Fernando Alonso achieved in the past Australian GP of F1 2023 his third podium in the first three races of the year with his Aston Martin, something he only achieved in 2005 and 2006, courses where he won his two F1 world championships. At the 2006 Australian GP (April 2), Alonso achieved his third podium in the three first appointments of that course. On April 2, 2023, Alonso repeated this feat just 17 years later, at the age of 41. To understand the magnitude of what has been achieved by continuing at the same level after many years, only need to examine how life has changed since then.
1
Nokia, leader in telephony
In 2006, the best-selling mobile brand in the world was the Finnish Nokia. That year, it sold 105.5 million units and had an incredible 35.8% market share. The second best selling brand is Motorola, with 22.3% of the market share. In 2006, Google showed operators some designs of what would be its first Android phone. Phones that made the mark that year were the Nokia N73 (best camera at the time, with 3.2 megapixels), the Sony Ericsson W810, the BlackBerry Pearl 8100, the Motorola KRZR K1 and the Samsung D900.
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And eyes. On some mobiles, the luckiest shared files from mobile to mobile via infrared.

2
Messenger, Tuenti, Fotolog or Myspace
And the SMS and the ‘lost’
The way we communicate has changed a lot. Today we have Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook and social networks for everyone. In 2006, people would come home and connect to Messenger, go into ‘away’ status to receive messages and read them later, or spend the whole afternoon interacting in front of the computer. In that year 2006, it was renamed Windows Live Messenger.
In 2006 the Tuenti social network was also launched. In September 2006, Facebook went global and opened to everyone (just over 13 with an email address), but it wasn’t until 2009 that Facebook activated the ‘Like’ button. People also used Fotolog to post their photos and write their daily texts or inspirational meditations. Many people also have a Myspace profile.
Just before, if you’re not at home, they text each other. In order not to spend more money on many messages, it is customary to shorten all possible words, since the limit of an SMS is 160 characters. If you understand ‘tb’, ‘xq’, ‘xf’ and ‘tqm’, it means you lived in that era. In the past, missed calls were also used to let the other person see that he remembered them, or simply, as a way of saying: ‘call me’.

3
‘Los Serrano’ and Nobody lives here
‘El Hormiguero’ premiered that year
In 2006, Spain continued to wait every week for a new chapter of everyone’s family, ‘Los Serrano’, which did not end until 2008. The Spanish continued to laugh at the final chapters of ‘Aquí no hay quien viva ‘ (2003- 2006 ) before changing its name. In 2006, ‘El Hormiguero’ was televised and… yes, Jordi Hurtado has been presenting ‘Saber y Ganar’ for many years.

4
The song of the summer of 2006 and the World Cup with Andrés Montes
The song of the summer of 2006 was ‘Opá, yo viazé un corrá’, by ‘El Koala’, used by ‘La Sexta’ to promote the 2006 World Cup, with the legendary Andrés Montes who debut as a football commentator then. event with Julio Salinas. That World Cup was won by Italy in the final with Zidane’s ‘headbutt’ on Materazzi.

5
‘Volverá’, from El Canto del Loco, and many more
But there are more songs that marked an era and were released in 2006. An example of this is ‘Volverá’ by ‘El Canto del Loco’, or his hit ‘Besos’ from his album ‘Zapatillas’, which became a hit in the record stores.. we’ve been ‘wanting to get into the slipper joint’ for 17 years!
More hits from 2006:
– ‘Hung Up’, by Madonna
– ‘Hips don’t lie’ or ‘The wall’, by Shakira
– ‘Marta, Sebas, Guille and the others’, said Amaral
– ‘Rag Doll’, from ‘Van Gogh’s Ear’
– ‘Parted lips, of Mana
– ‘What Star Will It Be In’, by Nena Daconte
– ‘Fish lives in the mouth’, by ‘Fito & Fittipaldis’

6
European car of the year: the Renault Clio
The car of the year for 2006 is the Renault Clio. It won the award with 256 points from European journalists, ahead of the Volkswagen Passat with 251 and the Alfa 159 with 212. The fourth most voted was the BMW 3 Series (203) followed by the Mazda 5 (198), the Toyota Aygo, Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107 (187) and the Toyota Yaris (143).

7
Messi doesn’t even have the Ballon d’Or and Barça
Leo Messi was 18 years old at the time and had yet to win one of his 7 Ballon d’Ors. That year, Barça won their second Champions League and Messi started in the 11th for Giuly in the lead alongside Eto’o and Ronaldinho.

8
Nadal has only 1 of his 22 Grand Slams
As of April 2006, Rafa Nadal had only one Grand Slam out of the 22 he now has in his showcases, the 2005 Roland Garros title won against Mariano Puerta. Nadal won his second Grand Slam in 2006, winning his second consecutive Roland Garros against Federer (1-6, 6-1, 6-4 and 7-6.

9
Spain has never won the Basketball or Soccer World Cup
Gasol and company did so a few months later
When Alonso added 3 podiums in the first 3 races of 2006, the Spanish Basketball Team had yet to win its first world gold. He did it in September 2006, with a generation of players that marked an era, with Gasol as a great star.
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For the World Cup title, the Spanish had to wait another 4 years, until 2010. In the 2006 World Cup, Spain fell in the round of 16 against France, with Luís Aragonés, in the last World Cup led by Raúl Gonzáles with a selection.

10
Marc Márquez is 13 years old
In 2006, Marc Márquez had yet to make his debut in the Motorcycle World Championship. He did it in 2008, in 125 cc. At the time, Marc Márquez was only 13 years old. That year, Marc repeated as 125cc Catalan champion for the second consecutive year. With this double championship at the end of the year, the jump to the Spanish Speed Championship (CEV) for 2007 has been confirmed.

Eleven
Madrid has had 9 European Cups
In 2006, Real Madrid had 9 European Cups and had not won the top continental competition since 2002.

12
3 president of the Government
In 2006, the President of the Government of Spain was José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero. Since then, Spain has changed its President twice: Mariano Rajoy and Pedro Sánchez. King Juan Carlos I continued as Head of State and remained there until 2014.

13
PSG and Manchester City did not win…
The teams that are now among the best in world football, in 2006 they were still very weak teams. PSG is 9th in Ligue 1 (France), a competition dominated by Lyon. Manchester City were 15th that year in the Premier League, a title won by Mourinho’s Chelsea.

14
4 Presidents of the United States
In 2006, the President of the United States was George W. Bush. He was replaced in 2009 by Barack Obama and later came Donald Trump and the current president, Joe Biden.
Source: La Verdad

I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.