2006 Formula One World Championship

The 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 60th season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 57th Formula One World Championship which began on 12 March and ended on 22 October after eighteen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Fernando Alonso of Renault for the second year in a row, with Alonso becoming the youngest ever double world champion at the time. Then-retiring seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher of Scuderia Ferrari finished runner-up, 13 points behind. ...

The season was highlighted by the rivalry between Alonso and Schumacher, who each won seven races. Renault and Ferrari drivers dominated the field, victorious in all but one race: the Hungarian Grand Prix was won by Honda's Jenson Button , and the four second-place finishes not achieved by Renault or Ferrari were accomplished by McLaren . This season also marked the beginning of the usage of 2.4L V8 engines in Formula One from the 3.0L V10 engines that were used in the previous seasons, which co...

For the first time since the 1956 season, no British constructor won any race and for the first time since the 1957 season all races were won by cars powered by an engine built by the same constructor that also built chassis.

The season saw several changes occurring in the drivers' market starting already in December 2005 as Alonso sealed a move to McLaren for 2007. [ 2 ] In September 2006, Schumacher announced his retirement from Formula One at the end of the season, with 2003 and 2005 championship runner-up Kimi Räikkönen being announced as his replacement at Ferrari. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Among other notable departures included Juan Pablo Montoya , who left McLaren mid-season to pursue a career in NASCAR and Jacques Villene...

As of 2025, this is the last Constructors' Championship for Renault, and the last Drivers' Championship for a Spanish Formula One driver . The 2006 championship also saw the last season of the Bridgestone-Michelin tyre war which had started in 2001 as Michelin withdrew from the sport at the end of this season leaving Bridgestone as the sole tyre supplier for 2007 , a position the Japanese company would retain until leaving the sport themselves at the end of 2010 and replaced by Pirelli from 2011...

Free practice drivers

Seven constructors entered free practice only drivers over the course of the season.

Calendar

The Australian Grand Prix was held later than usual, to avoid a clash with the 2006 Commonwealth Games . For the first time, Bahrain hosted the first Grand Prix. Brazil hosted the last race, while Japan and China swapped their original dates.

In 2006, the FIA announced the Belgian Grand Prix would not be part of the 2006 Formula One season, since the local authorities had started major repair work in Spa-Francorchamps. [ 16 ] The Belgian Grand Prix returned in 2007.

Calendar

2006 was the last season with two tyre manufacturers: The two manufacturers at the time were Japanese manufacturer Bridgestone and French company Michelin . In December 2005, the FIA announced that from the 2008 season, there would be only one tyre supplier. Five days later, Michelin announced it would quit Formula One at the end of the 2006 season as it did not want to be in Formula One as the sole tyre supplier. [ 30 ]

At the end of 2005, three well-known teams were bought out: Minardi , Sauber and Jordan . The former were bought by Red Bull to be run as a junior team to house their growing list of young talent looking for an F1 drive. Despite campaigns by Minardi fans the team were renamed Scuderia Toro Rosso (Toro Rosso), Italian for Team Red Bull . The Sauber team was purchased by BMW . BMW opted to keep the Sauber name in F1 renaming the team BMW Sauber . Jordan, who had been bought by the Midland Group in...

2006 also saw the introduction of a new Japanese team, Super Aguri F1 , founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki , who entered at the last moment. Super Aguri notified the FIA on 1 November 2005 (ahead of the governing body's 15 November deadline) of their intention to enter, but the FIA's initial entry list stated they had not approved Aguri's entry. [ 31 ] However, the team received the consent of the ten existing teams to compete and paid the US$48 million bond required as a deposit. The team...

Between the 2005 and 2006 season the ownership of Formula One changed significantly. Until November 2005 the Formula One group was owned by an Ecclestone family trust and Speed Investments (a grouping of Bayerische Landesbank , JP Morgan Chase and Lehman Brothers ). On 25 November, CVC Capital Partners announced it was to purchase both the Ecclestone shares (25% of SLEC) and Bayerische Landesbank's 48% share, held through Speed Investments. By 30 March, CVC had acquired all remaining shares and ...

