The 2006 Monaco Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2006)[1] was a Formula One motor race held on 28 May 2006 at the Circuit de Monaco. The 78-lap race was the seventh round of the 2006 Formula One season. Prior to the race, Renault's Fernando Alonso had finished on the podium in all of the previous six Grands Prix, winning three of those races. His main championship rival, Michael Schumacher was looking to win the race as it would equal Ayrton Senna's record at Monaco for most wins (six).
The race was remembered by many people for Michael Schumacher's actions during the closing stages of the qualifying session for the race, where he stopped his car in the Rascasse corner, thus preventing his rival Fernando Alonso from attempting to improve his time. Schumacher maintained that this was an innocent mistake, but his actions were deemed "deliberate" by the race stewards and he was demoted to the back of the grid as punishment for his actions, promoting Alonso from second to pole position. It was also remembered for Schumacher coming back from his penalty during the race to finish fifth on a circuit that is notorious for overtaking being almost impossible.
During the break between the Spanish Grand Prix and the Monaco Grand Prix, a test session was held at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Fernando Alonso topped the times on the first day of testing, under a tenth of a second faster than the Ferrari of Felipe Massa who was second fastest. Toyota also had a promising day testing their new car, the Toyota TF106B, with Jarno Trulli coming in third place, who was also less than a tenth of a second behind Alonso. Heikki Kovalainen in the second Renault was fourth ahead of both the McLarens of Räikkönen and Montoya.[2] Alonso was top on day two as well, with Kovalainen second in the other Renault. Jacques Villeneuve was third in his BMW Sauber, a second slower than the Renaults. Klien, Trulli and Massa completed the top six respectively.[3] Villeneuve got the better of the two Renaults on day three, the Canadian was over four tenths faster than his nearest rival, Heikki Kovalainen.[4] Toyota were fastest on day four, Olivier Panis was fastest ahead of Ricardo Zonta and the two McLarens of Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett.[5]
As well as testing in Paul Ricard, some teams, namely Honda and Williams, were testing at an Italian circuit near Vallelunga, which had recently had a new chicane added to it to help simulate Monaco's characteristics. Honda's Anthony Davidson was top of the time sheet on day one, with Alexander Wurz's Williams around 4 tenths behind him.[6] Honda continued to their advantage over Williams on day two of testing, with Jenson Button topping the times; Davidson was second and Mark Webber was third.[7] Honda were fastest again on day three, this time Rubens Barrichello was fastest with Jenson Button in second and Mark Webber third.[8] Williams were left on their own in Vallelunga on day four, Mark Webber and Narain Karthikeyan driving for Williams. The Australian was fastest with Karthikeyan around 4 tenths slower than him.[9]
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.
Fernando Alonso showed he had intention of winning his first Monaco Grand Prix as he was fastest in the opening practice session, recording a best lap of 1:16.712, a tenth of a second faster than Honda test driver Anthony Davidson, who recorded a personal best of 1:16.872. Underlining Renault's challenge was third-fastest Giancarlo Fisichella, who was right behind Mondini, with a best time of 1:16.88.[10]
Alexander Wurz was fastest in the second practice session, one tenth faster than Mondini and two tenths faster than third fastest, Juan Pablo Montoya.[10] Wurz was very pleased with his performance in practice, "I went through my tyre choice and I have to say the way the circuit is progressing, it is coming to us just as it did at the Nürburgring, which is good. This makes me quite confident and positive that we will have a good weekend" he said.[11] Anthony Davidson had dislodged a marker stick in the "Swimming Pool" to cause the red flag at the start of the session. After the restart, Davidson got his entry to the "Ste Devote" corner wrong and understeered into the tyre wall, removing the Honda's front wing and left front wheel.[12]
Alonso was quickest in the Saturday morning session. Michael Schumacher, who had challenged Alonso all through the session, was second, 2 tenths slower than Alonso. Fisichella was third, Coulthard fourth, Nico Rosberg fifth, and Montoya sixth.
