2006 United States Grand Prix

2006 United States Grand Prix
Previous←	2006 Canadian Grand Prix
Round	10 of 2006
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IMS road course
Race Details
Date	2 July, 2006
Race Number	760
Official Name	XXXV Vodafone United States Grand Prix
Location	Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana
Course	Permanent race circuit 4.192 km (2.605 mi)
Distance	73 laps, 306.016 km (190.150 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time	1:10.832
Fastest Lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time	1:12.719 on lap 56
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher
Second	Felipe Massa
Third	Giancarlo Fisichella
Lap Leaders

The 2006 United States Grand Prix, advertised as the XXXV Vodafone United States Grand Prix, was the tenth round of the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana, USA, on 2 July 2006. The race, which was the first US Grand Prix to be held after the controversial events of the 2005 race, would be dominated by Ferrari duo Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa.

Unlike the race twelve months before there were no tyre issues for the Michelin shod section of the field, with no failures during practice. This was largely attributed to the fact that the French manufacturer had brought harder tyres, as well as the decision to allow tyre changes during the Grand Prix itself.

Those changes to the Michelin tyre may have proved vital in qualifying, for Michael Schumacher led teammate Felipe Massa to a front-row lock-out for the Bridgestone shod Ferraris. Giancarlo Fisichella was best of the rest ahead of Rubens Barrichello, while Championship leader Fernando Alonso would start from fifth.

Unfortunately memories of the disasterous 2005 would re-emerge at the start of the race, for two accidents would drastically thin the field. Indeed, after Massa had out-dragged Schumacher to claim the lead at the head of the pack, a badly misjudged lunge from Christian Klien triggered a colossal accident.

The Austrian racer had decided to try the dusty inside line into turn one to dive past the two Midland-Toyotas, only to get caught out on the dust and slam into Mark Webber, before collecting Christijan Albers and being rammed by an unsighted Franck Montagny. That sent several cars scattering across the circuit and the grass at turn two, where Juan Pablo Montoya smashed into the back of teammate Kimi Räikkönen, prior to sliding into Jenson Button's Honda which was sent into the side of Nick Heidfeld.

Heidfeld's exit was the most spectacular of all, for the BMW Sauber was sent into a triple barrel roll before crashing back down in the grass right-side-up. The Safety Car was instantly called to clear up the mess, as Montoya, Räikkönen, Klien, Montagny, Heidfeld, Webber and Scott Speed walked back to the pits.

The restart came a few laps later, just in time to see Takuma Sato take Monteiro out of the equation, followed by an engine failure for Jacques Villeneuve. That incident, combined with collision damage curtailing the race of Button, meant that half the field were out with 50 laps still to run.

Ignorant of all of this, however, were the two Ferraris, which eased away from the two Renaults at the restart to secure a dominant lead. Alonso briefly led the chase but lacked the pace to challenge, and would be ultimately instructed to allow teammate Fisichella through before the first stops. Indeed, so poor was the Spaniard's pace that he also slipped behind Barrichello and the two Toyotas.

With Massa leading Schumacher the question was whether the German's protege would be allowed to win, and given Ferrari's reputation that seemed to be an unlikely conclusion. Somewhat unsurprisingly the move would come during the first round of stops, with Schumacher stopping first on lap 29, before delivering an excellent out-lap to jump his teammate when the Brazilian stopped a lap alter.

That proved to be that for the race, barring a late retirement for Ralf Schumacher that brought the field down to just nine finishers. There would also be a late fight between David Coulthard, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nico Rosberg, although that battle saw little physical battling.

Michael Schumacher hence claimed a dominant victory ahead of teammate Massa, the first Ferrari one-two since the 2005 US GP. Fisichella completed the podium ahead of Trulli and Alonso, with the rest of the points going to Barrichello, Coulthard and Liuzzi.

The race would prove to be the last Grand Prix start for Montoya, as the Colombian racer quit McLaren-Mercedes to prepare for NASCAR in 2007.

