2006 German Grand Prix

The 2006 German Grand Prix, formally known as the LXVIII Großer Mobil 1 Preis von Deutschland, was the twelfth round of the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged on 30 July 2006 at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.^[1] The race would see Michael Schumacher secure his third straight victory to close the gap to Championship leader Fernando Alonso.^[1]

There had been some controversy prior to the race weekend, with the damper suspension system on the Renaults deemed legal by the scrutineers and stewards, despite an official ban on the design by the FIA.^[1] The FIA, who had appointed the stewards, appealed against the decision, prompting Renault to withdraw the design at the end of Friday's running to avoid a ban.^[1]

The impact of that change in design seemed to tell in qualifying, for Giancarlo Fisichella and Alonso could only muster fifth and seventh on the grid respectively.^[1] That hence allowed Kimi Räikkönen to storm to pole position ahead of Michael Schumacher, while Felipe Massa and Jenson Button secured the second row.^[1]

The start of the race would see Räikkönen ace his start, giving McLaren-Mercedes hope of a first win of the season.^[1] Schumacher and Massa duly gave chase in the two scarlet Ferraris, while behind the two Renaults surged ahead of the two Hondas of Button and Rubens Barrichello.^[1]

Lap one would prove more eventful beyond the start, however, for Button would dive back past Alonso at the hairpin, before Ralf Schumacher smacked David Coulthard in the middle of the pack.^[1] The impact launched the Scot's Red Bull-Ferrari, and hence distracted the two BMW Saubers and resulted in them hitting each other, while Nico Rosberg would have an accident of his own entering the stadium section a few moments later.^[1]

The early stages saw Räikkönen and the two Ferraris escape up the road, leaving Fisichella to unsuccessfully defend fourth from a resurgent Button.^[1] However, after just ten laps the entire perception of the race would change, as Räikkönen swept into the pits for his first stop.^[1]

Indeed, Räikkönen's victory bid ended there, for not only had he made an early stop, a sticking wheel nut would mean his stop lasted over fifteen seconds.^[1] That dumped the Finn back to eighth, and as the only member of the lead group to be on a three-stop strategy.^[1]

The rest of the field began making their stops a few laps later, with Button the first of the Honda/Renault quartet to stop, while Massa pitted before Schumacher.^[1] The two Ferraris duly rejoined in first and second, Schumacher remaining ahead, while Mark Webber suddenly found himself in the middle of the fight for the podium with Räikkönen, Button and Fisichella.^[1]

Through to the second round of stops and Webber was still in the hunt, and had enhanced his hopes by overtaking Fisichella.^[1] Unfortunately for the Australian racer his challenge was ended by water leak in the closing stages, leaving Button to fend off Räikkönen for the final spot on the podium.^[1] Fisichella, meanwhile, would slip out of the fight, and be passed by teammate Alonso during their final stops.^[1]

Out front, meanwhile, Schumacher and Massa ran nose-to-tail and unopposed at the head of the field, and duly crossed the line to claim a dominant one-two for Ferrari.^[1] Räikkönen would join them on the podium after an excellent dive past Button at the Mercedes grandstand in the closing stages, while Alonso secured fifth ahead of Fisichella.^[1] Jarno Trulli and Christian Klien completed the scorers, with ten drivers having retired.^[1]

Significantly the race proved to be the last for 1997 Champion Jacques Villeneuve, who quit BMW Sauber after the race having not been given a contract for 2007.^[2] Elsewhere, Midland-Toyota saw both their cars disqualified for using illegally flexing rear wings.^[1]

BackgroundEdit

Victory for Michael Schumacher meant that the German veteran had managed to close the gap to Championship leader Fernando Alonso, leaving France with a seventeen point deficit. Alonso's second place finish had reduced the damage, however, and meant that the Spaniard could afford to finish second to Schumacher through the remaining seven races and still claim the crown. Behind, Giancarlo Fisichella and Kimi Räikkönen were in a fight with Felipe Massa to secure third, while Pedro de la Rosa had become the season's eighteenth different scorer.

In the Constructors Championship Renault had left their home race still at the head of the hunt, but had seen their advantage somewhat reduced. Indeed, Ferrari's double podium ensured the Scuderia closed to within 21 points of the French manufacturer, and hence were a significant threat for the crown. McLaren-Mercedes, meanwhile, were set to claim third having dropped 50 points behind Ferrari, with Honda and Toyota completing the top five.

