Results from the 2006 British Grand Prix
At Silverstone reigning champion Fernando Alonso did it again, with a convincing win that handed him his fifth victory in eight races this season. He was followed home by nearest title rival Michael Schumacher who snatched second from Kimi Raikonnen late in the race thanks to his team's usual tactical pit stop brilliance
The Spaniard led from pole for all but one lap of the race in his fautlessly performing Renault and team mate Giancarlo Fisichella gained valuable points in forth place, ahead of Ferrari's other driver Felipe Massa and the McLaren of Juan Pablo Montoya. The two BMW Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve collected the rest of the points.
The current dominance of the Renaults was underscored by the significant 14 second lead Alonso eventually enjoyed, a result of being able to maintain winning pace on more fuel and thus stay out longer to gain tactical advantage for the pit stops. He even managed to clock up the fastest lap of the race on lap 21, at 1 minute, 21.599 seconds.
Dramas came right at the beginning on sunny race day in Southwest England when Scott Speed in the Torro Rosso clipped Ralph Schumacher's Toyota at the start sending the German into the race line of Mark Webber. The Williams car couldn't avoid a destructive collision with the front end of the Toyota and all three effectively retired on lap 1. Apart from Button, no other cars retired from the race.
With 10 races remaining, Michael Schumacher and the Ferraris are no closer to catching Alonso and the Renault team, trailing by 23 points in the Drivers' Championship points, and 31 points in the Constructors' Championship. McLaren are a further 16 points adrift on 59 and Kimi Raikonnen now has only an outside chance of claiming his first ever World Championship this year, with only 33 points, a massive 51 behind Alonso
British Grand Prix result:
- Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:25:51.927
- Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari +00:13.951
- Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 00:18.672
- Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 00:19.976
- Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 00:31.559
- Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) McLaren 01:04.769
- Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 01:11.594
- Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BMW Sauber 01:18.299
- Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams 01:19.008
- Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1 lap
- Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1 lap
- David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull 1 lap
- Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso 1 lap
- Christian Klien (Austria) RedBull 1 lap
- Christijan Albers (Netherlands) Toyota 1 lap
- Tiago Monteiro (Portugal) Toyota 2 laps
- Takuma Sato (Japan) Honda 3 laps
- Franck Montagny (France) Honda 3 laps
Retired:
Jenson Button (Britain) Honda lap 9
Scott Speed (US) Toro Rosso lap 1
Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota lap 1
Mark Webber (Australia) Williams lap 1