2006 Formula One World Championship
Then-retiring seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher of Scuderia Ferrari finished runner-up, 13 points behind.
2006 was also the first season since 1988 and 1997 respectively to feature multiple engine displacements and configurations, as Scuderia Toro Rosso were given special dispensation to continue using V10s.
The season saw several changes occurring in the drivers' market starting already in December 2005 as Alonso sealed a move to McLaren for 2007.
The 2006 championship also saw the last season of the Bridgestone-Michelin tyre war which had started in 2001 as Michelin withdrew from the sport at the end of this season leaving Bridgestone as the sole tyre supplier for 2007, a position the Japanese company would retain until leaving the sport themselves at the end of 2010 and replaced by Pirelli from 2011 onwards.
In 2006, the FIA announced the Belgian Grand Prix would not be part of the 2006 Formula One season, since the local authorities had started major repair work in Spa-Francorchamps.
However, on 8 February, the FIA announced that the Belgian National Sporting Authority (RACB) were withdrawing Spa-Francorchamps from the 2006 Formula One calendar due to a lack of time to complete improvements to the track.
The former were bought by Red Bull to be run as a junior team to house their growing list of young talent looking for an F1 drive.
Another Ecclestone victory involved the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association's proposal for an alternative world championship.
Five days later, Bernie Ecclestone and CVC Capital Partners signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the GPMA which should see the five "rebels" continue racing in Formula One at least until the 2012 season.
The pre-season test was originally scheduled to be held at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain from 24–26 February, but following the rescheduling of the Australian Grand Prix to avoid a clash with the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Port Phillip, it was instead held at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir from 3–5 March, just before the first race of the season at the same venue.
During the final lap of his qualifying session for the Monaco Grand Prix, Schumacher came to a stop at the La Rascasse hairpin, resulting in yellow flags, meaning that other drivers could not go at maximum speed.
[34] Although Schumacher insisted that he had simply locked up his brakes at the corner,[35] a stewards' inquiry stated, "We are left with no alternative but to conclude that the driver deliberately stopped his car on the circuit."
Felipe Massa won the next Grand Prix in Turkey, so for the second race in a row, Formula One had a maiden victor.
Despite a fourth-place finish for Alonso's teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella, and a flat-spotted tyre causing Felipe Massa to score no points, the race also saw Ferrari pull ahead of Renault for the first time in 2006.
A week later at the Japanese Grand Prix, Felipe Massa took pole ahead of Michael Schumacher in second and Fernando Alonso in fifth.
However, Schumacher's engine failed with 17 laps to go, forcing him to retire and handing Alonso the win ahead of Massa.
He recovered to finish fourth, while teammate Massa became the first Brazilian to win his home Grand Prix since Ayrton Senna in 1993.
Fisichella finished sixth for Renault, meaning that the French outfit secured their second successive Constructors' title.
Points were awarded to the top eight classified finishers using the following structure:[38] In the event of a tie, a count-back system was used as a tie-breaker, with a driver's best result used to decide the standings.
