The 2006 Italian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2006) was a Formula One motor race held on 10 September 2006 at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. It was the fifteenth race of the 2006 Formula One season, and was won by Michael Schumacher driving a Ferrari car.
Immediately following the race, Schumacher announced that he would retire from motor racing at the end of the 2006 season. Robert Kubica achieved his first career podium finish, in only his third Grand Prix. It was also only the second Grand Prix meeting appearance of Kubica's Friday driver successor, Sebastian Vettel. Vettel had impressed at the by setting the fastest time in one session, but he set the fastest time in both Friday practice sessions at this Grand Prix. The race was also the first race to see the introduction of a new High Speed Barrier developed by the FIA Institute and the FIA. The system, which was installed at the end of the run-off areas at the circuit's second chicane and Parabolica corners, was designed for use at corners with high speed approaches and limited run-off areas.The High Speed Safety Barrier FIA.com. Retrieved 4 October 2006 Also this was the last race of the Red Bull driver Christian Klien, until his return to a race seat at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix.
After the race, in the press conference, Schumacher announced his retirement from Formula One. On the same day, it was announced that Ferrari would replace Schumacher with Kimi Räikkönen. The race was his 90th victory. Four years later however in , Schumacher returned to F1 with Mercedes.
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-Cosworth Alexander Wurz Honda Anthony Davidson Red Bull-Ferrari Robert Doornbos BMW Sauber Sebastian Vettel MF1-Toyota Giorgio Mondini Toro Rosso-Cosworth Neel Jani Super Aguri-Honda Franck Montagny
Race report
At the start Kimi Räikkönen got away in the lead with Michael Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld tussling over 2nd. By lap 2 Fernando Alonso was up to 6th past Heidfeld as Schumacher and Räikkönen begin to pull clear of the rest. On lap 10 Nico Rosberg lost power in his Williams and was the first retirement, his 4th consecutive retirement. On lap 15 Räikkönen pitted from the lead and two laps later Schumacher came in and jumped him, Robert Kubica took the lead stopping much later, on lap 23, which allowed Schumacher into the lead for the first time in the race. On lap 44 there was drama when Alonso pulled over with a smoky Renault after an engine failure, this caused a problem for Massa who locked up behind him and went off before pitting to change tyres. Michael Schumacher cruised to victory ahead of Räikkönen, with Kubica claiming his first podium in 3rd place.
Classification
Qualifying Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 1 3 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.994 1:21.349 1:21.484 1 2 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:21.711 1:21.353 1:21.486 2 3 16 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:21.764 1:21.425 1:21.653 3 4 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:22.028 1:21.225 1:21.704 4 5 12 Jenson Button Honda 1:22.512 1:21.572 1:22.011 5 6 17 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:22.437 1:21.270 1:22.258 6 7 4 Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.422 1:21.878 1:22.280 7 8 11 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:22.640 1:21.688 1:22.787 8 9 2 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:22.486 1:21.722 1:23.175 9 10 1 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:21.747 1:21.526 1:25.688 10 11 8 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:22.093 1:21.924 11 12 10 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:22.581 1:22.203 12 13 7 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:22.622 1:22.280 13 14 14 David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari 1:22.618 1:22.589 14 15 21 Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:22.943 1:23.165 15 16 15 Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 1:22.898 No time 16 17 20 Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1:23.043 17 18 19 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:23.116 18 19 9 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:23.341 19 20 18 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:23.920 20 21 22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:24.289 21 22 23 Sakon Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda 1:26.001 22 Source: Notes – Christian Klien spun in the fifth corner and shut down his engine in Q1 and therefore did not set a time in Q2. – Fernando Alonso originally qualified with a time of 1:21.829 in Q3, but had his three fastest Q3 times deleted, effectively demoting him from fifth to tenth, after Monza stewards controversially penalized him, judging he had impeded Ferrari's Felipe Massa during qualifying.
Race Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 53 1:14:51.975 2 10 2 3 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 53 +8.046 1 8 3 17 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 53 +26.414 6 6 4 2 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 53 +32.045 9 5 5 12 Jenson Button Honda 53 +32.685 5 4 6 11 Rubens Barrichello Honda 53 +42.409 8 3 7 8 Jarno Trulli Toyota 53 +44.662 11 2 8 16 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 53 +45.309 3 1 9 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 53 +45.995 4 10 9 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 53 +72.602 19 11 15 Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 52 +1 lap 16 12 14 David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari 52 +1 lap 14 13 21 Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth 52 +1 lap 15 14 20 Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth 52 +1 lap 17 15 7 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 52 +1 lap 13 16 22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 51 +2 laps PL 17 19 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 51 +2 laps 18 18 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 44 Brakes 20 1 Fernando Alonso Renault 43 Engine 10 4 Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 20 Engine 7 23 Sakon Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda 18 Hydraulics 22 10 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 9 Driveshaft 12 Source: Notes – Takuma Sato started the race from the pitlane after having replaced his car with the spare one due to a hydraulic problem that occurred during the formation lap.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points 1 Fernando Alonso* 108 2 Michael Schumacher* 106 3 Felipe Massa 62 4 Giancarlo Fisichella 57 5 Kimi Räikkönen 57Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points 1 1 Ferrari* 168 1 2 Renault* 165 3 McLaren-Mercedes 97 4 Honda 65 1 5 BMW Sauber 33Source:
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.
See also 2006 Monza GP2 Series round
References