2006 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 17 of 18 in the 2006 Formula One World Championship
The Suzuka circuit
The Suzuka circuit
Race details
Date 8 October 2006
Official name 2006 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.821 km (3.617[1] miles)
Distance 53 laps, 308.513 km (191.701 miles)
Weather Fine
Attendance 361,000[2]
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 1:29.599
Fastest lap
Driver Spain Fernando Alonso Renault
Time 1:32.676 on lap 14
Podium
First
Renault
Second
Ferrari
Third
Renault
Lap leaders

The 2006 Japanese Grand Prix (formally known as the 2006 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix)[3] was a Formula One race held on 8 October 2006 at the Suzuka Circuit, in Suzuka, Japan. It was the seventeenth and penultimate round of the 2006 Formula One World Championship, and marked the 32nd running of the Japanese Grand Prix. It was won by Fernando Alonso, his last win for the Renault team before he moved to McLaren the following season.

It was the 20th Grand Prix to be held at Suzuka. It was the first Formula One race to be filmed and broadcast in high-definition television. However the Fuji Television broadcast was only available in Japan.[4]

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.

TeamNatDriver
Williams-Cosworth Austria Alexander Wurz
Honda United Kingdom Anthony Davidson
Red Bull-Ferrari Germany Michael Ammermüller
BMW Sauber Germany Sebastian Vettel
Spyker MF1-Toyota Germany Adrian Sutil
Toro Rosso-Cosworth Switzerland Neel Jani
Super Aguri-Honda France Franck Montagny

Race

Felipe Massa started the race from pole, but Michael Schumacher 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 chased Schumacher. He 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. The race was crucial in the fight for the World Championship, as 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 Alonso, who went on to win the race. As a result, he needed only one point from the final race to secure the title.

As of 2023, Alonso's win remains the last victory for a car running on Michelin tyres, as the manufacturer pulled out of Formula One at the end of the season. Third place finisher Giancarlo Fisichella dedicated to his best friend, Tonino Visciani, who had died on 5 October 2006 after a heart attack.[5]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
1 6Brazil Felipe MassaFerrari 1:30.112 1:29.830 1:29.599 1
2 5Germany Michael SchumacherFerrari 1:31.279 1:28.954 1:29.711 2
3 7Germany Ralf SchumacherToyota 1:30.595 1:30.299 1:29.989 3
4 8Italy Jarno TrulliToyota 1:30.420 1:30.204 1:30.039 4
5 1Spain Fernando AlonsoRenault 1:30.976 1:30.357 1:30.371 5
6 2Italy Giancarlo FisichellaRenault 1:31.696 1:30.306 1:30.599 6
7 12United Kingdom Jenson ButtonHonda 1:30.847 1:30.268 1:30.992 7
8 11Brazil Rubens BarrichelloHonda 1:31.972 1:30.598 1:31.478 8
9 16Germany Nick HeidfeldBMW Sauber 1:31.811 1:30.470 1:31.513 9
10 10Germany Nico RosbergWilliams-Cosworth 1:30.585 1:30.321 1:31.856 10
11 3Finland Kimi RäikkönenMcLaren-Mercedes 1:32.080 1:30.827 11
12 17Poland Robert KubicaBMW Sauber 1:31.204 1:31.094 12
13 4Spain Pedro de la RosaMcLaren-Mercedes 1:31.581 1:31.254 13
14 9Australia Mark WebberWilliams-Cosworth 1:31.647 1:31.276 14
15 20Italy Vitantonio LiuzziToro Rosso-Cosworth 1:31.741 1:31.943 15
16 19Netherlands Christijan AlbersSpyker MF1-Toyota 1:32.221 1:33.750 16
17 14United Kingdom David CoulthardRed Bull-Ferrari 1:32.252 17
18 15Netherlands Robert DoornbosRed Bull-Ferrari 1:32.402 18
19 21United States Scott SpeedToro Rosso-Cosworth 1:32.867 19
20 22Japan Takuma SatoSuper Aguri-Honda 1:33.666 20
21 18Portugal Tiago MonteiroSpyker MF1-Toyota 1:33.709 21
22 23Japan Sakon YamamotoSuper Aguri-Honda No time 22
Source:[6]

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.DriverConstructorLapTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 1Spain Fernando AlonsoRenault 53 1:23:53.413 5 10
2 6Brazil Felipe MassaFerrari 53 +16.151 1 8
3 2Italy Giancarlo FisichellaRenault 53 +23.953 6 6
4 12United Kingdom Jenson ButtonHonda 53 +34.101 7 5
5 3Finland Kimi RäikkönenMcLaren-Mercedes 53 +43.596 11 4
6 8Italy Jarno TrulliToyota 53 +46.717 4 3
7 7Germany Ralf SchumacherToyota 53 +48.869 3 2
8 16Germany Nick HeidfeldBMW Sauber 53 +1:16.095 9 1
9 17Poland Robert KubicaBMW Sauber 53 +1:16.932 12
10 10Germany Nico RosbergWilliams-Cosworth 52 +1 lap 10
11 4Spain Pedro de la RosaMcLaren-Mercedes 52 +1 lap 13
12 11Brazil Rubens BarrichelloHonda 52 +1 lap 8
13 15Netherlands Robert DoornbosRed Bull-Ferrari 52 +1 lap 18
14 20Italy Vitantonio LiuzziToro Rosso-Cosworth 52 +1 lap 15
15 22Japan Takuma SatoSuper Aguri-Honda 52 +1 lap 20
16 18Portugal Tiago MonteiroSpyker MF1-Toyota 51 +2 laps 21
17 23Japan Sakon YamamotoSuper Aguri-Honda 50 +3 laps 22
18 21United States Scott SpeedToro Rosso-Cosworth 48 Power steering 19
Ret 9Australia Mark WebberWilliams-Cosworth 39 Accident 14
Ret 5Germany Michael SchumacherFerrari 36 Engine 2
Ret 14United Kingdom David CoulthardRed Bull-Ferrari 35 Gearbox 17
Ret 19Netherlands Christijan AlbersSpyker MF1-Toyota 20 Driveshaft 16
Source:[7]

Championship standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
  • Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

References

  1. ↑ "2006 Japanese Grand Prix | Motorsport Database".
  2. ↑ "Formula 1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2022 – Media Kit" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  3. ↑ "Japan". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2006-10-20. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  4. ↑ ZAKZAK Archived 2007-05-23 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
  5. ↑ "Fisi dedicates third to dead pal". ITV Sport. Archived from the original on 16 October 2006. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Domenjoz, Luc; et al. (February 2007). Formula One Yearbook 2006-2007. Chronosports S.A. p. 200. ISBN 978-2-84707-110-8.
  7. ↑ Domenjoz, Luc; et al. (February 2007). Formula One Yearbook 2006-2007. Chronosports S.A. p. 205. ISBN 978-2-84707-110-8.
  8. 1 2 "Japan 2006 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
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