2006 Japanese Grand Prix

The 2006 Japanese Grand Prix was the seventeenth race of the 2006 Formula One season. It was held on 8 October at Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka. It was won by Fernando Alonso, his last win for the Renault team before he moved to McLaren the following season. It was the first Formula One race to be broadcast in HDTV by Fuji Television, and was the 20th Grand Prix to be held at Suzuka.

Contents

• Friday drivers
• Championship standings after the race
• References

Felipe Massa started the race from pole, but Michael Schumacher soon passed him on lap 3 to take the lead. Meanwhile, Alonso was struggling to get past the Toyotas of Trulli and Ralf Schumacher. By lap 10 Alonso was 5.4 seconds off the leader. On lap 15 Alonso managed to pass Massa in the pitstops and set about gradually closing the gap to Schumacher. Alonso succeeded in closing the gap from 5.4 seconds on lap 10 to 4.2 seconds by lap 27 only for it to open up to 5.9 seconds by lap 34 after the two drivers encountered backmarkers. This race was crucial, whoever finished ahead of the two would take the championship lead into the final race. On lap 37, after the two rivals had made their final pitstops, Schumacher's engine failed, his first engine failure since the 2000 French Grand Prix, giving the lead to Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the race. This virtually gave the championship to Alonso. As of 2016, this is the most recent victory for a car running on Michelin tyres, as the manufacturer pulled out of Formula One at the end of the season. Giancarlo Fisichella dedicated his third-place finish to his best friend, Tonino Visciani, who died on 5 October 2006 after a heart attack.