2006 Malaysian Grand Prix

2006 Malaysian Grand Prix
Race 2 of 18 in the 2006 Formula One World Championship
Sepang International Circuit
Race details
Date	19 March 2006
Official name	2006 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix
Location	Sepang International Circuit Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.543 km (3.444 miles)
Distance	56 laps, 310.408 km (192.879 miles)
Weather	Fine, Air Temp: 33°C, Wind Speed: 1.5 m/s, Humidity: 61%
Attendance	107,634 (Weekend) [1]
Pole position
Driver	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault
Time	1:33.840
Fastest lap
Driver	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Time	1:34.803 on lap 45
Podium
First	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault
Second	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Third	Jenson Button	Honda
Lap leaders

The 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix (officially the 2006 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix)^[2] was a Formula One motor race held at the Sepang International Circuit in Selangor, Malaysia on 19 March 2006. The 56-lap race was the second round of the 2006 Formula One season and the eighth running of the Malaysian Grand Prix as a World Championship race. It was won by Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella, who took his third and final victory in Formula One, and scored his first points of the season. He had also started on pole position. His team-mate, Fernando Alonso, finished second to extend his lead in the drivers' championship standings to 7 points. Jenson Button took the first podium in Honda's three year return to the sport by finishing in third place. Fisichella's victory was the last for an Italian driver as of 2023^[update]. This was the first 1-2 finish for Renault since their return to F1 as a constructor in 2002, and also their first 1-2 finish overall since the 1982 French Grand Prix.

Qualifying on Saturday saw the new rules being put to the test, as David Coulthard, Felipe Massa, Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher were all forced to swap engines from the Bahrain GP and therefore lost 10 places on the starting grid after qualifying, despite many of them competing in later sessions (Massa actually changed his engine twice, causing him to lose 20 places). This meant some drivers, such as the Toro Rosso's of Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi were eliminated in the first session, but would have been spared elimination had those with engine penalties been eliminated at this point (although Ralf Schumacher's engine blew during the last session). Three cars with the Ferrari V8 suffered from engine problems during qualifying.