2006 Chinese Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 16 of 18 in the 2006 Formula One season | |||
The Shanghai International Circuit
|
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| Date | 1 October 2006 | ||
| Official name | III Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix | ||
| Location |
Shanghai International Circuit Shanghai, People's Republic of China |
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| Course | Permanent Racing Facility | ||
| Course length | 5.451 km (3.387 mi) | ||
| Distance | 56 laps, 305.066 km (189.559 mi) | ||
| Weather | Cloudy, wet track that progressively dried up. Rainy during the last few laps. |
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| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Renault | ||
| Time | 1:44.360 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Fernando Alonso
|
Renault | |
| Time | 1:37.586 on lap 49 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | Renault | ||
| Third | Renault | ||
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The 2006 Chinese Grand Prix was the sixteenth race of the 2006 Formula One season. It was held on 1 October 2006 at Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai. The race was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari, and would turn out to be the 91st and last victory of his long and distinguished Formula One career. It was also his last podium finish until the 2012 European Grand Prix, during his comeback to the sport.
Renault were very confident about their chances in this Grand Prix, they claimed that Michael Schumacher's previous two races in Shanghai were "poor". Schumacher did admit that he had bad form in China, but said that he expected it "to be better this time around."
Following back-to-back wins in Turkey and on home soil, Ferrari certainly had the momentum coming into the Grand Prix, the Italian team were also ahead of Renault by 3 points in the constructors championship and Michael Schumacher was 2 points behind Fernando Alonso in the Drivers' Championship.
Following Lewis Hamilton's GP2 victory in Monza and an encouraging test session with McLaren, the Woking-based team were rumoured to give the young British driver his debut in favour of Pedro de la Rosa, who had been performing well after replacing Juan Pablo Montoya. However, McLaren announced that de la Rosa would be racing in China. McLaren's other driver, Kimi Räikkönen, was aiming to win the weekend's Grand Prix following signs of speed in his previous Grand Prix.
Williams announced that they were using a revised FW28, the Williams-Cosworth FW28A. The car featured a new aerodynamic package developed by test drivers Alexander Wurz and Narain Karthikeyan. The test team also carried out the first track test of the Toyota-powered interim Williams FW28B. The car itself completed 745 kilometres and the team only experienced minor problems.
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