2006 Monaco Feature Race

The 2006 Monaco Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2006 Monaco GP2 Series Race, was the ninth race of the 2006 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco, on 27 May 2006. The race, held in support of the LXIV Grand Prix de Monaco, would see Lewis Hamilton claim a dominant victory having topped almost every session.

Indeed, Hamilton was the man to beat in qualifying as he set a new GP2 lap record in the Principality, claiming pole with a 1:20.430. Franck Perera was his closest challenger in second, a quarter of a second behind, while Gianmaria Bruni and Alexandre Prémat shared the second row.

There would be no heading Hamilton at the start of the race either, with the #2 ART Grand Prix car shooting into the lead as the lights went out. Perera was hence left to hold second in the Brit's wake into Sainte Devote, while poor starts for Bruni and Prémat let Olivier Pla leap into third.

Behind, however, the start would be more confused, with Tristan Gommendy striking José María López, which sent the Frenchman literally flying into Nicolas Lapierre. Javier Villa was also removed by the out of control trio, while Bruni, Alexandre Negrão and Championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr. were all delayed.

Remarkably, despite four cars being abandoned on track, and a further retirement for Adam Carroll later around the opening tour, there would be no Safety Car, with stunningly quick work from the marshals clearing the circuit under yellow flags. That meant that Hamilton could make his escape during the early laps, although Perera would exchange a barrage of fastest laps with the Brit as the race settled down.

That fight was effectively over by lap thirteen when Perera stopped, with Hamilton making his stop three laps later and resuming with the race lead. Perera was split from the Brit's tail by a yet to stop Andreas Zuber, although Hamilton's lead over the Frenchman had been cut to three seconds from ten before the stops.

Once Zuber pitted Perera was clear to attack Hamilton, although he never closed to within three seconds despite the fact that the lead duo had begun to catch the tail of the field. Indeed, Hamilton and Perera would go on to lap everyone up and including sixth on track, although Hamilton would be denied the fastest lap point as a result.

That point would go to Lucas di Grassi, with the Brazilian setting the best lap of the race moments before he punted Jason Tahincioğlu out of the way, the Turkish racer having formed a rolling roadblock for most of the race. Elsewhere, Ernesto Viso battled from the back into the points, only to be taken out by Ferdinando Monfardini after the Italian racer made a very late lunge to try and pass Michael Ammermüller into the Nouvelle Chicane.

With that the race was run, with Hamilton claiming victory by eight seconds from Perera, while Prémat was a distant third. Home racer Clivio Piccione secured fourth ahead of late-stopper Zuber, while Félix Porteiro was a lap down in sixth. Ammermüller was next up ahead of Sergio Hernández, the last scorer, while di Grassi denied Hamilton a Grand Slam by finishing with fastest lap down in eleventh.

Background
Two weeks after the end of the Barcelona race meeting the FIA GP2 Series arrived in Monte Carlo, Monaco for its fifth round of 2006, a one-off race around the Circuit de Monaco. Indeed, the condensed schedule for GP2 came about because of the nature of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, with GP2 sharing the undercard with the World Series by Renault as they had in 2005. There would therefore be no Sprint Race for the GP2 field, while the Feature Race distance was reduced to 150 km.

Spanish Supplicants
Nelson Piquet Jr. had moved back to the Championship lead after his second place in the Barcelona Sprint, meaning he would arrive in Monte Carlo with a two point lead. Lewis Hamilton had hence made way for him and dropped to second having led briefly overnight, while Alexandre Prémat had slipped twelve off the lead in third. Ernesto Viso, meanwhile, had moved up to fourth ahead of Nicolas Lapierre, with seventeen drivers on the scoresheet.

In the Teams' Championship ART Grand Prix had enhanced their lead as the Spanish weekend came to a close, and hence left Barcelona with a sixteen point advantage. Arden International had retained second despite failing to score in the Sprint, while Piquet Sports closed up in third onto 43. iSport International were next up in fourth after their biggest haul of the season, while DPR Direxiv and Durango were still the only pointless teams.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Qualifying
Qualifying for the inaugural GP2 Series race would be staged via a thirty minute session on Friday afternoon, ahead of the Feature Race on Saturday. All 24 drivers would venture onto the circuit during the session, and were allowed to complete as many laps as they could to set their qualifying time. There was also a free choice of tyres, although drivers could not exceed their allocation of Bridgestone tyres.

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

 * First and only pole position for Lewis Hamilton.
 * Hamilton claimed his third GP2 Series victory.
 * ART Grand Prix claimed their eleventh victory as an entrant.
 * Maiden and only podium for Franck Perera.
 * Also Perera's first and only points finish.
 * Andreas Zuber claimed his maiden points finish.
 * First fastest lap recorded by Lucas di Grassi.
 * Also di Grassi's first point score.

Standings
A twelve point swing in favour of Lewis Hamilton would catapult the Brit into a ten point lead in the Championship, with pole and victory in Monte Carlo leaving Hamilton on 49 points. Nelson Piquet Jr. had hence made way for him after his non-score, while Alexandre Prémat had moved into a clear third, six off Piquet. Ernesto Viso and Michael Ammermüller then completed the top five, while several drivers claimed their first points of the campaign to join the scorers list.

In the Teams' Championship it had been another good race for ART Grand Prix, with a double podium putting them onto 82 points after nine races. Arden International had hence slipped 32 points behind in second, while Piquet Sports had likewise lost ground in third, a further seven behind. iSport International and Trident Racing then completed the top five, while DPR Direxiv and Durango were on the board for the first time in 2006.