Results from the 2006 Australian Grand Prix
Renault made it three out of three in Melbourne to firmly stamp their defense of both World Championship titles in 2006. Reigning champion Fernando Alonso lead for most the race in a dominant show of speed and skill, but not without some tactical and lucky advantages in an incident prone race. His arch rival in 2005, Kimi Raikkonen, finished second for Mercedes McLaren, 1.8 seconds off the pace.
For most teams, and particularly poor Jenson Button, it was a race to forget as more than half the starters failed to finish and the safety car was deployed four times, playing havoc with running orders and advantages. The Ferraris both retired, having both started in the back half of the grid. But it was Button who suffered the biggest heartbreak, dropping from his first ever pole position to 5th and then seeing his engine blow in a plume of smoke on the last lap leaving him stranded meters from the finish!
Toyota's Ralph Schumacher was one of the few winners of the day, taking the third podium place to make up for the team's awful start to the season. Nick Heidfeld also avoided the trouble to hang on to his fourth place througout the race, followed by Giancarlo Fisichella in the other Renault who charged up through the field after stalling on the grid. Jacques Villeneuve in the other BMW Sauber finished seventh and Rubens Barrichello picked up the last of the points for an underperforming Honda team.
The dramas in the Melbourne Grand Prix - moved to the third race on the calendar this year to avoid clashing with the Commonwealth games - began before the race begun, with Juan Pablo Montoya spinning off on the procession lap. Filipe Massa in one of the Ferraris didn't even make it past turn four, colliding with Nico Rosberg, ending both their races, while David Coulthard in the Red Bull and Jarno Trulli in a Toyota collided on turn six, prompting a pit stop from both.
After the safety car deployment, Alonso was able to snatch the lead effortlessly from Button who spent the day grappling with tyres that simply refused to 'warm up'. The safety car was again deployed on lap 33 when Michael Schumacher lost control on a wide turn that was later to claim the scalp of Montoya 16 laps later, when his electrics seem to fail after a rough ride off the track. The Colombian lost out heavily when he was held up in the pit lane of the earlier safety car period while his team-mate received a new nose cone.
The safety car was also deployed after Antonio Luizzi wrecked his Torro Rosso, again costing the front runners their leads and resulting in frenzy of pit stops and poor placement behind back markers for Button and others. With retirements from home boy Mark Webber in the Williams Cosworth, Tiago Montiero and a string of accident victims, only 10 cars finished the race. And in a final controversy, American Scott Speed lost is first ever F1 point following a demotion for having passed David Coulthard on a yellow flag. He was also fined $5000 for swearing at a competitor during the hearing.
Alonso now has a enviable early advantage of 28 points in the Drivers' Championship over team mate Fisichella and rival Raikkonen (14 each) and Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button (11 each), while in the Constructors' Championship Renault have a runaway advantage on 42 points with McLaren trailing on 23, followed by Ferrari (15) and Honda (13).
Result of 2006 Australian Grand Prix
- Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault one hour 34 minutes 27.870 seconds
- Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes +1.829 seconds
- Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota +24.824 secs
- Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 31.032
- Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 38.421
- Jacques Villeneuve (Can) BMW Sauber 49.554
- Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 51.904
- David Coulthard (GB) RedBull-Ferrari 53.983*
- Scott Speed (US) Toro Rosso-Cosworth 53.817*
- R. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1 lap
- Christijan Albers (Ned) Midland-Toyota 1 lap
- Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 2 laps
- Yuji Ide (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 3 laps
R Juan Pablo Montoya (Col) McLaren-Mercedes 11 laps
R Tiago Monteiro (Por) Midland-Toyota 18 laps
R Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Cosworth 20 laps
R Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 25 laps
R Mark Webber (Aus) Williams-Cosworth 35 laps
R Christian Klien (Aut) RedBull-Ferrari 53 laps
R Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 57 laps
R Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 57 laps
R Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 57 laps