2006 Australian Grand Prix

Report

Background

The Australian Grand Prix had been the season opener since 1996, but this race was held later due to the 2006 Commonwealth Games being held in Melbourne at the time of the opening round. A pre-season test scheduled at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, in Spain from 24–26 February was also rescheduled and moved to the Bahrain International Circuit, in Bahrain. The season was instead opened in Bahrain, and Australia regained its first round of the season slot for 2007.

Murray Walker made a return to the commentary box for a one-off with Australia's Network Ten.

Friday drivers

The bottom six 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.

Race

Juan Pablo Montoya spun as he completed the formation lap and lined up at the back of the grid. However, Giancarlo Fisichella then stalled his engine on the grid, forcing the start to be red flagged. Fisichella had to start from the pit lane, while Montoya reclaimed his original grid position.

On the first lap, Felipe Massa collided with Nico Rosberg and Christian Klien. The Williams and Red Bull sandwiched Massa's Ferrari as the Brazilian attempted to squeeze between them, pitching him into the wall hard and out of the race. Rosberg lost his rear wing, while Klien continued the race unharmed. The safety car was deployed as a result of the incident. Fisichella spun but continued, again in the Jones corner. Alonso passed Button on the start/finish straight when the safety car was recalled two laps later.

On the third lap, Christian Klien crashed heavily near Clark Chicane after a suspension failure. Due to debris on the track, the safety car was deployed again. When the race resumed, Räikkönen attacked and passed Button.

Pit stops began around ten laps later, with Montoya, Button and Trulli pitting first. Alonso and Räikkönen stopped, giving Mark Webber the lead of his home Grand Prix. When Webber took the lead on lap 21 in his Williams-Cosworth he became the first Australian driver to lead his home Grand Prix since John Bowe led the early laps of the non-championship 1984 race driving a Ralt RT4 Ford.

On lap 32, Montoya touched the grass in the Prost turn, but managed to return to the track. Michael Schumacher ran wide at the same spot but lost control and struck the barriers. He said that his car was not easy to drive, and that the tires were not warm enough. This incident led to a third safety car deployment, during which many drivers made pit stops. Räikkönen entered just before Montoya, making a queue.

On lap 35 the safety car was recalled and the race restarted. Alonso left a large gap to the safety car to slow down the cars behind, before accelerating to create a 3-second gap between the two leading cars.

The 36th lap saw the safety car deployed once again, after Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed heavily near Whiteford. Liuzzi blamed Villeneuve for his crash. The race restarted on lap 40, and Alonso employed the same strategy as he had at the previous restart to gain a small lead over Räikkönen.

On lap 39, Tiago Monteiro retired with a mechanical problem. Lap 46 saw Montoya retired with an electrical problem, caused when he ran wide and bounced over a kerb.

On the final lap, two corners from the chequered flag, Jenson Button's engine blew, causing Fisichella right behind him to be covered in oil and struggling to control the car. Button pulled off the track about 10 metres from the finish line. He did so deliberately, giving up a points-scoring position, to avoid a 10-place position penalty in the next race.

Alonso wrapped up his tenth career victory, while Räikkönen took second place on the podium and Ralf Schumacher scored what proved to be the sole podium for Toyota in the season, and ultimately, his final podium in Formula One. This was despite a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Post-race

After the race, the stewards issued a reprimand to Takuma Sato for failing to pay attention to blue flags, and a 25-second penalty to Scott Speed for failing to heed yellow flags. The American driver was also fined $5000 for using abusive language during a post-race hearing.

Classification

Qualifying

;Notes:

• – Jacques Villeneuve was handed a 10 place grid penalty following an engine change before qualifying.
• – Jarno Trulli qualified for the final session however did not completed a timed lap due to gearbox problems.
• – Felipe Massa lost control of his Ferrari during the second qualifying session (Q2) after running over a curb through turn 11 and crashing his car into the wall. It also prompted the session to be red flagged for some time.

Race

;Notes:

• – Giancarlo Fisichella stalled causing the first start to be aborted and started the race proper from the pitlane.
• – Scott Speed finished eighth but had 25 seconds added to his race time when he overtook David Coulthard under yellow flags.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

References

1. (2 April 2006). "Aussie GP to revert to opening race in 2007". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
2. "2006 FORMULA 1 Foster's Australian Grand Prix - Race".
3. (2 November 2015). "F1 Mexican Grand Prix: Ferrari counts costs of first double DNF since 2006".
4. (2001-03-15). "Villeneuve: Crash not my fault".
5. (2020-04-09). ""Get Out, Push the Car": When Jenson Button Was Asked to Push the Car to Finish Line in a Heartbreaking Finish".
6. Noble, Jonathan. (2 April 2006). "Speed loses point after penalty".
7. (1 April 2006). "2006 FORMULA 1 Foster's Australian Grand Prix". [[Formula One Group.
8. Domenjoz, Luc. (February 2007). "Formula One Yearbook 2006–2007". Chronosports S.A..
9. (1 April 2006). "Button stuns with Australian pole". [[Formula One Group.
10. Domenjoz, Luc. (February 2007). "Formula One Yearbook 2006–2007". Chronosports S.A..
11. (2 April 2006). "Australian GP". www.grandprix.com.
12. (2 April 2006). "2006 FORMULA 1 Foster's Australian Grand Prix". [[Formula One Group.
13. (2 April 2006). "Speed loses point after penalty".
14. "Australia 2006 – Championship • STATS F1".