Qualifying
Conditions were warm and sunny for the qualifying session for the race the following day, perhaps the biggest challenge for the drivers was getting a "clear track", meaning the drivers wanted a qualifying run without any cars in their way as this can seriously compromise a driver's time with the lack of width around the track so there was a possibility of a "big-name" going out before the top ten shootout. Vitantonio Liuzzi was the first driver to set a time in the session. By the time everyone, except Michael Schumacher, had set a time, Felipe Massa lost control of his Ferrari at Casino Square; so the Brazilian would start from the back of the grid and the session was red flagged. The session restarted at 1:10pm local time and Schumacher did set a time and was safely through to the second phase. Scott Speed had a good chance of qualifying for the second session, but an error at the chicane meant he was eliminated from qualifying. Rubens Barrichello made a last-ditch effort to get out of the elimination zone and did as he moved up to eighth. At the end of the first session Michael Schumacher was fastest, while Christijan Albers, Tiago Monteiro, Takuma Sato, Franck Montagny, Scott Speed and Felipe Massa were eliminated.
Michael Schumacher set the fastest time, but was relegated to the back of the grid for impeding rival cars.
The final qualifying session was overshadowed by Michael Schumacher's actions in the dying moments of the session as his rival, Fernando Alonso, was on a flying lap and was, at sector two, over two tenths of a second faster than the German. However, Schumacher slid into and stopped his car against the barriers in the Rascasse corner, which compromised Alonso's lap. When asked about the incident, Schumacher responded by saying that he "locked up the front and went wide."[13] The consensus in the paddock was that it was a deliberate act and the issue was raised with the race stewards. The stewards agreed and punished Schumacher by sending him to the back of the grid, alongside his teammate, making this the first time ever in the history of the sport that two Ferrari team cars would start a race on the back row. Ferrari's Managerial Director, Jean Todt, said that he was "disgusted" by the decision.[14] Steward Joaquin Verdegay commented, "He performed some absolutely unnecessary and pathetic counter-steering, and that lasted five metres, until there was no more chances of going through the turn normally. He lost control of the car while travelling at 16km/h (9.9mph). That's something completely unjustifiable."[15] Former driver Keke Rosberg said of the incident, "It was the cheapest, dirtiest thing I have ever seen in F1. He should leave F1 and go home."[16]
Schumacher was not the only driver to be punished in qualifying; Giancarlo Fisichella was also punished by the stewards for blocking David Coulthard from improving his time and the Italian lost his three fastest lap times and dropped five places on the grid.[17]
Race
The race was won comfortably by Fernando Alonso after closest challengers Kimi Räikkönen and Mark Webber suffered reliability problems.Nick Heidfeld scored two World Championship points by finishing in seventh position.
With Schumacher starting from the back of the grid and Mark Webber between him and his closest rival, Kimi Räikkönen, Fernando Alonso was in a good position. Like the qualifying session the day before, the sun was out and was most certainly staying out for the entire race. Coming into first corner, Alonso led the Williams of Webber and the two McLarens of Räikkönen and Montoya, nearly all 22 cars escaped the first corner unscathed, only Tiago Monteiro had picked up a problem, losing his front wing after a minor collision with his teammate, Christijan Albers. By the end of lap one, Michael Schumacher had already passed Takuma Sato after starting the race from the pit lane and Alonso led the race by 8 tenths of a second from Mark Webber. The Australian ran wide at St Devote and was overtaken by Räikkönen at Casino Square during lap two and was now catching Alonso by setting the fastest lap and by lap four Räikkönen had Alonso in his sight.
In the mid-field, Schumacher was up in 16th place and was right behind the Honda of Jenson Button, but he would not get past Button until the 21st lap when he overtook the Briton in the Chicane. By lap 14, the leaders had already caught up with the backmarkers of the two Super Aguris and Monteiro's Midland. Albers was given a stop-and-go penalty on lap 18 for causing an avoidable collision with his teammate and took his penalty a lap later. By lap 21, the first round of pit stops had begun, Tiago Monteiro, who had already been into the pits, was the first driver to make a scheduled stop. Räikkönen was the first of the top three drivers to pit, which was on lap 22. Alonso pitted from the lead two laps later, leaving Mark Webber in the race lead. After a fast in-lap, Webber pitted from the lead and had the potential to come out ahead of Räikkönen. But he failed to come out in front of the Finnish driver and retained his position. By lap 34, Schumacher was up in 13th position, behind David Coulthard, but two laps later Schumacher came in for his first stop of the race and, with a stop of 9.1 seconds, was fueled until the end of the race.
