The 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio do Brasil 2005)[1] was a Formula One motor race held on at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil on 25 September 2005. It was the seventeenth race of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship.
| 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 17 of 19 in the 2005 Formula One World Championship | |||
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| Race details | |||
| Date | 25 September 2005 | ||
| Official name | Formula 1 Grande Prêmio do Brasil 2005 | ||
| Location | Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.309 km (2.677 miles) | ||
| Distance | 71 laps, 305.909 km (190.083 miles) | ||
| Weather | Partially cloudy and dry, Air: 23 °C (73 °F), Track 22 °C (72 °F) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Renault | ||
| Time | 1:11.988 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | |
| Time | 1:12.268 on lap 29 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Mercedes | ||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||
| Third | Renault | ||
|
Lap leaders | |||
The 71-lap race was won by McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who took the seventh and final victory of his career, ahead of his teammate, Kimi Räikkönen, who finished second. Renault driver Fernando Alonso became the Drivers' Champion for the first time after he finished the race in third place.
As of 2024, this is the last Grand Prix to be won by a Colombian driver in Formula One.
Friday drivers
editThe bottom 6 teams in the 2004 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race. Enrico Toccacelo, Minardi's third driver was not present in Brazil as he competed for the Italian team in the opening round of the A1 Grand Prix series at Brands Hatch.[2]
| Constructor | Nat | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| McLaren-Mercedes | 
|
Alexander Wurz |
| Sauber-Petronas | - | |
| Red Bull-Cosworth | 
|
Vitantonio Liuzzi |
| Toyota | 
|
Ricardo Zonta |
| Jordan-Toyota | 
|
Nicolas Kiesa |
| Minardi-Cosworth | - |
Report
editBackground
editFernando Alonso led the drivers' championship with 25 points ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and 56 points ahead of Michael Schumacher. With three races remaining, the drivers' championship was decided between Alonso and Räikkönen. A third place would be enough for Alonso to win his first world championship title, while Räikkönen would no longer have a mathematical chance even if he won and came third. In the constructors' championship, Renault led McLaren-Mercedes by six points and Ferrari by 62 points.
Williams' Nick Heidfeld, having injured his shoulder in a cycling accident in Switzerland, was replaced again by Antônio Pizzonia. The German had also missed the two previous Grands Prix due to the consequences of an accident in a test session in Monza.[3]
Qualifying
editAlonso took his eighth career pole with a time of 1:11.998 minutes ahead of Montoya and Fisichella. Button completed the second line. Räikkönen reached 5th place.
Commentators have judged Renault's qualifying performance as evidence that their "conservative phase" was over. Renault's Pat Symonds had said that the team was not aiming to settle for a simple podium finish, rather they were aiming to win. BBC's Maurice Hamilton said that "the thought that Fernando Alonso might cruise to the Championship.....was dispelled in the most convincing fashion". McLaren CEO Ron Dennis remained confident of his team's race strategy given Juan Pablo Montoya's strong second position, despite a major error in the qualifying lap of Kimi Räikkönen.
Race
editJacques Villeneuve was forced to start from pit lane as a penalty for infringement of parc ferme regulations. After getting involved in an accident at the start of the race, Mark Webber was able to rejoin, over 20 laps behind the leaders and do some laps, sufficient to position himself fourth in the official qualifying order for the subsequent Grand Prix at Japanese. Due to a driveshaft failure, this was Tiago Monteiro's only retirement of the 2005 season.
Juan Pablo Montoya won the race ahead of teammate Kimi Räikkönen; McLaren's first 1–2 finish since the 2000 Austrian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso finished 3rd and thus became World Champion for the first time, at the time the youngest ever champion at 24 years and 58 days surpassing Emerson Fittipaldi's record of 25 years and 273 days set in 1972, and the first Spaniard to do so. The result of the Grand Prix marked the only point during the season when McLaren had more championship points than Renault.
Classification
editQualifying
edit| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Lap | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |  Fernando Alonso
|
Renault | 1:11.988 | — | 1 |
| 2 | 10 |  Juan Pablo Montoya
|
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:12.145 | +0.157 | 2 |
| 3 | 6 | Giancarlo Fisichella
|
Renault | 1:12.558 | +0.570 | 3 |
| 4 | 3 |  Jenson Button
|
BAR-Honda | 1:12.696 | +0.708 | 4 |
| 5 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen
|
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:12.781 | +0.793 | 5 |
| 6 | 15 | Christian Klien
|
Red Bull-Cosworth | 1:12.889 | +0.901 | 6 |
| 7 | 1 |  Michael Schumacher
|
Ferrari | 1:12.976 | +0.988 | 7 |
| 8 | 16 | Jarno Trulli
|
Toyota | 1:13.041 | +1.053 | 171 |
| 9 | 12 | Felipe Massa
|
Sauber-Petronas | 1:13.151 | +1.163 | 8 |
| 10 | 2 | Rubens Barrichello
|
Ferrari | 1:13.183 | +1.195 | 9 |
| 11 | 17 | Ralf Schumacher
|
Toyota | 1:13.285 | +1.297 | 10 |
| 12 | 11 |  Jacques Villeneuve
|
Sauber-Petronas | 1:13.372 | +1.384 | 202 |
| 13 | 18 |  Tiago Monteiro
|
Jordan-Toyota | 1:13.387 | +1.399 | 11 |
| 14 | 7 |  Mark Webber
|
Williams-BMW | 1:13.538 | +1.550 | 12 |
| 15 | 8 | Antônio Pizzonia
|
Williams-BMW | 1:13.581 | +1.593 | 13 |
| 16 | 14 | David Coulthard
|
Red Bull-Cosworth | 1:13.844 | +1.856 | 14 |
| 17 | 19 |  Narain Karthikeyan
|
Jordan-Toyota | 1:14.520 | +2.532 | 15 |
| 18 | 21 |  Christijan Albers
|
Minardi-Cosworth | 1:14.763 | +2.775 | 16 |
| 19 | 4 |  Takuma Sato
|
BAR-Honda | No time | 191,3 | |
| 20 | 20 |  Robert Doornbos
|
Minardi-Cosworth | No time | 18 | |
Source:[4]
| ||||||
- Notes
- ^1 – Jarno Trulli and Takuma Sato received a 10-place grid penalty for engine changes.
- ^2 – Jacques Villeneuve was dropped to the back of the grid for a breach of parc fermé rules.
- ^3 – Takuma Sato was subject to a ten-place grid penalty given for the accident in the Belgian Grand Prix where he crashed into Michael Schumacher.
Race
edit- Notes
- ^1 – Tiago Monteiro and Jacques Villeneuve started the race from the pitlane.
Championship standings after the race
edit- Bold text and an asterisk indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
edit
- ^ "Formula 1 Grande Prêmio do Brasil 2005 - Race". Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ "Brazilian GP: Minardi Friday practice notes". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
- ^ "Heidfeld could miss Brazil too". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 25 October 2007. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
- ^ "FORMULA 1 Grande Premio do Brasil 2005 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
- ^ "FORMULA 1 Grande Premio do Brasil 2005 – Race". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
- ^ "2005 Brazilian Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 25 September 2005. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Brazil 2005 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.