2006 Japanese Grand Prix

The 2006 Japanese Grand Prix was the seventeenth race of the 2006 Formula One season. It was held between 6–8 October at Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka. It was won by Fernando Alonso, his last win for the Renault team before he moved to McLaren the following season. It was the first Formula One race to be broadcast in HDTV by Fuji Television.

Felipe Massa started the race from pole, but Michael Schumacher soon passed him on lap 3 to take the lead. Schumacher was well on his way to victory and an undisputed lead in the championship with 1 race to go. On lap 37, Schumacher's engine failed, giving the lead to Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the race. This virtually gave the championship to Alonso.

Friday Drivers

Team	Nat	Driver
Williams-Cosworth		Alexander Wurz
Honda		Anthony Davidson
Red Bull-Ferrari		Michael Ammermüller
BMW Sauber		Sebastian Vettel
Spyker MF1-Toyota		Adrian Sutil
Toro Rosso-Cosworth		Neel Jani
Super Aguri-Honda		Franck Montagny

Qualifying results

From :

Pos	Nat	Name	Team/Engine	Part 3	Part 2	Part 1
1		Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:29.599	1:29.830	1:30.112
2		Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:29.711	1:28.954	1:31.279
3		Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1:29.989	1:30.299	1:30.595
4		Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:30.039	1:30.204	1:30.420
5		Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:30.371	1:30.357	1:30.976
6		Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:30.599	1:30.306	1:31.696
7		Jenson Button	Honda	1:30.992	1:30.268	1:30.847
8		Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:31.478	1:30.598	1:31.972
9		Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:31.513	1:30.470	1:31.811
10		Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth	1:31.856	1:30.321	1:30.585
11		Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes		1:30.827	1:32.080
12		Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber		1:31.094	1:31.204
13		Pedro de la Rosa	McLaren-Mercedes		1:31.254	1:31.581
14		Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth		1:31.276	1:31.647
15		Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth		1:31.943	1:31.741
16		Christijan Albers	Spyker MF1-Toyota		1:33.750	1:32.221
17		David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari			1:32.252
18		Robert Doornbos	Red Bull-Ferrari			1:32.402
19		Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth			1:32.867
20		Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda			1:33.666
21		Tiago Monteiro	Spyker MF1-Toyota			1:33.709
22		Sakon Yamamoto	Super Aguri-Honda			—

Race results

From :

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Lap	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Fernando Alonso	Renault	53	1:23:52.413	5	10
2	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	53	+16.151	1	8
3	2	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	53	+23.953	6	6
4	12	Jenson Button	Honda	53	+34.101	7	5
5	3	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+43.596	11	4
6	8	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	53	+46.717	4	3
7	7	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	53	+48.869	3	2
8	16	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	53	+1:16.095	9	1
9	17	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	53	+1:16.932	12
10	10	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth	52	+1 lap	10
11	4	Pedro De La Rosa	McLaren-Mercedes	52	+1 lap	13
12	11	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	52	+1 lap	8
13	15	Robert Doornbos	Red Bull-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	18
14	20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	52	+1 lap	15
15	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	52	+1 lap	20
16	18	Tiago Monteiro	Spyker MF1-Toyota	51	+2 laps	21
17	23	Sakon Yamamoto	Super Aguri-Honda	50	+3 laps	22
18	21	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	48	Steering	19
Ret	9	Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth	39	Accident	14
Ret	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	36	Engine	2
Ret	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari	35	Gearbox	17
Ret	19	Christijan Albers	Spyker MF1-Toyota	20	Driveshaft	16

Notes

• Lap Leaders: Felipe Massa (1–2); Michael Schumacher (3–36); Fernando Alonso (37–53)
• Third place Giancarlo Fisichella dedicated his third place to his best friend, Tonino Visciani, who died on 5 October, 2006 after a heart attack.
• Schumacher's engine failure was his first in over six years, and essentially ended any chance of his winning an eighth championship.
• This was the last Japanese Grand Prix held at Suzuka to date. Starting from 2007, the race has moved to Fuji Speedway. However, in 2009, the race will return to Suzuka, and alternate with Fuji.
• This was Michelin's last win in Formula One.

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	126
2	Michael Schumacher	116
3	Felipe Massa	70
4	Giancarlo Fisichella	69
5	Kimi Räikkönen	61

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Renault	195
2	Ferrari	186
3	McLaren–Mercedes	105
4	Honda	78
5	BMW Sauber	36

External links

• Detailed Japanese Grand Prix results

References