# 2006 Italian Grand Prix

The 2006 Italian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2006) was a Formula One motor race held on 10 September 2006 at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. It was the fifteenth race of the 2006 Formula One season, and was won by Michael Schumacher driving a Ferrari car.
Immediately following the race, Schumacher announced that he would retire from motor racing at the end of the 2006 season. Robert Kubica achieved his first career podium finish, in only his third Grand Prix. It was also only the second Grand Prix meeting appearance of Kubica's Friday driver successor, Sebastian Vettel. Vettel had impressed at the Turkish Grand Prix by setting the fastest time in one session, but he set the fastest time in both Friday practice sessions at this Grand Prix. The race was also the first race to see the introduction of a new High Speed Barrier developed by the FIA Institute and the FIA. The system, which was installed at the end of the run-off areas at the circuit's second chicane and Parabolica corners, was designed for use at corners with high speed approaches and limited run-off areas. Also this was the last race of the Red Bull driver Christian Klien, until his return to a race seat at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix.
After the race, in the press conference, Schumacher announced his retirement from Formula One. On the same day, it was announced that Ferrari would replace Schumacher with Kimi Räikkönen. The race was his 90th victory. Four years later however in 2010, Schumacher returned to F1 with Mercedes.

## Friday drivers

The bottom 6 teams in the 2005 Constructors' Championship and Super Aguri were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race.
| Constructor | Driver |
| Williams-Cosworth | Alexander Wurz |
| Honda | Anthony Davidson |
| Red Bull-Ferrari | Robert Doornbos |
| BMW Sauber | Sebastian Vettel |
| MF1-Toyota | Giorgio Mondini |
| Toro Rosso-Cosworth | Neel Jani |
| Super Aguri-Honda | Franck Montagny |

## Race report

At the start Kimi Räikkönen got away in the lead with Michael Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld tussling over 2nd. By lap 2 Fernando Alonso was up to 6th past Heidfeld as Schumacher and Räikkönen begin to pull clear of the rest. On lap 10 Nico Rosberg lost power in his Williams and was the first retirement, his 4th consecutive retirement. On lap 15 Räikkönen pitted from the lead and two laps later Schumacher came in and jumped him, Robert Kubica took the lead stopping much later, on lap 23, which allowed Schumacher into the lead for the first time in the race. On lap 44 there was drama when Alonso pulled over with a smoky Renault after an engine failure, this caused a problem for Massa who locked up behind him and went off before pitting to change tyres. Michael Schumacher cruised to victory ahead of Räikkönen, with Kubica claiming his first podium in 3rd place.

## Classification
### Qualifying

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Grid |
| 1 | 3 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:21.994 | 1:21.349 | 1:21.484 | 1 |
| 2 | 5 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:21.711 | 1:21.353 | 1:21.486 | 2 |
| 3 | 16 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:21.764 | 1:21.425 | 1:21.653 | 3 |
| 4 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:22.028 | 1:21.225 | 1:21.704 | 4 |
| 5 | 12 | Jenson Button | Honda | 1:22.512 | 1:21.572 | 1:22.011 | 5 |
| 6 | 17 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:22.437 | 1:21.270 | 1:22.258 | 6 |
| 7 | 4 | Pedro de la Rosa | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:22.422 | 1:21.878 | 1:22.280 | 7 |
| 8 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 1:22.640 | 1:21.688 | 1:22.787 | 8 |
| 9 | 2 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 1:22.486 | 1:21.722 | 1:23.175 | 9 |
| 10 | 1 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:21.747 | 1:21.526 | 1:25.688 | 10 |
| 11 | 8 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:22.093 | 1:21.924 | | 11 |
| 12 | 10 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1:22.581 | 1:22.203 | | 12 |
| 13 | 7 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 1:22.622 | 1:22.280 | | 13 |
| 14 | 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Ferrari | 1:22.618 | 1:22.589 | | 14 |
| 15 | 21 | Scott Speed | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 1:22.943 | 1:23.165 | | 15 |
| 16 | 15 | Christian Klien | Red Bull-Ferrari | 1:22.898 | No time | | 16 |
| 17 | 20 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 1:23.043 | | | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | Christijan Albers | Spyker MF1-Toyota | 1:23.116 | | | 18 |
| 19 | 9 | Mark Webber | Williams-Cosworth | 1:23.341 | | | 19 |
| 20 | 18 | Tiago Monteiro | Spyker MF1-Toyota | 1:23.920 | | | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | Takuma Sato | Super Aguri-Honda | 1:24.289 | | | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | Sakon Yamamoto | Super Aguri-Honda | 1:26.001 | | | 22 |
| Source: ||||||||

#### Notes

* ^1 – Fernando Alonso originally qualified with a time of 1:21.829 in Q3, but had his three fastest Q3 times deleted, effectively demoting him from fifth to tenth, after Monza stewards controversially penalized him, judging he had impeded Ferrari's Felipe Massa during qualifying.

### Race

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 5 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 53 | 1:14:51.975 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | 3 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 53 | +8.046 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | 17 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 53 | +26.414 | 6 | 6 |
| 4 | 2 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 53 | +32.045 | 9 | 5 |
| 5 | 12 | Jenson Button | Honda | 53 | +32.685 | 5 | 4 |
| 6 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 53 | +42.409 | 8 | 3 |
| 7 | 8 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 53 | +44.662 | 11 | 2 |
| 8 | 16 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 53 | +45.309 | 3 | 1 |
| 9 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 53 | +45.995 | 4 | |
| 10 | 9 | Mark Webber | Williams-Cosworth | 53 | +72.602 | 19 | |
| 11 | 15 | Christian Klien | Red Bull-Ferrari | 52 | +1 lap | 16 | |
| 12 | 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Ferrari | 52 | +1 lap | 14 | |
| 13 | 21 | Scott Speed | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 52 | +1 lap | 15 | |
| 14 | 20 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Toro Rosso-Cosworth | 52 | +1 lap | 17 | |
| 15 | 7 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 52 | +1 lap | 13 | |
| 16 | 22 | Takuma Sato | Super Aguri-Honda | 51 | +2 laps | 21 | |
| 17 | 19 | Christijan Albers | Spyker MF1-Toyota | 51 | +2 laps | 18 | |
| Ret | 18 | Tiago Monteiro | Spyker MF1-Toyota | 44 | Brakes | 20 | |
| Ret | 1 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 43 | Engine | 10 | |
| Ret | 4 | Pedro de la Rosa | McLaren-Mercedes | 20 | Engine | 7 | |
| Ret | 23 | Sakon Yamamoto | Super Aguri-Honda | 18 | Hydraulics | 22 | |
| Ret | 10 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Cosworth | 9 | Driveshaft | 12 | |
| Source: ||||||||

## Championship standings after the race

| | Pos. | Driver | Points |
| | 1 | Fernando Alonso* | 108 |
| | 2 | Michael Schumacher* | 106 |
| | 3 | Felipe Massa | 62 |
| | 4 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 57 |
| | 5 | Kimi Räikkönen | 57 |
| Source: ||||
| | Pos. | Constructor | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Ferrari* | 168 |
| 1 | 2 | Renault* | 165 |
| | 3 | McLaren-Mercedes | 97 |
| | 4 | Honda | 65 |
| 1 | 5 | BMW Sauber | 33 |
| Source: ||||
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
* Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.