2006 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio do Brasil 2006 ) [ 2 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 22 October 2006 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace , São Paulo . It was the eighteenth and final race of the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship . The race determined the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships for the season, with Fernando Alonso and Renault winning their respective championships. The race itself attracted 154 million viewers. [ 3 ]

In the Constructors' Championship, Renault were leading Ferrari by nine points, meaning that Renault had to score 10 points to secure the title. McLaren were safe in third place with 105 points, 81 points behind Ferrari and 27 points ahead of fourth place Honda. Meanwhile, BMW Sauber and Toyota were still competing for fifth place, with only one point between the two, but their top 6 position was secure as seventh place Red Bull Racing were 19 points behind Toyota.

Räikkönen set the fastest time during the first practice session with 1:13.764. Anthony Davidson managed to take second in his Honda , but none of the Renaults or Ferraris set a competitive time, with Renault opting just to do one installation lap apiece. Alexander Wurz and Sebastian Vettel completed the top four. [ 4 ]

As the safety car picked up the field at the end of lap 2, Massa led Räikkönen, Trulli and Alonso with Fisichella and Michael Schumacher moving up to 5th and 6th respectively. Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher , Kubica and Button completed the top ten, Button having taken advantage of the two Williams retiring and having passed Heidfeld and Pedro de la Rosa .

The two Ferraris proceeded to post the quickest lap times with Massa comfortably increasing his gap to Räikkönen in second, while the Toyotas hit trouble with first Ralf Schumacher and then Jarno Trulli retiring in the pits on lap 10. This meant that the order on lap 11 was: 1st Massa, 2nd Räikkönen, 3rd Alonso, 4th Fisichella, 5th Barrichello, 6th Button, 7th Kubica, 8th de la Rosa, 9th Heidfeld, 10th Scott Speed , 11th Vitantonio Liuzzi , 12th David Coulthard , 13th Takuma Sato , 14th Christij...

Michael Schumacher had moved up to 13th courtesy of pitstops by the Aguris and on lap 31 he moved past Doornbos and closed on Liuzzi who had just been involved in an incident with Heidfeld, whom he had steered into just as Heidfeld was overtaking the Italian into turn 1. The BMW driver's front wing suffered some damage from the contact but he was able to carry on. Liuzzi then pitted leaving Schumacher 11th and just 3 seconds behind Heidfeld. They both advanced one position on lap 33 as Scott Spe...

Barrichello was first into the pits when the second and last round of regular pitstops began on lap 46. His stop lasted 8.3 seconds. Schumacher followed on lap 47 having driven 36 laps since his first unscheduled stop. He rejoined in 8th just between Barrichello and the one-stopping de la Rosa. Fisichella did his stop (7.2s) on lap 49. Button was into the pits (7.3s) on the following lap while Schumacher effortlessly passed Barrichello on the inside on the main straight. Räikkönen was next man t...

Schumacher was now beginning to look threatening to the second Renault of Fisichella and this was significant for the Constructors' Championship—if the Ferraris could finish 1st and 2nd and the Renaults only 3rd and 6th, the two teams would finish equal on points but with Ferrari in front on race victories. With 15 laps to go, Schumacher was under half a second behind Fisichella as they came across the line with Räikkönen only a few seconds further in front. The Renault seemed able to match the ...

Schumacher then closed on 4th placed Räikkönen who had been dropping back slightly from Button and Alonso. On lap 64, Nick Heidfeld's race was over as his BMW's rear suspension failed at the end of the main straight. Waved yellow flags in Turn 1 prevented Schumacher from overtaking Räikkönen on the usual overtaking spot, but Räikkönen made a slight mistake in the hairpin turn 10 and Schumacher pulled even with the Finn in the inferior McLaren. Schumacher was on the outside for the next turn, how...

With four laps to go, Schumacher was ready to attack again, but Räikkönen defended brilliantly against superior machinery by taking the inside line for the first turn. The following lap, Schumacher was even closer, drafting behind the McLaren on the main straight. Räikkönen tried to fend off the charging Ferrari and again took to the inside, but this time Schumacher was so much quicker he managed to pull alongside, finding just enough space between the McLaren and the pit wall. The two cars went...

Schumacher continued to chase down Alonso and Button, setting a new fastest lap (1:12.1) on the penultimate lap, but he was unable to catch them in time and Alonso made himself and Renault champions by finishing second behind the elated Felipe Massa, who became the first Brazilian winner in São Paulo since the late Ayrton Senna in 1993 . Giancarlo Fisichella finished sixth to help Renault clinch their second Constructors' Championship.

At the end-of-season FIA Gala in December 2006 the promoters of the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix received the Race Promoters' Trophy for their work in publicising the event. [ 7 ]

The bottom six teams in the 2005 Constructors' Championship , plus the Super Aguri team, were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers did not compete in qualifying or the race.

23°42′13″S 46°41′59″W  /  23.70361°S 46.69972°W  / -23.70361; -46.69972