2006 British Grand Prix

Background

The event was held at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire for the 41st time in the circuit's history. The Grand Prix was the eighth round of the 2006 Formula One World Championship and the 52nd running of the British Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.

Ticket sales were rather slow, because the race was scheduled far earlier than normal and local Jenson Button had had a rather poor 2005 season. Also, the weekend clashed with England's first World Cup match.

This race featured the first ever pit stop to involve a woman. During a Midland F1 pit stop for Tiago Monteiro, ITV-F1's then pit lane reporter Louise Goodman was the left rear tyre changer.

Championship standings before the race

Renault's Fernando Alonso was leading the Drivers' Championship with 64 points, ahead of Ferrari's Michael Schumacher with 43 and both Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella and McLaren driver with 27. In the Constructors' Championship, Renault topped the standings with 91 points, ahead of Ferrari (63) and McLaren (50).

Practice

Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race: two on Friday, both lasting 90 minutes, and one on Saturday for 60 minutes. The first session was led by Williams's third driver Alexander Wurz, the second by BMW Sauber's third driver Robert Kubica and the third, arguably the most representative session, by Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari.

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.

Qualifying

Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part ran for 15 minutes, and cars that finished the session 17th position or lower were eliminated from qualifying. The second part of the qualifying session lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 16. The final part of the qualifying session ran for 20 minutes which determined the positions from first to tenth, and decided pole position. Cars which failed to make the final session could refuel before the race, so ran lighter in those sessions.

Fernando Alonso became the first Spanish driver and the youngest driver ever (24 years and 317 days) to get a hat trick (pole position, winning and fastest lap in the same race). He fell one lap short of clinching a Grand Chelem (complementing the hat trick by leading every lap). He would finally achieve this at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix.

;Notes

• – Takuma Sato was handed a 10 place grid penalty following a chassis and engine change after the Saturday morning practice session.

Race

The race was held on 11 June 2006 and was run for 60 laps.

Race report

The start brought no changes in the order at the front, but further back, Scott Speed pushed Ralf Schumacher's Toyota right in the path of Mark Webber. Schumacher and Webber retired on the spot, while Speed crawled to the pits and drove straight into the garage at the end of the lap. The safety car was deployed for three laps.

At the restart, Michael Schumacher challenged Kimi Räikkönen for second, but the Finn held on. Alonso gradually built a gap of three seconds to Raikkonen, and on lap 18, Schumacher was the first to pit. The championship leader looked to have the win secured, especially when his lead had grown to 13 seconds after the first round of stops.

Schumacher managed to leapfrog Räikkönen at the second round of stops, but never managed to get closer to his rival in the Renault. Räikkönen slowly fell into the clutches of Giancarlo Fisichella but held on to his podium finish.

Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve finished sixth and eighth, respectively, and scored the final World Championship points of their careers.

Race classification

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. "British".
2. "2006 British Grand Prix".
3. (15 December 2005). "2006 Formula One Sporting Regulations". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.
4. "2006 FORMULA 1™ FOSTER'S BRITISH GRAND PRIX - PRACTICE 1".
5. "Britain 2006 • STATS F1".
6. Domenjoz, Luc. (February 2007). "Formula One Yearbook 2006–2007". Chronosports S.A..
7. "Britain 2006 - Championship • STATS F1".