Entry listEdit

The full entry list for the 2006 German Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Fernando Alonso	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault	R26	Renault	RS26 2.4 V8	M
2	Giancarlo Fisichella	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault	R26	Renault	RS26 2.4 V8	M
3	Kimi Räikkönen	Team McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-21	Mercedes	FO 108S 2.4 V8	M
4	Pedro de la Rosa	Team McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-21	Mercedes	FO 108S 2.4 V8	M
5	Michael Schumacher	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	248 F1	Ferrari	056 2.4 V8	B
6	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	248 F1	Ferrari	056 2.4 V8	B
7	Ralf Schumacher	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF106B	Toyota	RVX-06 2.4 V8	B
8	Jarno Trulli	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF106B	Toyota	RVX-06 2.4 V8	B
9	Mark Webber	Williams F1 Team	Williams	FW28	Cosworth	CA2006 2.4 V8	B
10	Nico Rosberg	Williams F1 Team	Williams	FW28	Cosworth	CA2006 2.4 V8	B
11	Rubens Barrichello	Lucky Strike Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA106	Honda	RA806E 2.4 V8	M
12	Jenson Button	Lucky Strike Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA106	Honda	RA806E 2.4 V8	M
14	David Coulthard	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB2	Ferrari	056 2.4 V8	M
15	Christian Klien	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB2	Ferrari	056 2.4 V8	M
16	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.06	BMW	P86 2.4 V8	M
17	Jacques Villeneuve	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.06	BMW	P86 2.4 V8	M
18	Tiago Monteiro	MF1 Racing	Midland	M16	Toyota	RVX-06 2.4 V8	B
19	Christijan Albers	MF1 Racing	Midland	M16	Toyota	RVX-06 2.4 V8	B
20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR1	Cosworth	TJ2006 3.0 V10	M
21	Scott Speed	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR1	Cosworth	TJ2006 3.0 V10	M
22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri F1	Super Aguri	SA06	Honda	RA806E 2.4 V8	B
23	Sakon Yamamoto	Super Aguri F1	Super Aguri	SA06	Honda	RA806E 2.4 V8	B
Test Drivers for Practice Sessions Only
35	Alexander Wurz	Williams F1 Team	Williams	FW28	Cosworth	CA2006 2.4 V8	B
36	Anthony Davidson	Lucky Strike Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA106	Honda	RA806E 2.4 V8	M
37	Robert Doornbos	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB2	Ferrari	056 2.4 V8	M
38	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.06	BMW	P86 2.4 V8	M
39	Adrian Sutil	MF1 Racing	Midland	M16	Toyota	RVX-06 2.4 V8	B
40	Neel Jani	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR1	Cosworth	TJ2006 3.0 V10	M
Source:[3]

Practice OverviewEdit

QualifyingEdit

Q1Edit

Q2Edit

Q3Edit

Qualifying ResultsEdit

The full qualifying results for the 2006 German Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	3	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes		3	1:15.214		4	1:14.410		1	1:14.070	1
2	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari		2	1:14.904		1	1:13.778		2	1:14.205	2
3	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari		1	1:14.412		2	1:14.094		3	1:14.569	3
4	12	Jenson Button	Honda		12	1:15.869		3	1:14.378		4	1:14.862	4
5	2	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault		13	1:15.916		5	1:14.540		5	1:14.894	5
6	11	Rubens Barrichello	Honda		8	1:15.757		6	1:14.652		6	1:14.934	6
7	1	Fernando Alonso	Renault		5	1:15.518		8	1:14.746		7	1:15.282	7
8	7	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota		9	1:15.789		7	1:14.743		8	1:15.923	8
9	4	Pedro de la Rosa	McLaren-Mercedes		6	1:15.655		10	1:15.021		9	1:15.936	9
10	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari		11	1:15.836		9	1:14.826		10	1:16.326	10
11	9	Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth		7	1:15.719		11	1:15.094				11
12	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Ferrari		10	1:15.816		12	1:15.141				12
13*	8	Jarno Trulli	Toyota		4	1:15.430		13	1:15.150				20
14	17	Jacques Villeneuve	BMW Sauber		16	1:16.281		14	1:15.329				13
15	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth		14	1:16.183		15	1:15.380				14
16	16	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber		15	1:16.234		16	1:15.397				15
17	20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth		17	1:16.399							16
18*	19	Christijan Albers	Midland-Toyota		18	1:17.093							21
19	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda		19	1:17.185							18
20	18	Tiago Monteiro	Midland-Toyota		20	1:17.836							18
21†	23	Sakon Yamamoto	Super Aguri-Honda		21	1:20.444							PL
22	21	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth		NC	—							19
Source:[4]