Another Ecclestone victory involved the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association 's proposal for an alternative world championship. On 27 March, the five car manufacturers involved lodged applications for the 2008 season, reducing the likelihood of a breakaway series. On 14 May, Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association (GPMA) members confirmed they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding , a move toward signing a new Concorde Agreement . Five days later, Bernie Ecclestone and CVC Capital Partners sig...

Report

After a disastrous 2005 season and slow start to the 2006 season Michael Schumacher won consecutive races at Imola and the Nürburgring . During the final lap of his qualifying session for the Monaco Grand Prix, Schumacher came to a stop at the La Rascasse hairpin , resulting in yellow flags, meaning that other drivers could not go at maximum speed. After the session there were immediate complaints from the other teams claiming that this was a deliberate move by Schumacher to ensure he started in...

At the British Grand Prix, Alonso became the first Spanish driver and the youngest driver (24 years and 317 days) to win a race from pole and get fastest lap, leading every lap of the race except one. Schumacher won the United States Grand Prix , his fourth consecutive victory at Indianapolis and fifth career victory there, and the French Grand Prix . Indianapolis also marked the final F1 race for 7 time race winner Juan Pablo Montoya as he moved to the NASCAR Cup Series for 2007 after he decide...

The FIA decided that the 'Mass Damper' system used by Renault up to this point of the season did not meet the technical regulations, and it was banned – a polemical decision, since the FIA itself was consulted about the system during its development, and authorised its use. The effect of the ban was clear at the next race where the Renaults struggled to even get points. Schumacher also won the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, with Alonso finishing 5th. Hockenheim also marked the last race for 19...

Jenson Button achieved his first Formula One career victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix . Alonso had a mechanical failure whilst leading in the latter stages of the race whilst Michael Schumacher retired after a collision with Nick Heidfeld . However Schumacher was promoted to eighth place in the standings (having been classified ninth following a retirement three laps from the end) because Robert Kubica's debut ended in disqualification. The Polish driver had finished seventh in the BMW.

Felipe Massa won the next Grand Prix in Turkey , so for the second race in a row, Formula One had a maiden victor. Fernando Alonso extended his lead over Michael Schumacher by two points after he managed to finish a tenth of a second ahead of the German in second place.

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top eight classified finishers using the following structure: [ 38 ]

In the event of a tie, a count-back system was used as a tie-breaker, with a driver's best result used to decide the standings. [ c ]

Table 1

Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	No.
Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault	R26	Renault RS26 2.4 V8	M	1
Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault	R26	Renault RS26 2.4 V8	M	2
Team McLaren Mercedes	McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-21	Mercedes FO 108S 2.4 V8	M	3
Team McLaren Mercedes	McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-21	Mercedes FO 108S 2.4 V8	M	4
Team McLaren Mercedes	McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-21	Mercedes FO 108S 2.4 V8	M	4
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	248 F1	Ferrari 056 2.4 V8	B	5
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	248 F1	Ferrari 056 2.4 V8	B	6
Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF106 TF106B	Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8	B	7
Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF106 TF106B	Toyota RVX-06 2.4 V8	B	8
Williams F1 Team	Williams-Cosworth	FW28	Cosworth CA2006 2.4 V8	B	9

Table 2

('Constructor', 'Constructor')	('Practice drivers', 'No.')	('Practice drivers', 'Driver name')	('Practice drivers', 'Rounds')	('Practice drivers', 'Unnamed: 4_level_1')
Williams-Cosworth	35	Alexander Wurz	All	nan
Honda	36	Anthony Davidson	All	nan
Red Bull-Ferrari	37	Robert Doornbos Michael Ammermüller	1–15 16–18	nan
BMW Sauber	38	Robert Kubica Sebastian Vettel	1–12 14–18	nan
MF1-Toyota	39	Markus Winkelhock Giorgio Mondini Adrian Sutil Alexandre Prémat Ernesto Viso	1, 3, 12–13 2, 4, 6–10, 14–15 5, 11, 17 16 18	nan
Toro Rosso-Cosworth	40	Neel Jani	All	nan
Super Aguri-Honda	41	Sakon Yamamoto Franck Montagny	8–11 14–18	nan