By lap 46, Rubens Barrichello, who had been off pace for the entire race, pitted in for his first and only stop of the race. Webber was having a good race for Williams that afternoon, but it was to be cut short due to an exhaust failure; as the Australian completed his 48th lap, smoke started to appear at the back of his car and it blew up in flames at the exit of the pit lane. The safety car was deployed so marshals could get Webber's Williams off track so the rest of the field could resume racing without running into the immobile Williams. The entire field took advantage of the safety car period, and pitted a lap later for new tires and fuel. After two laps under the safety car, Räikkönen had bad luck as well when a heat shield, which had caught fire before in the first practice session, caught fire again, burning through the car's wiring and, judging by the on-board footage, cutting off the electricity to the engine; Räikkönen parked his McLaren at the exit of the Portier turn. Following this, the Finn opted to return to his private yacht as the race carried on.
With the safety car coming back into the pits, Alonso restarted in first place with Juan Pablo Montoya right behind him and Rubens Barrichello third; Coulthard and Schumacher were in the points as well. By lap 57, Alonso had a commanding lead of over 15 seconds to Montoya. Christian Klien retired a lap later, promoting his teammate David Coulthard to fifth and Michael Schumacher to sixth. Jacques Villeneuve got a drive-through penalty on lap 59 because he overtook under safety car conditions. Schumacher was closing fast on sixth-place Coulthard at about five seconds a lap, lapping in the 1:15's,[lower-alpha 1] but the Scot was over 35 seconds ahead of him. Barrichello, who was having a good Grand Prix up to lap 63, when he was given a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane; thus promoting Jarno Trulli up to third place and Coulthard to fourth. Barrichello came back in fifth place.
With a podium almost certain for Trulli, his Toyota team were pleased with the new car's performance but, on lap 72, the Italian had a hydraulic failure that shut the car down on the way up to the Casino, promoting Coulthard to third, who was now on course to take Red Bull's first podium, and moving Trulli's teammate, Ralf Schumacher, who had had a very quiet Grand Prix, up into the points. By lap 75 and with only a few laps to go, Michael Schumacher had closed right up on his old Ferrari teammate, Rubens Barrichello, but despite a number of attempts, Schumacher failed to get past the Honda and finished fifth. Giancarlo Fisichella was sixth in the sister Renault; Nick Heidfeld was seventh, and Ralf Schumacher took the final point up for grabs in eighth.
On the podium, Coulthard wore a Superman cape, given that Red Bull was in that race promoting the superhero's newest film, Superman Returns.[18] No champagne was sprayed due to death of Édouard Michelin on Friday.[19]
Post-race
Schumacher's actions in the qualifying session would serve as ammunition for Schumacher's critics to go along with his actions in the 1994 Australian Grand Prix and the 1997 European Grand Prix, although Schumacher never accepted the allegations that he "parked" his Ferrari on purpose to block Fernando Alonso from taking pole position off him. However, this race is also regarded as one of Schumacher's best performances owing to the immense difficulty to overtake in Monaco, which did not stop him from overtaking at least 11 cars on the narrow track.
The Grand Prix was also the last time that Juan Pablo Montoya stepped onto a Formula One podium as well as Red Bull Racing's first podium finish. This would also be the last Monaco Grand Prix for Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve. Michael Schumacher did not return to Monaco until the 2010 Formula One season.
^1 – Giancarlo Fisichella set the 5th fastest time of 1:14.396. However, as he was found to have impeded David Coulthard on a flying lap, Fisichella had his three fastest lap times deleted, dropping him behind Montoya, Barrichello, Trulli, Coulthard and Rosberg. He thus started from 9th position.[17]
^2 – Felipe Massa failed to set a qualifying time as his car was unfit to race after he damaged it during the first knock-out phase.