Background

Weather Conditions
Practice 1	Sunny
Practice 2	Sunny
Practice 3	Sunny
Qualifying	Sunny
Race	Sunny

At the halfway point in the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship it was clear that Fernando Alonso was the overwhelming favourite to retain his title, having dropped just six points across the opening nine rounds. He left Canada with a huge 25 point lead over Michael Schumacher in second, and a 45 point advantage over Kimi Räikkönen in third. The half-term top five was then completed by Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa, with sixteen drivers having scored.

In the Constructors Championship it was Renault who had command at the halfway mark, leaving Canada with 121 points and seven wins to their credit. Ferrari were their closest challengers and the only other team to have claimed a race win, but faced a 34 point gap between themselves and the French squad. McLaren-Mercedes were likewise a distant third, well clear of fourth placed Honda, with BMW Sauber rounding out the mid-season top five.

Entry list

The full entry list for the 2006 United States 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	Juan Pablo Montoya	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	SA05	Honda	RA806E 2.4 V8	B
23	Franck Montagny	Super Aguri F1	Super Aguri	SA05	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	Giorgio Mondini	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
41	Sakon Yamamoto	Super Aguri F1	Super Aguri	SA05	Honda	RA806E 2.4 V8	B
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

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

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari		2	1:11.588		1	1:10.636		1	1:10.832	1
2	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari		1	1:11.088		2	1:11.146		2	1:11.435	2
3	2	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault		8	1:12.287		3	1:11.200		3	1:11.920	3
4	11	Rubens Barrichello	Honda		6	1:12.156		4	1:11.263		4	1:12.109	4
5	1	Fernando Alonso	Renault		9	1:12.416		9	1:11.877		5	1:12.449	5
6	17	Jacques Villeneuve	BMW Sauber		5	1:12.114		7	1:11.724		6	1:12.479	6
7	12	Jenson Button	Honda		7	1:12.238		8	1:11.865		7	1:12.523	7
8	7	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota		3	1:11.879		5	1:11.673		8	1:12.795	8
9	3	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes		14	1:12.777		10	1:12.135		9	1:13.174	9
10	16	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber		4	1:11.891		6	1:11.718		10	1:15.280	10
11	4	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes		10	1:12.477		11	1:12.150				11
12	9	Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth		15	1:12.935		12	1:12.292				12
13	21	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth		16	1:13.167		13	1:12.792				13
14	19	Christijan Albers	Midland-Toyota		12	1:12.711		14	1:12.854				14
15	18	Tiago Monteiro	Midland-Toyota		11	1:12.627		15	1:12.864				15
16	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Ferrari		13	1:12.773		16	1:12.925				16
17	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari		17	1:13.180							17
18	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda		18	1:13.496							18
19*	10	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth		19	1:13.506							21
20†	8	Jarno Trulli	Toyota		20	1:13.787							PL
21‡	20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth		21	1:14.041							20
22	23	Franck Montagny	Super Aguri-Honda		22	1:16.036							19
Source:

• ^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.
• * Rosberg was retroactively excluded from the results of qualifying for ignoring an instruction from the officials.
• ^† Trulli was to start the race from the pitlane after changing his suspension outside of Parc Fermé conditions.
• ^‡ Liuzzi was awarded a ten place grid penalty for changing his engine.

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Michael Schumacher	2
	______________	Felipe Massa
Row 2	3	______________
	Giancarlo Fisichella	4
	______________	Rubens Barrichello
Row 3	5	______________
	Fernando Alonso	6
	______________	Jacques Villeneuve
Row 4	7	______________
	Jenson Button	8
	______________	Ralf Schumacher
Row 5	9	______________
	Kimi Räikkönen	10
	______________	Nick Heidfeld
Row 6	11	______________
	Juan Pablo Montoya	12
	______________	Mark Webber
Row 7	13	______________
	Scott Speed	14
	______________	Christijan Albers
Row 8	15	______________
	Tiago Monteiro	16
	______________	Christian Klien
Row 9	17	______________
	David Coulthard	18
	______________	Takuma Sato
Row 10	19	______________
	Franck Montagny	20
	______________	Vitantonio Liuzzi
Row 11	21	______________
	Nico Rosberg	22
	______________	Jarno Trulli

