F1 Race Reports
Detailed F1 race reports. Read about F1 races and events you missed
Felipe Massa brought Brazil's 13-year wait for a home winner at Interlagos to an end with an imperious performance in the final grand prix of 2006, but it was the fortunes of title rivals Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher that held the capacity crowd enthralled.
Fernando Alonso's championship chances received a massive boost at Suzuka, not only with victory in the Japanese Grand Prix but also with main rival Michael Schumacher retiring from the race while comfortably in front.
After two races without so much as a sniff of the points at the Shanghai International Circuit, Michael Schumacher finally found the fortune he was looking for as he won a race that really should have belonged to Renault.
Michael Schumacher suffered the highs and lows of motorsport life in one afternoon at Monza as, having racked up his 90th race win in front of the adoring tifosi at Monza, he announced that the time had come to bow out of Formula One.
Felipe Massa's move to Ferrari finally brought its reward, as the Brazilian recorded the first grand prix win of his interrupted career by beating Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher to the line in Turkey.
The common belief that the Hungarian Grand Prix and excitement couldn't go hand-in-hand was debunked as Jenson Button defied the odds and all the weather gods could throw at him to claim his maiden F1 victory.
The 2006 French Grand Prix will certainly not go down as a classic, but for Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, their fourth win of the season marked another important step in their bid to close the gap to Fernando Alonso and Renault in the drivers' and manufacturers' championships.
If the American fans that gave Indianapolis and Formula One a second chance were looking for something different this season, they only got part of what they hoped for as Ferrari again romped to a 1-2 result.
Having never stepped onto the podium in Montreal before, Fernando Alonso ensured his first visit was to the top step with a dominant victory in the Canadian Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso gave the massive Spanish crowd just what it wanted in Barcelona, taking a comfortable lights-to-flag win to ease out his championship lead over closest rival Michael Schumacher.
Michael Schumacher took full advantage of Ferrari strategy and a brace of fast in-laps to claim his second straight victory of the 2006 Formula One season, delighting fans in his native Germany with success in the European Grand Prix.
Michael Schumacher resisted pressure from Renault's Fernando Alonso to end the regie 's winning streak and bring to an end an 18-month victory drought for Ferrari against meaningful opposition.
Giancarlo Fisichella led a Renault 1-2 in the Malaysian Grand Prix, giving the team its second win of the 2006 season after leading all the way from pole position.
Fernando Alonso got his Formula One world title defence off to the perfect start with ten points from the opening round of 2006 in Bahrain, but the Spaniard had to overcome the threat of a rejuvenated Ferrari team to take top honours.
Fernando Alonso led from start to finish in a slow-burner of a Chinese Grand Prix, helping to secure the constructors' world title for his Renault team.
If Juan Pablo Montoya had been proud of his rise from 19th to second in the German Grand Prix this season, he no longer has bragging rights in the McLaren camp after team-mate Kimi Raikkonen went from a similar position to take victory in a dramatic Japanese Grand Prix.
Kimi Raikkonen did what he had to do to keep his championship hopes intact at Spa-Francorchamps, but victory for the McLaren man was tempered by the fact that team-mate Juan Montoya was again unable to hold on to second place.
Juan Montoya battled a failing tyre in the closing stages of the Italian Grand Prix to claim his second world championship victory of the season. However, the win was not enough to help McLaren team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who saw his title hopes take another small blow.
McLaren-Mercedes number one driver, Kimi Raikkonen took a dominant victory in Istanbul Sunday, to win the Turkish Grand Prix by nearly 20 seconds.
For the third time this season - after Imola and the Nurburgring - Fernando Alonso was in the right place at the right time to pick up a victory discarded by the McLaren team, further increasing his advantage over the luckless Kimi Raikkonen.
Michael Schumacher was officially credited with having won the 2005 United States Grand Prix but, with only six cars taking the start, even the German appeared underwhelmed by his 'achievement'.
Kimi Raikkonen got his world championship challenge back on track with a win in an incident-packed Canadian Grand Prix that saw several leading runners forced to retire, and one more excluded after a pit-lane misdemeanour.
Kimi Raikkonen proved to be Mercedes' 'diamond geezer' in Monaco, celebrating the German marque's 200th grand prix with a convincing win on the streets of the principality.
Kimi Raikkonen showed just what he had been denied at Imola a fortnight ago by blitzing the Spanish Grand Prix field from start to finish at the Circuit de Catalunya, and taking his first win of the season as a reward.