Fernando Alonso dominated his home Grand Prix to take the chequered flag 18 seconds ahead of title rival Michael Schumacher while Giancarlo Fisichella finished third. There was never much doubt that the Renault driver would not take the win as he led team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella from Pole Position, quickly establishing a comfortable lead - a lead he would control to the very end.
Michael Schumacher did what he could, but second position was as good as it was ever going to get unless Alonso had a problem - and he did not. Schumacher made up one position on Fisichella in the first round of pit stops, but could do nothing about the pace of the leading R26.
Giancarlo Fisichella took the lower podium position 24 seconds behind his team-leader. A mistake mid-race saw him run though the gravel trap and lose six seconds, but in reality it made little difference to his race result.
Felipe Massa started fourth and finished in the same position in the second Ferrari, recording the fastest lap of the race prior to his second stop. For whatever reason the Brazilian was not able to show that pace over the entire race distance, as he finished six seconds behind Fisichella.
Kimi Raikkonen started ninth and vaulted up to fifth right at the start of the race. A brave bit of driving saw him drive right between the two Toyotas off the line and then dispatch the Hondas at the first turn. The McLaren driver could not match the pace of the front runners however, dropping just under half a minute to Massa by the chequered flag.
Jenson Button finished in sixth position in his Honda, hounding Raikkonen through the final stint of the race but never able to make the move. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello finished in seventh position al lap down on the race winner. The Brazilian held off his team-mate through the first stint, but lost the position in the first round of pit stops.
After starting tenth, Nick Heidfeld took the final point for BMW Sauber courtesy of the Toyota team that fell back in race conditions. Mark Webber chased hard but finished ninth in his Williams Cosworth ahead of Jarno Trulli.
It was another bad weekend for Toyota as Trulli really had little race pace while Ralf Schumacher looked pretty fired up as he clobbered the back of Trulli early in the race breaking his front wing in the process. An electrical problem later forced his retirement.
Nico Rosberg did what he could to try and pass Trulli in the final laps but could not find a way past and finished 11th ahead of Jacques Villeneuve who ran a one stop strategy from the back of the grid to finish 12th.
Over at Red Bull Ferrari, Christian Klien finished 13th ahead of David Coulthard who while celebrating 200 Grand Prix starts, will probably soon forget the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix. Tonio Liuzzi was classified 15th as he finished his race in the Toro Rosso pit. Tiago Monteiro survived a trip into the gravel trap early in the race to finish 16th albeit three laps down while Takuma Sato was 17th and fortunate to survive a spin in turn three.
Christijan Albers struggled with the handling of his M16 before he retired the car while Scott Speed had a solid race until engine problems intervened. Franck Montagny suffered a drive-shaft issue while Juan Pablo Montoya's miserable weekend came to an early end when he spun off whilst running 11th.