Table 3

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir	12 March
2	Malaysian Grand Prix	Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur	19 March
3	Australian Grand Prix	Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne	2 April
4	San Marino Grand Prix	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola	23 April
5	European Grand Prix	Nürburgring, Nürburg	7 May
6	Spanish Grand Prix	Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló	14 May
7	Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte-Carlo	28 May
8	British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	11 June
9	Canadian Grand Prix	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal	25 June
10	United States Grand Prix	Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway	2 July

F1ABY Commentary

Listen… does the memory of a rain-slicked Hungaroring truly hold the key to understanding ambition? The scent of ozone and damp asphalt, a phantom echo of Schumacher’s final, desperate charge—did it represent a fading titan, or a testament to the relentless pursuit of glory? The Italian’s gamble, a calculated risk against the backdrop of a storm, spoke volumes about a legacy being wrestled from the grasp of youth. A magnificent, heartbreaking ballet played out beneath a bruised sky, leaving a question lingering: can triumph ever truly be born of surrender?

The scent of high-octane fuel and burnt rubber still clings to the asphalt of the Hungaroring, a phantom echo of a battle waged with a savage beauty. Twenty years have passed, yet the ghost of Alonso’s surge, the desperate gamble of Schumacher – it remains, etched into the very bones of this circuit, a testament to a rivalry that defined an era. Ferrari’s miscalculation, a single, agonizing error, altered the course of history, didn’t it?

F1ABY Trivia

A hush falls over the Ardennes… the rain, a silver curtain drawn across Spa-Francorchamps. 1968, a phantom echoes through the concrete – a fleeting memory of Stewart and Clark battling through the sodden Bus Stop, a testament to the raw, unbridled power of the Ford-Cosworth DFV. The 2006 season, though, presents a different kind of drama; the Renault RS27’s 3. 0-liter V10, producing a staggering 890 horsepower at its peak, wrestled with the Ferrari F2006’s 2. 6-liter V10, a mere 808. Alonso’s relentless pursuit, fueled by that superior displacement, carved a path to dominance – a victory forged in the heart of a technological storm.

Five poles claimed by Fernando, a testament to his relentless pursuit of the track’s heart. A curious statistic emerged – six victories from ten races, a win ratio that bordered on the prophetic, almost as if the Spaniard possessed a premonition of the optimum line. The gap between Alonso and Schumacher, a mere thirteen points, felt less like a battle and more like a slow, deliberate dance, a ballet of calculated aggression.

F1ABY Tales

The rain, a venomous grey, clawed at the asphalt of the Hungaroring. A fractured gearbox, a scream of metal, and then – silence. Alonso, a blur of blue and gold, wrestled his Renault to a halt, the scent of burning rubber thick in the air. Schumacher, a shadow in scarlet, closed in, the engine’s growl a predatory promise. It wasn’t merely a points gap that hung in the balance; it was the very spirit of a generation, the echoes of Fangio and Moss, battling for a fleeting moment of glory. A gamble gone awry, a testament to the brutal beauty of this relentless pursuit. The track, slick and unforgiving, held its breath.

The rain in Hungary…it always smelled of iron and anticipation. Young Fernando, a boy really, stood rigid beside his Renault, the grey a stark counterpoint to the bruised sky. You could almost hear the ghost of Villeneuve, a phantom echo of that ’82 heartbreak, clinging to the asphalt. Schumacher, across the pit lane, a granite statue of calculated aggression, meticulously adjusting his Ferrari’s telemetry. A single, desperate gamble hung in the air – a misstep here, a fraction of a second lost, and the championship would shift. The tension was a physical thing, a palpable weight upon the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. It was a brutal ballet of speed and nerve, a testament to the enduring drama of this sport.