2006 Malaysian Grand Prix

The 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix was the second Formula One Grand Prix of the 2006 season. The race took place on 19 March 2006. Qualifying on Saturday saw the new rules being put to the test, as David Coulthard, Felipe Massa, Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher were all forced to swap engines from the Bahrain GP and therefore lost 10 places on the starting grid after qualifications, despite many of them competing in later sessions (Massa actually changed his engine twice, causing him to lose 20 places). This meant some drivers, such as the Toro Rosso's of Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi were eliminated in the first session, but would have been spared elimination had those with engine penalties been eliminated at this point (although Ralf Schumacher's engine blew during the last session). It was interesting that three cars with the Ferrari V8 suffered from engine problems during qualifying.

The first session gave no surprises, as the Super Aguri, Midland and Toro Rosso cars all went out, while the second session saw another set of poor performances from Rubens Barrichello and Jarno Trulli, while Massa and Coulthard also went out along with both the Sauber cars. In the final pole position session, Ralf Schumacher's engine blew, while Fernando Alonso could only manage 7th place after engine penalties, but a problem with his fuel calculation meant he was carrying too much fuel during the session. Kimi Räikkönen was tipped as a favourite having qualified 6th, while Juan Pablo Montoya put himself on the third row alongside his teammate in 5th. The two big surprises of qualifying were Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber in their Williams. Rosberg posted the third fastest time, while Webber was moved up to 4th after Michael Schumacher's engine penalty dropped him to 14th. Jenson Button took provisional pole, but it was Giancarlo Fisichella who ended the session in 1st with his Renault, demoting Button to 2nd.

The race began with Rosberg and Webber being caught out by Alonso coming into the first corner, who managed to grab 3rd from his starting position. Fisichella and Button maintained their spots, but further back Räikkönen's day ended early having been hit by Christian Klien during the first lap. Klien's car was badly damaged, but the Red Bull mechanics repaired the car enough to send it back out, although he later retired due to a hydraulics problem. More problems followed for the better qualifiers, as Rosberg's engine blew on the 6th lap, while Webber also retired nine laps after his teammate. Further down the field, Massa and the Schumacher brothers made their way up the field throughout the day. The lead was only held by three people throughout the race, with Alonso's fuel problems actually giving him the advantage over Button, with Alonso managing to take second by staying out longer.

Several other cars retired during the race, with only 14 cars remaining at the end. Takuma Sato managed to finish another race in his Super Aguri. Ralf Schumacher managed to get his Toyota into 8th place, having started dead last. Schumacher threatened Jacques Villeneuve towards the end laps, but was not able to pass for 7th. The two Ferrari’s were able to pull themselves into 5th and 6th place, but it was Massa who claimed the higher spot, beating Michael Schumacher despite pressure at the end. Juan Montoya was unspectacular once again, but another strong performance allowed him to reach 4th.

After the pit stops were completed, it was never doubted that Fisichella would win, and with Button slowing off the pace, content with third, it fell to Renault to pick up their first one-two finish as a constructor since the 1982 French Grand Prix, with the World Champion going clear at the top of the points table by seven points, despite only finishing second to Fisichella.

Even among the drivers who took engine penalties, a variety of strategies were attempted - Ralf Schumacher stopped 3 times during the Grand Prix while Felipe Massa stopped once.

Qualifying results

From :

Pos	Nat	Name	Constructor	Part 3	Part 2	Part 1
1		Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:33.840	1:33.623	1:35.488
2		Jenson Button	Honda	1:33.986	1:33.527	1:35.023
3		Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth	1:34.626	1:34.563	1:35.105
4		Michael Schumacher*	Ferrari	1:34.668	1:34.574	1:35.810
5		Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth	1:34.672	1:34.279	1:35.252
6		Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.916	1:34.568	1:34.536
7		Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.983	1:34.351	1:34.667
8		Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:35.747	1:33.997	1:35.514
9		Christian Klien	Red Bull-Ferrari	1:38.715	1:34.537	1:35.171
10		Ralf Schumacher‡	Toyota	no time	1:34.586	1:35.214
11		David Coulthard*	Red Bull-Ferrari		1:34.614	1:34.839
12		Rubens Barrichello*	Honda		1:34.683	1:35.526
13		Jarno Trulli	Toyota		1:34.702	1:35.517
14		Jacques Villeneuve	BMW Sauber		1:34.752	1:35.391
15		Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber		1:34.783	1:35.588
16		Felipe Massa†	Ferrari		no time	1:35.091
17		Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth			1:36.297
18		Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth			1:36.581
19		Christijan Albers	MF1-Toyota			1:37.426
20		Tiago Monteiro	MF1-Toyota			1:37.819
21		Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda			1:39.011
22		Yuji Ide	Super Aguri-Honda			1:40.720

Notes

*: Driver grid position dropped 10 places due to engine-change penalties.

†: Driver grid position dropped 20 places due to engine-change penalties, after 2 engine changes.

‡: Driver started from the back of the grid due to an engine-change after qualifying.

Race

From :

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	56	1:30:40.529	1	10
2	1	Fernando Alonso	Renault	56	+4.585	7	8
3	12	Jenson Button	Honda	56	+9.631	2	6
4	4	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	56	+39.351	5	5
5	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	56	+43.254	21	4
6	5	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	56	+43.854	14	3
7	17	Jacques Villeneuve	BMW Sauber	56	+1:20.461	10	2
8	7	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	56	+1:21.288	22	1
9	8	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	55	+1 Lap	9
10	11	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	55	+1 Lap	20
11	20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	54	+2 Laps	13
12	19	Christijan Albers	MF1-Toyota	54	+2 Laps	15
13	18	Tiago Monteiro	MF1-Toyota	54	+2 Laps	16
14	22	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	53	+3 Laps	17
Ret	16	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	48	Engine	11
Ret	21	Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth	41	Clutch	12
Ret	23	Yuji Ide	Super Aguri-Honda	33	Mechanical	18
Ret	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Ferrari	26	Hydraulics	8
Ret	9	Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth	15	Hydraulics	4
Ret	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari	10	Hydraulics	19
Ret	10	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth	6	Engine	3
Ret	3	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	0	Accident	6

Notes

• Lap leaders: Giancarlo Fisichella 1–17, 26–37, 43–56 (43); Jenson Button 18 (1); Fernando Alonso 19–25, 38–42 (12).
• First Points Finish: BMW Sauber
• Last Win: Giancarlo Fisichella
• The race saw the Renault finish 1-2 for the first time.

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	18
2	Michael Schumacher	11
3	Jenson Button	11
4	Giancarlo Fisichella	10
5	Juan Pablo Montoya	9

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Renault	28
2	Ferrari	15
3	McLaren–Mercedes	15
4	Honda	11
5	Williams–Cosworth	5

External links

• Detailed Malaysian Grand Prix results