2006 Hungarian Grand Prix
 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix
| |
|---|---|
| Date | August 6, 2006 |
| Round | 13 |
| Track | Hungaroring |
| Laps | 70 |
| Weather | Rain, drying out |
| | |
| Driver | Kimi Raikkonen |
| Time | 1:19.599 |
| | |
| Driver | Felipe Massa |
| Time | 1:23.516 |
2006 saw the most exciting Hungarian Grand Prix ever. The usually dull affair associated with the race in Budapest was thwarted by overnight rain before the race, causing all the teams to make a strategical rethink.
The race featured the debut of Formula One's first ever Polish driver Robert Kubica. He replaced Jacques Villeneuve at BMW-Sauber, and as a result, it is likely to be the last time F1 will see the 1997 World Champion.
Qualifying was also very interesting for the fans. Both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso were both given two second penalties in each qualifying session. Alonso's was for dangerous driving, and cutting up a driver, Schumacher more harshly for overtaking under a red flag, despite the very slow driving by Alonso, who headed the chain. Both Jenson Button and Christijan Albers picked up 10 place penalties for making an engine change.
With the penalties for Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button, all three qualified down the grid. This was thought to lead to an exciting race, a rare thing at the Hungaroring.
The rain overnight made the race what it would become. At the start, Michael Schumacher stormed through the field on his Bridgestone wet tyres, but these then became far worse than the Michelin intermediate tyres. As a result, Kimi Raikkonen, the pole sitter, was able to go off in front, and Button and Alonso stormed through the field.
The field were dropping like flies as the weather caused problems, and allowed for overtaking. Kimi Raikkonen came up to the back-markers, but as he went to pass Vitantonio Liuzzi, he crashed into the back of him and parked on top of him. Raikkonen suffered understeer to cause that problem. This brought out a safety car. This slowed the race down even more, and it seemed unlikely that the race would be over in the allotted 2 hour time limit for completion.
After the safety car period, a drying line was appearing on the track. This left the teams with a problem, should they take dry or intermediate tyres? Scott Speed gambled with dry tyres to early, which cost him a possible point.
Alonso was being rapidly caught by Button, but Button had to pit. He chose to keep the tyres he had, but short-fuelled - he would have to stop again. As it dried, Michael Schumacher came into his own, as his tyres finally enjoyed the track. He stormed up to a podium position.
Alonso made his final stop shortly after Button. As he exited the pit lane, he barely got the car around the first corner, but was helpless as he failed to get around the next corner. He later said he had a driveshaft failure.
This left Button in the lead, and Michael Schumacher well behind. Schumacher kept his intermediate tyres, but pitting again helped Button as his pit co-incided with the right time to switch to dry tyres.
Pedro de la Rosa and Nick Heidfeld caught Schumacher towards the end, as he was losing three seconds per lap due to his tyre wear. Trying to resist Heidfeld, he caught a barrier, damaging a track rod. This caused him to retire, and miss out on a point.
Jenson Button claimed his first ever Grand Prix win - at his 113th attempt. Pedro de la Rosa took second for McLaren, his best ever finish, and first podium. Nick Heidfeld took his first podium for MBW-Sauber. It was a great weekend for all three of them.
As for Robert Kubica, he finished sixth, and thought he earned three points for BMW-Sauber. He had had three spins in the race, but still recovered to sixth. This would have made him the first Polish driver to score a point in F1, and one of a select band of people to score points on their debut in Formula One. Sadly, his car was underweight, and was disqualified.
This was great news for Michael Schumacher. He was classified ninth, behind Robert Kubica among others, but his disqualification meant that Schumacher was promoted to eighth, earning him an unlikely point.
This reduced Fernando Alonso's lead to just ten points. Ferrari now appeared to have the better car of the two, so the World Championship became as close as it had been since Round Two.
[edit] Results
| Rank | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jenson Button | Honda | 70 | 1:52:20.941 | 14 | 10 |
| 2 |  Pedro de la Rosa | McLaren | 70 | +30.8 sec | 4 | 8 |
| 3 |  Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 70 | + 43.8 sec | 10 | 6 |
| 4 |  Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 70 | + 45.2 sec | 3 | 5 |
| 5 | David Coulthard | Red Bull | 69 | +1 lap | 12 | 4 |
| 6 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 69 | + 1 lap | 6 | 3 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 69 | +1 lap | 2 | 2 |
| 8 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 67 | Track rod | 11 | 1 |
| 9 |  Tiago Monteiro | Midland | 67 | +3 laps | 16 | |
| 10 |  Christijan Albers | Midland | 67 | +3 laps | 22 | |
| 11 |  Scott Speed | Toro Rosso | 66 | +4 laps | 20 | |
| 12 |  Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 65 | Engine | 8 | |
| 13 |  Takuma Sato | Super Aguri | 65 | +5 laps | 19 | |
| Ret | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 51 | Driveshaft | 15 | |
| Ret |  Kimi Raikkonen | McLaren | 25 | Collision | 1 | |
| Ret | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Toro Rosso | 25 | Collision | 17 | |
| Ret | Nico Rosberg | Williams | 19 | Electrical | 18 | |
| Ret | Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 18 | Spin | 7 | |
| Ret |  Christian Klien | Red Bull | 6 | Spin | 13 | |
| Ret |  Mark Webber | Williams | 1 | Accident | 5 | |
| Ret | Sakon Yamamoto | Super Aguri | 0 | Engine | 21 | |
| DSQ |  Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 69 | Disqualified | 9 |
| 2006 Formula One Season | |
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| Tracks: Hungaroring |