Race

Results

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

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	73	1:34:35.199	1	10
2	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	73	+7.984s	2	8
3	2	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	73	+16.595s	3	6
4	8	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	73	+23.604s	PL	5
5	1	Fernando Alonso	Renault	73	+28.410s	5	4
6	11	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	73	+36.513s	4	3
7	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari	72	+1 Lap	17	2
8	20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	72	+1 Lap	20	1
9	10	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth	72	+1 Lap	21
Ret	7	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	62	Wheel bearing	8
Ret	19	Christijan Albers	Midland-Toyota	37	Transmission	14
Ret	17	Jacques Villeneuve	BMW Sauber	23	Engine	6
Ret	18	Tiago Monteiro	Midland-Toyota	9	Collision damage	15
Ret	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	6	Collision	18
Ret	12	Jenson Button	Honda	3	Collision damage	7
Ret	3	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	0	Collision	9
Ret	16	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	0	Collision	10
Ret	4	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	0	Collision	11
Ret	9	Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth	0	Collision	12
Ret	21	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	0	Collision	13
Ret	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Ferrari	0	Collision	16
Ret	23	Franck Montagny	Super Aguri-Honda	0	Collision	19
Source:

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

Milestones

• 94th and final Grand Prix start for Juan Pablo Montoya.
• Nico Rosberg and Scott Speed made their tenth Grand Prix start.
• 750th individual entry for a Honda engine.
• 500th entry for a car with #23 as its race number.
• Michael Schumacher secured his 87th career victory.
• 186th win for Ferrari as a constructor and engine supplier.
• Toro Rosso claimed their first point as a constructor.

Standings

For the first time in 2006 Fernando Alonso had failed to finish in the top two in the Championship, and hence had seen his title lead reduced. However, the Spaniard had still scored points, and so the damage done to his lead by race winner Michael Schumacher had been minimal, the German ace only closing the gap to nineteen points. Behind, Giancarlo Fisichella had moved ahead of Kimi Räikkönen after the Finn's retirement, while Felipe Massa had gained ground on both in fifth.

In the Constructors Championship the US Grand Prix had been a hugely beneficial day for Ferrari, who closed the gap to the leaders and broke through the 100 point barrier. However, the Scuderia would remain 26 points behind Renault at the end of the weekend, and had therefore only really enhanced their grip on second. Indeed, a double non-score for McLaren-Mercedes had left them in a now distant third, while Toro Rosso-Cosworth were on the board for the first time in ninth.

World Championship for Drivers Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Fernando Alonso 88 — 2 Michael Schumacher 69 — 3 Giancarlo Fisichella 43 ▲1 4 Kimi Räikkönen 39 ▼1 5 Felipe Massa 36 — 6 Juan Pablo Montoya 26 — 7 Jenson Button 16 — 8 Rubens Barrichello 16 — 9 Nick Heidfeld 12 — 10 David Coulthard 10 — 11 Ralf Schumacher 8 — 12 Jarno Trulli 8 ▲3 13 Jacques Villeneuve 7 ▼1 14 Mark Webber 6 ▼1 15 Nico Rosberg 4 ▼1 16 Vitantonio Liuzzi 1 ▲2 17 Christian Klien 1 ▼1

World Championship for Constructors Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 Renault 131 — 2 Ferrari 105 — 3 McLaren-Mercedes 65 — 4 Honda 32 — 5 BMW Sauber 19 — 6 Toyota 16 — 7 Red Bull-Ferrari 11 ▲1 8 Williams-Cosworth 10 ▼1 8 Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1 —

Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

References

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