After starting 18 races ago in March with the Bahrain Grand Prix, the 2006 season is about to draw to an end with the Brazilian Grand Prix. Panasonic Toyota Racing heads into the weekend with a double points finish at the previous week’s Japanese Grand Prix. With this result came a heightened expectation of ending the season ahead of the team currently just one point in front of them in the constructors’ championship.

The track surface at Interlagos on the first day was damp, prompting Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher to complete just eight and six laps, respectively, during the morning, electing to concentrate on their setups in the afternoon’s practice.

Conditions were chilly at the start of the afternoon’s session – the ambient temperature sitting at 20 degrees C and the track surface at 30o degrees C. Both drivers headed out immediately after the session commenced, concentrating on tyre comparisons and a setup best matched to the bumpy track. Their efforts paid off with best times marked in the final minutes of the session – Trulli’s time of 1’13”484 was the fastest of the regular drivers (fourth overall) while Ralf Schumacher recorded the fourth-fastest time (seventh overall). Overall a solid start for the team.

Result:
The fastest time of the first day of practice was 1’12”547, recorded by Alexander Wurz (Williams).

As with the day before, the second day of competition at the Brazilian Grand Prix opened to cloudy skies.

Ambient and track temperatures were sitting at 19 degrees and 28 degrees C at the start of the morning’s practice, for which Panasonic Toyota Racing elected to use the same tyres as those used on Friday. This saw Ralf Schumacher finish in 16th and Jarno Trulli in 20th.

Both drivers switched to new tyres for the afternoon’s qualifier. The TF106Bs explosive speed was evident from the first period. Firstly, Ralf Schumacher marked a time of 1’11”713 for third position, followed by Trulli, whose time of 1’11”885 secured him sixth. This saw both drivers proceed through to the second period.

Then in the second period, Trulli put in a flying lap of 1’11”343 to jump up to fourth position. Ralf Schumacher also performed strongly to finish in seventh to see both drivers proceed on to the final period. In the final session, the speed of the TF106Bs showed no signs of abating – Trulli’s time of 1’11”328, a personal best for the season, securing him third position on the starting grid. Ralf Schumacher finished in seventh; however, this was still good enough to give him a strong chance to finish in the points in Sunday’s race.

Result:
Felipe Massa (Ferrari) clinched his third pole position for the season and career to date with a time of 1’10”680.

The final day of the Brazilian Grand Prix, the 18th and final round of the season.

The race got underway as scheduled at 2pm with Panasonic Toyota Racing’s Trulli lined up in third position on the grid and Ralf Schumacher further back in a respectable seventh after strong performances in qualifying the previous day.

As the race got off to a start, the ambient temperature was sitting at 25 degrees and the track surface at 42 degrees C. Trulli managed to steer clear of the congestion at the start, holding onto his grid position, while team mate Ralf Schumacher was in eighth at the end of lap one. However, only moments later, Williams’ Nico Rosberg crashed, bringing out the safety car for four laps. The race restarted in the seventh lap.

Running in ninth after the restart, Ralf Schumacher's machine suddenly developed a problem with the centre element of the rear suspension, making it difficult to control. Ralf Schumacher headed to the garage, hoping for a quick fix, only to realise the problem was unable to be solved quickly enough to allow him to return to the race. The result was an unfortunate early retirement.

Just at about the time Ralf Schumacher parked his machine in the garage, third-positioned Trulli also developed problems. The cause of his troubles was also found in the rear suspension… So it was that in the tenth lap, just one lap after Ralf Schumacher called it a day, Trulli also returned his machine reluctantly to the garage. In a single instant, not only did the hope of Trulli’s first podium for the season disappear, but also the team's dream of finishing the constructor’s championship in fifth.

Result:
Pole position starter Felipe Massa (Ferrari) secured his second win of the season. Fernando Alonso’s (Renault) second-place finish saw him clinch his second driver’s title and his team their second constructor’s title. Also, performing in his last race in Formula One, Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) finished in fourth.