A look back at Hungary: 2006

At F1Today, we continue to look at memorable moments from the Hungaroring ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix. Today, we look at the 2006 race which was not only eventful, but also marked the maiden win of one of Formula 1's most popular drivers.

2006 Hungarian Grand Prix

Heading to the 13th race of the 2006 Season, Fernando Alonso led the Drivers' Championship with 100 points for Renault, 11 ahead of Michael Schumacher who was his nearest rival. Felipe Massa was third in the championship in the second Ferrari, an entire 50 points away from Alonso. Giancarlo Fisichella and Kimi Raikkonen were in fourth and fifth place, tied on 49 points for Renault and McLaren. 

In qualifying, Kimi Raikkonen claimed his second consecutive pole position for McLaren while Felipe Massa qualified alongside the Finn on the front row of the grid for Ferrari. It was an all Honda second row with Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button lining up in third and fourth place. A ten place grid penalty for an engine change dropped Button to 14th place on the grid, promoting Pedro de la Rosa to fourth. In was a disappointing qualifying session for Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, with broth drivers being knocked out of Q2, only being 12th and 15th fastest. 

At the start of the race, the rain poured onto the track, making it the first ever wet Hungarian Grand Prix since the track first appeared on the calendar since 1986. From the outset, Kimi Raikkonen led, while Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso showed spectators an impressive overtaking masterclass, with Schumacher moving into fourth from 11th and Alonso passing a mighty 11 drivers to move into sixth after starting from 15th place by the end of the first lap. 

Alonso then began to close in on Schumacher some laps later, and passed the seven time champion around the outside of the last corner following an entertaining and hard-fought battle. When Kimi Raikkonen and Pedro de la Rosa pitted from first and second, Alonso then took the lead, while Schumacher and Jenson Button pitted one lap later. 

Out in front, Alonso was dominating, putting in one of the greatest drives of his career having started down in 15th and now leading by 39 seconds from Kimi Raikkonen while he went on to lap Schumacher on lap 23. 

The safety car was then deployed on lap 27 when Kimi Raikkonen crashed into the back  of Vitantonio Liuzzi. When the race was restarted on lap 30, Alonso immediately set the pace, five seconds faster than any other driver out on track. By lap 37 however, Button was in a league of his own, now lapping faster than Alonso. Button then pitted from second place having not stopped under the safety car to refuel his car. 

When Alonso looked set for a seventh win of the season, disaster struck when the Spaniard pitted on lap 51, with a driveshaft failure causing him to crash in turn 2. This handed Button the lead while Schumacher had managed to move into second place by staying out on intermediate tyres.

As the track was drying rapidly, Schumacher was on the wrong rubber and defended his position frantically out on track, controversially cutting the chicane in the second sector on a number of laps to shorten the lap without penalty. Despite this, Pedro de la Rosa passed Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld followed him through, banging wheels with his fellow countryman which saw Schumacher retire from the race with suspension damage with only three laps to go. 

On lap 70, Jenson Button crossed the line to claim his first of 15 Formula 1 wins, having had 116 prior attempts to achieve this feat. Pedro de la Rosa's second place marked the first and last podium of his career while Nick Heidfeld's third marked BMW Sauber's first ever podium. Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Felipe Massa, and Michael Schumacher rounded out the points. 

Through this result. Michael Schumacher closed in on Alonso by 1 point in the Drivers' Championship while Felipe Massa pulled away from Giancarlo Fisichella and Kimi Raikkonen by 2 points. By failing to finish in the points in Hungary, both Fisichella and Raikkonen were no longer mathematically able to win the championship.

Chris Soulsby