| 2006 European Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 5 of 18 in the 2006 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
 Nürburgring | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 7 May 2006 | ||||
| Official name | 2006 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe | ||||
| Location | Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.148 km (3.2 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 60 laps, 308.88 km (192 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny, 20°C[1] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Renault | ||||
| Time | 1:29.816 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |
 Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:32.099 on lap 39 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Renault | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
|
Lap leaders | |||||
The 2006 European Grand Prix (formally the 2006 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe)[2] was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany on 7 May 2006. The 60-lap race was the fifth round of the 2006 Formula One season. It was won by Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher who took his second victory of the season. Polesitter Fernando Alonso finished in second position for the Renault team, whilst the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa achieved his first podium finish of the season with third place.
Franck Montagny made his Formula One début, becoming the first French F1 driver since Olivier Panis at the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix. Schumacher was the last to win his home race until Fernando Alonso in 2012.
Background
[edit]The event was held at the Nürburgring for the 36th time in the circuit's history. It was the 11th edition of the European Grand Prix at this venue and the fifth round of the 2006 championship.
Championship standings before the race
[edit]Fernando Alonso had been leading the championship since the get-go and had already gathered 36 points. Michael Schumacher's thrilling victory in Imola had lifted him into second place with 21 points. Kimi Räikkönen was in third with 18 points.
Driver changes
[edit]Franck Montagny was originally scheduled to act as the third driver for Super Aguri,[3] but was promoted to a race seat[4] after team driver Yuji Ide had his FIA Super License revoked[5] for erratic driving in prior races that season. Ide was set to act as the team's third driver for this race, according to the team, until the revocation came down.[4] The license revocation meant Ide could no longer participate in Formula One.
Practice
[edit]Three free practice sessions were held.[6] The first and second session were headed by Williams's third driver Alexander Wurz, before the third and most representative session saw the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa top the timings.
Friday drivers
[edit]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 | none |
Qualifying
[edit]The qualifying session was affected by a red flag situation appearing during Q1 with 3½ minutes left on the timing monitors. Unfortunately, this was due to a software glitch in the timing system, and the session was quickly restarted. Jacques Villeneuve initially finished outside the top 16, but his time, set on a lap which he finished during the red flag, was reinstated. This placed him 7th in the session. Christian Klien had abandoned his lap, thinking it would not count, and he felt to have lost out through it.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Fernando Alonso |
Renault | 1:31.138 | 1:30.336 | 1:29.816 | 1 |
| 2 | 5 | Michael Schumacher |
Ferrari | 1:31.235 | 1:30.013 | 1:30.028 | 2 |
| 3 | 6 |  Felipe Massa |
Ferrari | 1:31.921 | 1:30.732 | 1:30.407 | 3 |
| 4 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello |
Honda | 1:31.671 | 1:30.469 | 1:30.754 | 4 |
| 5 | 3 |  Kimi Räikkönen |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:31.263 | 1:30.203 | 1:30.933 | 5 |
| 6 | 12 | Jenson Button |
Honda | 1:31.420 | 1:30.755 | 1:30.940 | 6 |
| 7 | 8 |  Jarno Trulli |
Toyota | 1:31.809 | 1:30.733 | 1:31.419 | 7 |
| 8 | 4 |  Juan Pablo Montoya |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:31.774 | 1:30.671 | 1:31.880 | 8 |
| 9 | 9 |  Mark Webber |
Williams-Cosworth | 1:31.712 | 1:30.892 | 1:33.405 | 191 |
| 10 | 17 |  Jacques Villeneuve |
BMW Sauber | 1:31.545 | 1:30.865 | 1:36.998 | 92 |
| 11 | 7 | Ralf Schumacher |
Toyota | 1:31.470 | 1:30.944 | 10 | |
| 12 | 10 | Nico Rosberg |
Williams-Cosworth | 1:32.053 | 1:31.194 | 221 | |
| 13 | 2 | Giancarlo Fisichella |
Renault | 1:31.574 | 1:31.197 | 11 | |
| 14 | 14 | David Coulthard |
Red Bull-Ferrari | 1:31.742 | 1:31.227 | 12 | |
| 15 | 16 | Nick Heidfeld |
BMW Sauber | 1:31.457 | 1:31.422 | 13 | |
| 16 | 20 | Vitantonio Liuzzi |
Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 1:32.651 | 1:31.728 | 14 | |
| 17 | 15 | Christian Klien |
Red Bull-Ferrari | 1:32.901 | 15 | ||
| 18 | 19 | Christijan Albers |
MF1-Toyota | 1:32.936 | 16 | ||
| 19 | 21 |  Scott Speed |
Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 1:32.992 | 17 | ||
| 20 | 18 |  Tiago Monteiro |
MF1-Toyota | 1:33.658 | 18 | ||
| 21 | 22 |  Takuma Sato |
Super Aguri-Honda | 1:35.239 | 20 | ||
| 22 | 23 |  Franck Montagny |
Super Aguri-Honda | 1:46.505 | 21 | ||
| Source:[7] | |||||||
- Notes
Championship standings after the race
[edit]
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 "2006 European Grand Prix". pitpass.com. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
- ↑ "Europe". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2006-10-20. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ↑ "Montagny joins Super Aguri as third driver for European GP". pitpass.com. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- 1 2 "Ide replaced by Montagny for Super Aguri". pitpass.com. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- ↑ "Ide's Superlicence revoked". pitpass.com. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- ↑ "2006 FORMULA 1™ GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE". Formula1.com. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
- ↑ Domenjoz, Luc; et al. (February 2007). Formula One Yearbook 2006–2007. Chronosports S.A. p. 110. ISBN 978-2-84707-110-8.
- ↑ "2006 FORMULA 1™ GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE". Formula1.com. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
- 1 2 "Europe 2006 • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
- 1 2 Domenjoz, Luc; et al. (February 2007). Formula One Yearbook 2006–2007. Chronosports S.A. p. 113. ISBN 978-2-84707-110-8.
- 1 2 "Europe 2006 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
External links
[edit]
50°20′08″N 6°56′51″E / 50.33556°N 6.94750°E / 50.33556; 6.94750