Grand Prix
Date	April 23, 2006
Round	4
Track	Imola
Laps	62
Weather	Hot & Sunny
Pole Position
Driver	Michael Schumacher
Time	1:22.795
Fastest Lap
Driver	Fernando Alonso
Time	1:24.569

Round Four of the 2006 Formula One Season saw the teams go to Imola, the traditional race that is held at the start of the European season.

Fernando Alonso had opened up a big lead, but Michael Schumacher of Ferrari hoped he could win the race in front of Ferrari's loyal fans, the Tifosi, at Imola.

Qualifying saw no real shocks, but the biggest saw Giancarlo Fisichella miss out on the top 10 and finish 11th.

The pole position shoot-out was again great to watch. Schumacher was comfortably on pole, with the two Honda's of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello right behind him. As Schumacher's Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa was in fourth, Alonso could only get to fifth. He would again have to rely on the Renault's excellent starting device.

Further back, Ralf Schumacher was sixth for Toyota, and he was ahead of two heavily fuelled McLaren's, with Juan Pablo Montoya just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

When the race started, as expected, Fernando Alonso leaped off the line to overtake Felipe Massa, and he soon overtook the two Honda's - as usual they had a great qualifying setup, but a slow race setup.

At the back of the grid, the similarly fast-starting Super Aguri of Yuji Ide tried to squeeze through on Christijan Albers, but only succeeding in flipping Albers, and causing damage that would eventually cause him to retire from the race.

Up front, the pit-stops proved crucial to the race. Michael Schumacher's second set of tyres suffered a graining problem, and Alonso came swiftly up to the back of Schumacher. It was thought that Renault had more fuel, so when Schumacher was forced to pit first, Fernando Alonso would take the lead.

But Renault boss, Flavio Briatore made the decision to pull Fernando Alonso in early for his stop, hoping to gain the advantage that way. Ferrari responded, by pitting Schumacher on the next lap. When he left the pits, he was able to regain the lead, that he would not relinquish.

If Briatore let the race pan-out, and let Alonso stay out later, as he was able to, the opinion was that Alonso would have won the race.

Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the podium for McLaren-Mercedes after another unspectacular, but effective drive. He managed to hold off Ferrari's Felipe Massa and his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen towards the end.

There were a lot of bunching of drivers, due to the difficulty to overtake on the Imola circuit. It played a huge role in Schumacher winning from Alonso, as it had done when the roles were reversed the year before.

[edit] Results

Rank	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	62	1:31:06.486	1	10
2	Fernando Alonso	Renault	62	+2.0 sec	5	8
3	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren	62	+ 15.8 sec	7	6
4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	62	+ 17.0 sec	4	5
5	Kimi Raikkonen	McLaren	62	+17.5 sec	8	4
6	Mark Webber	Williams	62	+ 37.7 sec	10	3
7	Jenson Button	Honda	62	+39.6 sec	2	2
8	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	62	+40.2 sec	11	1
9	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	62	+45.5 sec	6
10	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	62	+77.8 sec	3
11	Nico Rosberg	Williams	62	+79.6 sec	13
12	Jacques Villeneuve	BMW Sauber	62	+82.3 sec	12
13	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	61	+1 lap	15
14	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso	61	+1 lap	16
15	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso	61	+1 lap	18
16	Tiago Monteiro	Midland	60	+2 laps	19
Ret	David Coulthard	Red Bull	47	Driveshaft	14
Ret	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri	44	Spin	21
Ret	Christian Klien	Red Bull	40	Hydraulics	17
Ret	Yuji Ide	Super Aguri	23	Suspension	22
Ret	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	5	Steering	9
Ret	Christijan Albers	Midland	0	Accident	20

2006 Formula One Season
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San Marino Grand Prix
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Tracks: Imola