2006 Australian Grand Prix

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The 2006 Australian Grand Prix was the third race of the 2006 Formula One World Championship. It was held on the weekend of March 31–April 2 2006 at Albert Park, Melbourne. The race was won by Fernando Alonso, with Kimi Räikkönen second, and Ralf Schumacher third.

The Australian Grand Prix had been the season opener since 1996, but this race was held later due to the 2006 Commonwealth Games being held in Melbourne at the time of the opening round. The season was instead opened in Bahrain. It's thought that Australia will regain its first round slot in 2007, but this has yet to be confirmed, until the FIA release the calendar later this year.

Qualifying results

Pos	Nat	Name	Team/Engine	Part 3	Part 2	Part 1
1		Jenson Button	Honda	1:25.229	1:26.337	1:28.081
2		Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:25.635	1:26.196	1:27.765
3		Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:25.778	1:25.729	1:28.569
4		Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.822	1:26.161	1:27.193
5		Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.976	1:25.902	1:27.079
6		Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1:26.612	1:26.596	1:28.007
7		Mark Webber	Williams-Cosworth	1:26.937	1:26.075	1:27.669
8		Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber-BMW	1:27.579	1:26.014	1:27.796
9*		Jacques Villeneuve	BMW Sauber-BMW	1:29.239	1:26.714	1:28.460
10		Jarno Trulli	Toyota	no time	1:26.327	1:27.748
11		Michael Schumacher	Ferrari		1:26.718	1:28.228
12		David Coulthard	Red Bull-Ferrari		1:27.023	1:28.408
13		Vitantonio Liuzzi	Toro Rosso-Cosworth		1:27.219	1:28.999
14		Christian Klien	Red Bull-Ferrari		1:27.591	1:28.757
15		Nico Rosberg	Williams-Cosworth		1:29.422	1:28.351
16		Felipe Massa	Ferrari		no time	1:28.868
17		Rubens Barrichello	Honda			1:29.943
18		Christijan Albers	MF1-Toyota			1:30.226
19		Scott Speed	Toro Rosso-Cosworth			1:30.426
20		Tiago Monteiro	MF1-Toyota			1:30.709
21		Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda			1:32.279
22		Yuji Ide	Super Aguri-Honda			1:36.164

Note

Jacques Villeneuve had an engine change after Friday Practice, dropping him 10-places on the grid on Sunday and hence started from 19th on the grid.

Race

Fernando Alonso

Kimi Räikkönen

Ralf Schumacher

Nick Heidfeld

Giancarlo Fisichella

Jacques Villeneuve

Rubens Barrichello

David Coulthard

Scott Speed¹

Jenson Button²

Christijan Albers

Takuma Sato

Yuji Ide

Juan Pablo Montoya

Tiago Monteiro

Vitantonio Liuzzi

Michael Schumacher

Mark Webber

Christian Klien

Jarno Trulli

Nico Rosberg

Felipe Massa

Notes

1. Scott Speed finished eighth but had 25 seconds added to his race time for lack of attention to yellow flags. Cynics will note that this prevented his rev-limited V10 beating a theoretically more competitive V8-powered car, something which would gain criticism as it can be seen as STR taking advantage of a rules loophole. He was also fined $5000 for using abusive language during a post-race hearing.
2. Jenson Button was forced to resign a matter of yards from the finish line due to engine failure, giving up a point scoring position. Pit crew orders were to pull in to avoid a 10 place position penalty in the next race.
3. Takuma Sato was reprimanded by the stewards for lack of attention to blue flags.
4. The race distance was reduced from 58 laps to 57, due to an extra formation lap.
5. Giancarlo Fisichella started from the pit-lane after stalling as the cars prepared for the start. As a result, Juan Pablo Montoya's spin on the way to the grid went unpunished; he was able to move back through the field and reclaim his fifth (now fourth) place on the grid.
6. Fastest Lap: Kimi Räikkönen: 1:26.045.
7. Lap Leaders: Jenson Button 1–3 (3); Fernando Alonso 4–19, 23–57 (51); Kimi Räikkönen 20 (1); Mark Webber 21–22 (2).

External links

• [Detailed Australian Grand Prix results]
• [Australian Grand Prix result]
• [FIA's results table]
• [Results from The Official Formula 1 Website]

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