2006 French Grand Prix

  2006 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 11 of 18 in the 2006 Formula One season
The Nevers Circuit modified in 2003
Date	July 16, 2006
Official name	XCII Grand Prix de France
Location	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Magny-Cours, France
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.411 km (2.74 mi)
Distance	70 laps, 308.77 km (191.8 mi)
Weather	Sunny, warm
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:15.493
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:17.111 on lap 46
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Second	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Third	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2006 French Grand Prix (formally the XCII Grand Prix de France) was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, near Magny-Cours, France on 16 July 2006. The race, contested over 70 laps, was the eleventh round of the 2006 Formula One season, the 57th French Grand Prix as part of the World Championship, and the 92nd overall.

This race was a scene of yet another record breaking milestone for Michael Schumacher, who became the first driver in F1 history to win the same Grand Prix on eight different occasions (having previously won the French Grand Prix in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2004). Schumacher also achieved his 22nd career hat trick (pole position, win & fastest lap at the same race), also a record. Fernando Alonso, driving a Renault at the team's home race, finished second, whilst Schumacher's Ferrari team-mate, Felipe Massa, completed the podium by finishing in third position.

Report

Background

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Webber and his under-performing Williams running low down the order, before retirement.

Since the announcement and abrupt departure of Juan Pablo Montoya from Formula 1 to NASCAR, talks about the success of Juan Pablo in NASCAR circulated around the paddock. As broadcast on SpeedTV’s Formula 1 coverage, current F1 driver’s expressions regarding the Colombian’s sudden departure seemed rather mixed. Fernando Alonso, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jarno Trulli expressed happiness and suggested possible early success in the new sport. Honda and Williams team engineers wished him the same but also pointed out that considering the different nature of NASCAR from Formula 1 in both crowd and technology, it will require time and effort before earning popularity and success in the new sport. Michael Schumacher and Bernie Ecclestone did not give much thought to the subject as they both stated “Not a clue” when asked about the Montoya’s future NASCAR success. On the other hand, David Coulthard and Christian Klien had some more interesting responses. Both Red Bull drivers poked fun at Montoya’s liking for junk food viz., McDonald’s and being unfit for current day Formula 1. Coulthard said that Montoya is 30 and already big, who knows what he’ll be when he is 40. After clarification by Peter Windsor, it turns out Coulthard was talking about Juan Pablo’s weight and not his current success and popularity. Klien also said that since Montoya loves to eat, there are plenty of McDonald’s in the United States. McLaren boss Ron Dennis expressed disgust about the Montoya subject since he blatantly walked away after saying “I’m into Formula One races!” when asked about Montoya’s NASCAR future.

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.

Constructor	Nat	Driver
Williams-Cosworth		Alexander Wurz
Honda		Anthony Davidson
Red Bull-Ferrari		Robert Doornbos
BMW Sauber		Robert Kubica
MF1-Toyota		Adrian Sutil
Toro Rosso-Cosworth		Neel Jani
Super Aguri-Honda		Sakon Yamamoto

Classification

Qualifying

Home driver Franck Montagny driving for Super Aguri. It would be his last outing for the team in the 2006 season.

From ^[1]:

Pos	Nat	Name	Constructor	Part 3	Part 2	Part 1
1		Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:15.493	1:15.111	1:15.865
2		Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:15.510	1:15.679	1:16.277
3		Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:15.785	1:15.706	1:16.328
4		Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:16.036	1:15.776	1:15.550
5		Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1:16.091	1:15.625	1:15.949
6		Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:16.281	1:15.742	1:16.154
7		Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:16.345	1:15.901	1:16.825
8		Pedro de la Rosa	McLaren-Mercedes	1:16.632	1:15.902	1:16.679
9		Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth	1:18.272	1:15.926	1:16.534
10		David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari	1:18.663	1:15.974	1:16.350
11		Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth		1:16.129	1:16.531
12		Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber		1:16.294	1:16.686
13		Christian Klien	Red Bull-Ferrari		1:16.433	1:16.921
14		Rubens Barrichello	Honda		1:17.027	1:17.022
15		Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth		1:17.063	1:17.117
16		Christijan Albers	MF1-Toyota		1:17.105	1:16.962
17		Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth			1:17.164
18		Jacques Villeneuve	BMW Sauber			1:17.304
19		Jenson Button	Honda			1:17.495
20		Tiago Monteiro	MF1-Toyota			1:17.589
21		Franck Montagny	Super Aguri-Honda			1:18.637
22		Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda			1:18.845

Race

The race was won by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher.

From ^[2]:

Pos	No	Nat	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5		Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	70	1:32:07.803	1	10
2	1		Fernando Alonso	Renault	70	+10.131	3	8
3	6		Felipe Massa	Ferrari	70	+22.546	2	6
4	7		Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	70	+27.212	5	5
5	3		Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+33.006	6	4
6	2		Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	70	+45.265	7	3
7	4		Pedro de la Rosa	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+49.407	8	2
8	16		Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	69	+1 lap	11	1
9	14		David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari	69	+1 lap	9
10	21		Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	69	+1 lap	14
11	17		Jacques Villeneuve	BMW Sauber	69	+1 lap	16
12	15		Christian Klien	Red Bull-Ferrari	69	+1 lap	12
13	20		Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	69	+1 lap	22
14	10		Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth	68	+2 laps	18
15	19		Christijan Albers	MF1-Toyota	68	+2 laps	15
16	23		Franck Montagny	Super Aguri-Honda	67	+3 laps	20
Ret	12		Jenson Button	Honda	61	Engine	17
Ret	9		Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth	55	Wheel rim	10
Ret	8		Jarno Trulli	Toyota	39	Brakes	4
Ret	11		Rubens Barrichello	Honda	28	Engine	13
Ret	18		Tiago Monteiro	MF1-Toyota	11	Accident	19
Ret	22		Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	0	Transmission	21

Standings after the race

Note, only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Drivers' Championship standings[2] Pos Driver Points 1 Fernando Alonso 96 2 Michael Schumacher 79 3 Giancarlo Fisichella 46 4 Kimi Räikkönen 43 5 Felipe Massa 42

Constructors' Championship standings[2] Pos Constructor Points 1 Renault 142 2 Ferrari 121 3 McLaren-Mercedes 71 4 Honda 32 5 Toyota 21

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 2006 French Grand Prix

• Detailed French Grand Prix results

Coordinates: 46°51′51″N 3°09′49″E / 46.86417°N 3.16361°E / 46.86417; 3.16361