It was the fifteenth race of the 2006 Formula One season, and was won by Michael Schumacher driving a Ferrari car.

It was also only the second Grand Prix meeting appearance of Kubica's Friday driver successor, Sebastian Vettel.

The bottom 6 teams in the 2005 Constructors' Championship and Super Aguri were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday.

By lap 2 Fernando Alonso was up to 6th past Heidfeld as Schumacher and Räikkönen begin to pull clear of the rest.

On lap 44 there was drama when Alonso pulled over with a smoky Renault after an engine failure, this caused a problem for Massa who locked up behind him and went off before pitting to change tyres.