2006 San Marino Grand Prix

Report

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. Fabrizio del Monte was set to act as Midland's third driver for this race, but this fell through due to lack of sponsorship.

Qualifying

Michael Schumacher took pole position, and in doing so, broke Ayrton Senna's record of 65 poles.

Race

On the first lap, Alonso passed Barrichello at the Tamburello curve. Like the previous Grand Prix, the race started with an accident, this time in the Villeneuve curve. The Super Aguri team's driver Yuji Ide hit MF1's Christijan Albers, putting the Dutchman's car into a series of rolls that left it upside down. Albers was unhurt and Ide was able to continue after replacing his damaged front wing, although he later retired on lap 23. He was reprimanded by the stewards and warned over his future conduct. This incident also formed part of the evidence that led the FIA to withdraw Ide's superlicence later in the season. The Safety Car was deployed for two laps.

Michael Schumacher appeared to have a clear lead coming up to the first set of pit stops, although things started to go wrong after that. His car developed graining in its tyres, which slowed him down considerably. Alonso gained significantly on Schumacher, but could not pass him. The Imola circuit is renowned for being difficult to overtake on.

The race continued normally for some laps, until Toyota driver Jarno Trulli entered the pits to retire following a steering problem. Tonio Liuzzi had a problem and spun his Toro Rosso car in the Variante Alta, a corner which had recently been revised.

Honda driver Rubens Barrichello started the first round of pit stops, on lap 14. His stop lasted 15 seconds, which dropped him to 13th place. Michael Schumacher came into the pits on lap 20, temporarily giving Renault's Fernando Alonso the lead.

Lap 30 saw Honda's Jenson Button make his second stop. The refuelling nozzle got stuck and Button, thinking it had been removed, pulled away from the pits, tearing the nozzle from the refuelling rig. He was delayed in the pitlane while the Honda mechanics removed the nozzle from his car.

By the halfway point of the race, Ferrari began experiencing problems, specifically tyre degradation. Eight laps were enough for Alonso to bring down the 10 second difference between himself and Schumacher. The duel that took place during the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix was to be repeated, this time with Schumacher in the lead.

Lap 41 saw Alonso pit for a second time, ahead of Schumacher. Alonso's out lap was not good enough to put himself in front of Schumacher, so their positions remained the same. Alonso chased hard, but a mistake by running wide into a corner left Schumacher a clear path for the last few laps to win. Meanwhile, David Coulthard had a driveshaft problem and retired on lap 47.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

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. (24 July 2020). "6 reasons to be excited about the three new additions to the 2020 F1 race calendar".
2. "Midland sign del Monte as test driver".
3. Domenjoz, Luc. (February 2007). "Formula One Yearbook 2006-2007". Chronosports S.A..
4. (22 April 2006). "FORMULA 1 Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino 2006 - Qualifying Results". [[Formula One Group.
5. (23 April 2006). "FORMULA 1 Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino 2006 - Race Results". [[Formula One Group.
6. "San Marino 2006 - Championship".