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The 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 60th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 57th Formula One World Championship which began on 12 March and ended on 22 October after eighteen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Fernando Alonso of Renault for the second year in a row, with Alonso becoming the youngest ever double world champion at the time. Then-retiring seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher of Scuderia Ferrari finished runner-up, 13 points behind. The Constructors' Championship was won by Renault, which defeated Ferrari by five points.
The season was highlighted by the rivalry between Alonso and Schumacher, who each won seven races. Renault and Ferrari drivers dominated the field, victorious in all but one race: the Hungarian Grand Prix was won by Honda's Jenson Button, and the four second-place finishes not achieved by Renault or Ferrari were accomplished by McLaren. For the first time since the 1956 season, no British constructor won any race and only factory teams won all the races during this year (as in 1956). This season marked the beginning of the usage of 2.4L V8 engines in Formula One from the 3.0L V10 engines that were used in the previous seasons, which continued till the end of the 2013 season. 2006 was also the first season since 1988 and 1997 respectively that various engine displacements and configurations were featured only for Scuderia Toro Rosso that had Cosworth TJ2005-2 3.0-litre V10 powerplant.
The season saw several changes occurring in the drivers' market starting already in December 2005 as Alonso sealed a move to McLaren for 2007. In September 2006, Schumacher announced his retirement from Formula One at the end of the season, with 2003 and 2005 championship runner-up Kimi Räikkönen being announced as his replacement at Ferrari. Among other notable departures included Juan Pablo Montoya, who left McLaren mid-season to pursue a career in NASCAR.
It is the last season for Michelin as a tyre supplier, the last season to have two tyre suppliers as the French tyre company withdrew from Formula One at the end of the season.
Drivers' Champion:
Fernando Alonso
Constructors' Champion:
Renault
Previous Season: 2005 Season
Next Season: 2007 Season
Other Champions:
IndyCar Series: Sam Hornish Jr.
Champ Car World Series: Sébastien Bourdais
GP2 Series: Lewis Hamilton
Atlantic Championship: Simon Pagenaud
Indy Pro Series: Jay Howard
Formula Nippon Championship: Benoît Tréluyer
Euroseries 3000: Giacomo Ricci
Formula RUS: Kirill Ovcharenko
Russian Formula 1600 Championship: Ivan Samarin
Formula 3 Euro Series: Paul di Resta
British Formula 3 Championship: Mike Conway
German Formula Three Championship: Ho-Pin Tung
All-Japan Formula Three Championship: Adrian Sutil
Italian Formula Three Championship: Mauro Massironi
Spanish Formula Three Championship: Ricardo Risatti
Australian Drivers' Championship: Ben Clucas
Formula Three Sudamericana: Luiz Razia
Asian Formula Three Championship: James Winslow
Finnish Formula Three Championship: Arto Taimi
Formula Renault 3.5 Series: Alx Danielsson
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0: Filipe Albuquerque
Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup: Filipe Albuquerque
Italian Formula Renault Championship: Dani Clos
Formula BMW ADAC: Christian Vietoris
Formula BMW Asia: Earl Bamber
Formula BMW UK: Niall Breen
Formula BMW USA: Robert Wickens
Grands Prix | Date | Winning Driver |
---|---|---|
2006-03-12 | ||
2006-03-19 | ||
2006-04-02 | ||
2006-04-23 | ||
2006-05-07 | ||
2006-05-14 | ||
2006-05-28 | ||
2006-06-11 | ||
2006-06-25 | ||
2006-07-02 | ||
2006-07-16 | ||
2006-07-30 | ||
2006-08-06 | ||
2006-08-27 | ||
2006-09-10 | ||
2006-10-01 | ||
2006-10-08 | ||
2006-10-22 |