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car to set their best time in that session.
• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.
• * Trulli and Albers were awarded ten place grid penalties for changing their engines.^[4]
• ^† Yamamoto would start the race from the pitlane after changing his chassis.^[4]

GridEdit

RaceEdit

ReportEdit

ResultsEdit

The full results for the 2006 German Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	67	1:27:51.693	2	10
2	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	67	+0.720s	3	8
3	3	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	67	+13.206s	1	6
4	12	Jenson Button	Honda	67	+18.898s	4	5
5	1	Fernando Alonso	Renault	67	+23.707s	7	4
6	2	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	67	+24.814s	5	3
7	8	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	67	+26.544s	20	2
8	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Ferrari	67	+48.131s	12	1
9	7	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	67	+1:00.351	8
10	20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	66	+1 Lap	16
11	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari	66	+1 Lap	10
12	21	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	66	+1 Lap	19
DSQ*	19	Christijan Albers	Midland-Toyota	66	Disqualified	21
DSQ*	18	Tiago Monteiro	Midland-Toyota	65	Disqualified	18
Ret	9	Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth	59	Water leak	11
Ret	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	38	Gearbox	17
Ret	17	Jacques Villeneuve	BMW Sauber	30	Accident	13
Ret	11	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	18	Engine	6
Ret	16	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	9	Brakes	15
Ret	4	Pedro de la Rosa	McLaren-Mercedes	2	Fuel pump	9
Ret	23	Sakon Yamamoto	Super Aguri-Honda	1	Driveshaft	PL
Ret	10	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth	0	Accident	14
Source:[5]

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.

MilestonesEdit

• 163rd and final Grand Prix for Jacques Villeneuve.^[6]
• Debut race for Sakon Yamamoto.^[7]
• Michael Schumacher secured his 89th career victory.^[6]
• Ferrari secured their 188th win as a constructor and engine supplier.^[6]
  • Also the 100th win for Bridgestone as a tyre supplier.^[7]
• Schumacher recorded the 190th fastest lap for a Ferrari chassis and engine.^[6]

StandingsEdit

Victory for Michael Schumacher, combined with a lowly fifth place finish for Fernando Alonso, had drastically changed the Championship picture with six rounds to go. Indeed, the German veteran had cut the gap to just eleven points between himself and the Spaniard out-front, and had momentum behind him. Alonso did, however, still have enough of a margin that he would lead the Championship heading into the summer-break after the Hungarian Grand Prix, but needed a drastic reversal in form.

In the Constructors Championship Ferrari had moved to within striking distance of Renault for the first time all season, leaving Germany just ten behind the leaders. Indeed, two one-twos in three races had done the damage for the Scuderia, and had moved them 62 points clear of third placed McLaren-Mercedes. The rest of the season would therefore likely be a duel between Renault and Ferrari for the crown, while McLaren were set to consolidate third, 40 clear of Honda in fourth.

World Championship for Drivers Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Fernando Alonso 100 — 2 Michael Schumacher 89 — 3 Felipe Massa 50 ▲2 4 Giancarlo Fisichella 49 ▼1 5 Kimi Räikkönen 49 ▼1 6 Juan Pablo Montoya 26 — 7 Jenson Button 21 — 8 Rubens Barrichello 16 — 9 Ralf Schumacher 13 — 10 Nick Heidfeld 13 — 11 David Coulthard 10 — 12 Jarno Trulli 10 — 13 Jacques Villeneuve 7 — 14 Mark Webber 6 — 15 Nico Rosberg 4 — 16 Pedro de la Rosa 2 — 17 Christian Klien 2 ▲1 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi 1 ▼1

World Championship for Constructors Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 Renault 149 — 2 Ferrari 139 — 3 McLaren-Mercedes 77 — 4 Honda 37 — 5 Toyota 23 — 6 BMW Sauber 20 — 7 Red Bull-Ferrari 12 — 8 Williams-Cosworth 10 — 9 Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1 —

Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

ReferencesEdit

Images and Videos:

References:

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* Nürburgring and Hockenheimring alternated between each other during these years.