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Grand Prix of Europe — Nürbürgring, Germany
| Place | Grid | Race | ||
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| 1 2 3 |
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Fernando Alonso Michael Schumacher Felipe Massa |
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Michael Schumacher Fernando Alonso Felipe Massa |
| 4 5 6 7 8 |
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Rubens Barrichello Kimi Räikkönen Jenson Button Jarno Trulli Juan Pablo Montoya (Q=9) |
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Kimi Räikkönen Rubens Barrichello Giancarlo Fisichella Nico Rosberg Jacques Villeneuve |
| 9 10 |
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Jacques Villeneuve (O=8) Ralf Schumacher (Q=11) |
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Jarno Trulli Nick Heidfeld |
| 11 12 13 14 15 16 |
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Giancarlo Fisichella (Q=13) David Coulthard (Q=14) Nick Heidfeld (Q=15) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Q=16) Christian Klien (Q=17) Christijan Albers (Q=18) |
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Scott Speed Tiago Monteiro Christijan Albers Ralf Schumacher Juan Pablo Montoya Takuma Sato |
| 17 18 19 20 21 22 |
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Scott Speed (Q=19) Tiago Monteiro (Q=20) Takuma Sato (Q=21) Mark Webber (Q=10) Franck Montagny (Q=22) Nico Rosberg (Q=12) |
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Franck Montagny Jenson Button Christian Klien Mark Webber David Coulthard Vitantonio Liuzzi |
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 Pole: 1'29"819 |
Best Lap: 1'32"099 |
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Motor change penalty | |
did not finish | |
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Car failure | |
spin or accident | |
| (Q=) | original qualifying place | |||
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final 20' session (race fuel+tires) | |
Podium | |
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second 15' session (low fuel load) | |
Points | |
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first 15' session (low fuel load) | |
- no points - (from 8th down) | |
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See this GP's history & stats at Wikipedia. German driver Adrian Sutil is to take over from Giorgio Mondini, at the wheel of MF1's Friday car, at the European Grand Prix. This has been Ralf Schumacher's 150th start in Formula One, and McLaren's 600th Grand Prix. The only Team to beat this mark is Ferrari (this having been their 728th GP), whereas the next Team down the list (491 GP's) is the extinct Lotus. Super Aguri was reported to be running a third car for the first time, on Friday, at the Nürbürgring. French driver Franck Montagny was initially announced as the one to debut the Japanese Team's new third car. But on the Thursday preceding the Grand Prix of Europe, the Team announced that Yuji Ide had been relocated to a test role, only, following advice from the FIA (apparently, Yuji Ide has likewise been considered unsuitable to driver a third car, on Fridays), whereas Franck Montagny would actually be taking over Yuji Ide's race seat on the weekend. Franck Montagny is the 67th. French driver in F1 racing, and the 1st to line up since Olivier Panis retired from racing, after the 2004 GP of Japan. Nothing has been announced as to Super Aguri's plans beyond the Grand Prix of Europe (see follow-up), though it is speculated that the Team could be considering a Japanese replacement for Yuji Ide.
Prior to the European GP, Cosworth has reportedly suggested the introduction of a power boost button, as a way of increasing overtaking in F1. This device was successfully introduced by A1 Grand Prix, in 2005 (it may be activated a limited number of times per race, in order to generate a 30 hp gain, or so). Illustration about its use in A1 GP is available here. Giancarlo Fisichella looked furious as he stormed into the BMW-Sauber's garage, following qualifying, to discharge his steam over Jacques Villeneuve, under the claim that the Canadian had blocked him at his flying lap, thus the Italian's not making it into the last timed session of Qualifying. Apparently, either Fisichella or Renault, or both, complained with the stewards, who then called a hearing with both drivers. The hearing resulted in Villeneuve's being found guilty and therefore stripped of his fastest lap time. Although this would have initially demoted the Canadian to P10, he actually starts on P9, due to Mark Webber's engine-shift demotion penalty. Curiously, even though [1] Rubens Barrichello had been equally blocked by a Super Aguri driver, in Australia, whereas in [2] San Marino it was Jarno Trulli's turn to endure Michael Schumacher's likewise not letting him by, when the German was on a slow lap, in neither of these instances action was taken by the stewards, then, regarding the blocking driver – not even a simple reprimand. Last Season, the drivers had requested better consistency, as to the stewards' criteria in regard to penalties and related decisions. After the above described disciplinary measures, Barrichello, Trulli, and Villeneuve could each understandably have a reason to feel unfairly dealt with. After all, what is the criterion when a driver impedes another during qualifying?... Mere observation makes it impossible to tell. A number of drivers complained at a false-alarm red flag signal that popped up on the timing screens, during the first qualifying session: those who were on a hot lap of course immediately aborted it, without being given the chance to recover from that missed opportunity. Once qualifying was over, FOM (Formula One Management) merely issued an apology over that technical glitch. So, there were a number of unhappy drivers after this Qualifying Session, who would have appreciated the chance of an extra lap, in place of the one that the red-flag glitch had taken away from them. But the sole initiative from FOM was the above-mentioned apology. Hopefully the race turns out to be a positive experience to everyone. Though Fernando Alonso has been leading this year's championship, and has by now collected an unbroken string of 11 podium finishes, this has been his first pole position of the Season. Another first time occurrence was Rubens Barrichello's qualifying ahead of team-mate Jenson Button (on P6). The Brazilian started in fourth, right behind Alonso's Renault and the Ferrari duo. Franck Montagny seems to have impressed his Team very positively, by actually running ahead of team-mate Takuma Sato during the Saturday morning practice Session (his second day, ever, in that car), even though the Frenchman ended up qualifying behind Sato. Both drivers, however, voiced their discontentment over that above-mentioned red-flag glitch, which they felt thwarted their qualifying efforts. Ferrari's Felipe Massa had a new race engineer, at the European GP: Rob Smedley, who had been working with Massa in the test team. Perhaps mere coincidence, perhaps not, Massa's best finish ever has been attained right on Rob Smedley's debut supporting the young Brazilian, now, on race days. At any rate, Smedley must be fully familiar with his 'new' duties, as he has previously worked as Giancarlo Fisichella's race engineer, in the now extinct Jordan team. Up to the European GP, Felipe Massa's race engineer had been Gabriele delli Colli, who had been Rubens Barrichello's race engineer. Reports account that the cause for the replacement was related to the Latin temperament of both driver and engineer, a fact which, instead of an asset, had not proven totally productive. Rob Smedley's non-Latin origin seems to confirm that. On first F1 podiums, here's another remarkable feat in the F1 career of Massa's compatriot and two-time F1 World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi, whose record as the youngest Champion ever was just recently broken by Fernando Alonso, at the 2005 Brazilian GP: E.Fittipaldi's first F1 podium, ever, was conquered in only his fourth F1 Grand Prix, and with nothing less than a victory, at the 1970 United States GP! Since 1983, when the first of the current total of 16 Grand Prix of Europe took place, only four times the driver on pole won the race, all four times this driver having been Michael Schumacher (1994, 2001, 2004 & 2006), who also took victory in 1995 and 2000.
See the 2006 Race Weekend Timetable See Track & Lap Related Data Follow all Practice, Qualifying & Race Sessions in real time on MieNet.
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