^3 – Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of 1:13.898. However, during the final lap of qualifying, Schumacher came to a stop at the La Rascasse hairpin, resulting in a yellow flag, meaning that other drivers could not go at maximum speed. After the session there was immediate complaint from the other teams that this has been a deliberate move by Ferrari to ensure Schumacher started in pole position, since Alonso had been on pace to beat his time. Although Schumacher insisted he had simply made an error, a stewards' inquiry resulted in all his qualifying times being deleted. Later on, Schumacher opted to start from the pitlane.[14]
The 2004 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 25 April 2004 at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola. It was Race 4 of 18 in the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.
The 2003 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 20 April 2003 at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, with the race taking place on Easter Sunday. It was the fourth round of the 2003 Formula One season The 62-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher for the Ferrari team after starting from pole position. Kimi Räikkönen, driving for McLaren, finished second with Rubens Barrichello third in the other Ferrari. The remaining points-scoring positions were filled by Ralf Schumacher (Williams), David Coulthard (McLaren), Fernando Alonso (Renault), Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams) and Jenson Button (BAR). Schumacher's victory for Ferrari was his and the team's first of the season.
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The 2002 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 23 June 2002 at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was won by Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello, his first win since his victory at the 2000 German Grand Prix. His team mate Michael Schumacher finished second in another dominating performance by the team. McLaren-Mercedes driver Kimi Räikkönen finished third. This was the first race at the modified Nürburgring circuit, as the first chicane was replaced by the Mercedes Arena corners.
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The 2005 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 May 2005 at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany. The 59-lap race was the seventh round of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship, the 49th running of the European Grand Prix, and the 15th European Grand Prix as a standalone event. It was the second of a series of six races held within eight weeks.
The 2005 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 12 June 2005 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The 70-lap race was the eighth round of the 2005 Formula One season, the 43rd running of the Canadian Grand Prix, and the 37th running as a round of the World Championship. It set a ratings record and was the most watched F1 race in history. It was also the first of two consecutive North American rounds. The race was won by McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen, taking his third win from four races. The two Ferrari cars completed the podium, with Michael Schumacher in second place and Rubens Barrichello in third. Both Renaults failed to finish the race, but the team maintained their lead in the Constructors' Championship; their driver, Fernando Alonso also kept his lead in the Drivers' Championship, despite the gap between himself and nearest rival Räikkönen closing by ten points.
The 2005 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 3 July 2005 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours near Magny-Cours in France. It was the tenth race of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 70-lap race was won from pole position by Fernando Alonso, driving a Renault, with Drivers' Championship rival Kimi Räikkönen finishing second in a McLaren-Mercedes and Michael Schumacher third in a Ferrari.
The 2005 British Grand Prix was a Formula One race held in Silverstone Circuit on 10 July 2005 at 13:00 BST (UTC+1). It was the eleventh race of the 2005 Formula One season and the last race for then Minardi driver Patrick Friesacher.
The 2005 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One race which was held at Suzuka International Racing Course on 9 October 2005. It was the eighteenth and penultimate round of the 2005 Formula One World Championship, the thirty-first running of the Japanese Grand Prix and nineteenth to be held at Suzuka.
The 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Sepang International Circuit in Selangor, Malaysia on 19 March 2006. The 56-lap race was the second round of the 2006 Formula One season and the eighth running of the Malaysian Grand Prix as a World Championship race. It was won by Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella, who took the final of his three victories in Formula One, and scored his first points of the season. He had also started on pole position. His team-mate, Fernando Alonso, finished second to extend his lead in the drivers' championship standings to 7 points. Jenson Button took the first podium in Honda's three year return to the sport by finishing in third place. Fisichella's victory was the last for an Italian driver as of 2023. This was the first 1-2 finish for Renault since their return to F1 as a constructor in 2002, and also their first 1-2 finish overall since the 1982 French Grand Prix.
The 2006 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on 2 July 2006. It was the tenth race of the 2006 Formula One season and the 40th United States Grand Prix. The 73-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher after starting from pole position. Teammate Felipe Massa finished second with Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella third.
References
↑ "Monaco". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2006-10-20. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
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Michael Schumacher 
