The 2006 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 11, 2006 at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. The race, contested over 60 laps, was the eighth round of the 2006 Formula One season.
Ticket sales were rather slow; the race was scheduled far earlier than normal, and local Jenson Button had a rather poor season the previous year. When the race sold out in 2005, Button had been coming off one of his best years. Also, the weekend clashed with England's first World Cup game.
Button had a very poor qualifying run and started the race 19th; after a blinding first few laps, Jenson's engine caught fire on lap 9, due to an oil leak that also caused the car to spin out of the race. Scotsman David Coulthard also had a poor race suffering from understeer.
Fernando Alonso became the first Spanish driver and the youngest driver (24 years, 10 months, 13 days) to get the Hat Trick (pole position, winning and fastest lap in same Grand Prix). He fell one lap short of clinching the Grand Chelem (he would finally achieve this at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix).
This race also featured the first ever pit stop to have involved a woman, during a Midland F1 pit stop for Tiago Monteiro, ITV-F1's then pit-lane reporter Louise Goodman was the left rear tyre changer.
The only other noticeable incident of the race happened on the very first lap, when Scott Speed pushed Ralf Schumacher's Toyota right in the path of Mark Webber at the entrance on the Hangar Straight. Schumacher and Webber retired on the spot, while Speed crawled to the pits and drove straight into the garage at the end of lap 1.
Read more about 2006 British Grand Prix: Standings After The Race
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