2006 Hungarian Grand Prix

The 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on August 6, 2006 at the Hungaroring, Budapest. It was the 13th race of the 2006 Formula One season. Jenson Button won the race, the sole victory of his career to date and the first race win for a British driver since David Coulthard won the Australian Grand Prix three years previously, and the first by an Englishman since Johnny Herbert won the 1999 European Grand Prix nearly seven years previously, in similarly changeable weather circumstances. Pedro de la Rosa finished second for McLaren, the first podium finish of his career, and Nick Heidfeld finished third, giving BMW Sauber their first ever podium.

Pre-race

During Friday practice Fernando Alonso was given a two-second qualifying penalty by the stewards for dangerous driving and overtaking under a yellow flag condition. Christijan Albers was given a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change, this was his second in as many weekends. Jenson Button received the same penalty after having an engine change when his let go in the final practice session.

In a similar situation to Fernando Alonso's penalty, Michael Schumacher was given a two-second penalty for overtaking Robert Kubica and Alonso under "red flag" conditions at the end of Saturday's last free practice session. The decision left Schumacher "fuming", with him saying "I blame myself partly for what did happen, but I didn't expect this kind of penalty.

In qualifying, Kimi Räikkönen achieved pole position with a time of 1:19.599 seconds. Felipe Massa qualified second, with Rubens Barrichello starting the race in third.

Race

The track was wet at the start of the race, making it the first ever wet Hungarian Grand Prix. Polesitter Kimi Räikkönen took the lead early on. Alonso and Schumacher made their way through the field with Schumacher up into 6th place from 11th into the first corner, and Alonso climbing from 15th place to pass Schumacher on the outside of turn 5 and reach 3rd place. He then took the lead after the McLarens of Pedro de la Rosa and Räikkönen pitted. Schumacher lost his front wing battling with Giancarlo Fisichella for 5th place and was forced to pit, going a lap down. Soon after Jenson Button overtook Massa, Fisichella and Schumacher in just under the space of 2 laps. Räikkönen struggled on his second set of tires and ended up crashing into the back of Vitantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso, vaulting the car and bringing out the safety car. Alonso then pitted, allowing Schumacher to get back on the lead lap. Another beneficiary of the safety car was Jenson Button, who decided not to pit during the safety car period and climbed up to 2nd place behind Alonso. After the period was over Button began to challenge Alonso, but soon had to pit for fuel. Alonso led, but after a pitstop for dry tires his car's driveshaft failed, causing the Spaniard to lose control and crash. Button inherited the lead and was never challenged from then on. Schumacher made his way up to 2nd by staying on intermediate tires as others around him pitted for dry weather ones, but this gamble backfired as the cars on dries caught him in the final laps. Schumacher defended his position (including controversially cutting a chicane on consecutive laps , but Pedro de la Rosa and Nick Heidfeld both ultimately passed him. Whilst he was being overtaken Schumacher banged wheels with Heidfeld, damaging his Ferrari's suspension and forcing him out of the race with two laps to go.

Button won the race despite beginning in 14th place, with de la Rosa scoring his first podium with second place, and Heidfeld getting BMW Sauber's first ever podium with 3rd. Debutant driver Robert Kubica finished in seventh place and scored two points, but was later disqualified as his car was underweight due to excessive tire wear. This coincidentally meant that Michael Schumacher earned a point despite not finishing, as he was elevated to 8th place in the final results..

Awards

ITV's coverage of this race won a BAFTA in 2007, in the category "Best Sport". The awards took place May 20, 2007.

Friday drivers

Constructor	Nat	Driver
Williams-Cosworth		Alexander Wurz
Honda		Anthony Davidson
Red Bull-Ferrari		Robert Doornbos
BMW Sauber		none
MF1-Toyota		Markus Winkelhock
Toro Rosso-Cosworth		Neel Jani
Super Aguri-Honda		none

Qualifying results

From :

Pos	Nat	Name	Constructor	Part 3	Part 2	Part 1
1		Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1.19.599	1.19.704	1.20.080
2		Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1.19.886	1.19.504	1.19.742
3		Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1.20.085	1.19.783	1.21.141
4		Jenson Button*	Honda	1.20.092	1.19.943	1.20.820
5		Pedro de la Rosa	McLaren-Mercedes	1.20.117	1.19.991	1.21.288
6		Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth	1.20.266	1.20.047	1.21.335
7		Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1.20.759	1.20.243	1.21.112
8		Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1.20.924	1.20.154	1.21.370
9		Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1.21.132	1.20.231	1.21.434
10		Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1.22.049	1.20.256	1.20.891
11		Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber		1:20.623	1:21.437
12		Michael Schumacher	Ferrari		1:20.875	1:21.440
13		David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari		1:20.890	1:21.163
14		Christian Klien	Red Bull-Ferrari		1:21.207	1:22.027
15		Fernando Alonso	Renault		1:21.364	1:21.792
16		Tiago Monteiro	MF1-Toyota		1:23.767	1:22.009
17		Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth			1:22.068
18		Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth			1:22.084
19		Scott Speed†	Toro Rosso-Cosworth			1:22.317
20		Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda			1:22.967
21		Christijan Albers*	MF1-Toyota			1:23.146
22		Sakon Yamamoto	Super Aguri-Honda			1:24.016

Notes

• * Button and Albers both received a 10 place grid penalty because of earlier engine changes.
• † The Grand Prix stewards stated that Scott Speed impeded another driver during the qualifying session, and penalized him by cancelling his three fastest qualifying times. His qualifying time became 1:23.005 instead of 1:22.317, setting him one position back on the grid.

Race results

From :

Pos	No	Nat	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	12		Jenson Button	Honda	70	1:52:20.941	14	10
2	4		Pedro de la Rosa	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+30.837	4	8
3	16		Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	70	+43.822	10	6
4	11		Rubens Barrichello	Honda	70	+45.205	3	5
5	14		David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari	69	+1 lap	12	4
6	7		Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	69	+1 lap	6	3
7	6		Felipe Massa	Ferrari	69	+1 lap	2	2
8	5		Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	67	Track rod	11	1
9	18		Tiago Monteiro	MF1-Toyota	67	+3 laps	16
10	19		Christijan Albers	MF1-Toyota	67	+3 laps	22
11	21		Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	66	+4 laps	20
12	8		Jarno Trulli	Toyota	65	Engine	8
13	22		Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	65	+5 laps	19
Ret	1		Fernando Alonso	Renault	51	Driveshaft	15
Ret	3		Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	25	Collision	1
Ret	20		Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	25	Collision	17
Ret	10		Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth	19	Electrical	18
Ret	2		Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	18	Spin	7
Ret	15		Christian Klien	Red Bull-Ferrari	6	Spin	13
Ret	9		Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth	1	Accident	5
Ret	23		Sakon Yamamoto	Super Aguri-Honda	0	Engine	21
DSQ*	17		Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	69	+1 lap	9

Notes

• Robert Kubica was disqualified from 7th place after his BMW Sauber was found to be underweight by 2 kg.
• Fastest lap: Felipe Massa: 1:23.516
• Lap leaders: Kimi Räikkönen 1–17, Fernando Alonso 18–51, Jenson Button 52–70
• First Win For: Jenson Button

Standings after the race

Note, only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Fernando Alonso	100
2	Michael Schumacher	90
3	Felipe Massa	52
4	Giancarlo Fisichella	49
5	Kimi Räikkönen	49

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Renault	149
2	Ferrari	142
3	McLaren–Mercedes	85
4	Honda	52
5	BMW Sauber	26

References

External links

• Race report at the BBC