2005 United States Grand Prix

The 2005 United States Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix ) [ 5 ] was a Formula One motor race held on June 19, 2005, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was the ninth race of the 2005 Formula One World Championship . The event is one of the most infamous races in motor sports history. Out of the 20 cars that entered the race, only the six cars from the teams using Bridgestone tyres ( Ferrari , Jordan , and Minardi ) competed. The remaining fourteen entrants, a...

Following two tyre failures before the race, which caused major accidents for Ralf Schumacher 's Toyota during Friday practice and then for his Toyota stand-in Ricardo Zonta, Michelin advised its seven customer teams that without a reduction in speed in Turn 13, the tyres provided for the race would only be safe for 10 laps. Michelin had been providing working tyres for the race since 2001. The situation was worsened by the 2005 Formula One rules, which forbade tyre changes during the race, and ...

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the sport's governing body, refused a compromise proposal from Michelin to allow a chicane to be installed, maintaining that such rule changes would be grossly unfair to the Bridgestone-shod teams, who had come prepared with properly working tyres, and that a last-minute change to the track layout would be dangerous in case of crashes. The Michelin teams, unable to come to a compromise with the FIA, decided not to participate. It was later sta...

Of the six competitors, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher was the eventual winner, with his teammate Rubens Barrichello finishing second and Jordan driver Tiago Monteiro finishing third, which would be his only podium in Formula One as well as the last podium for Jordan. The result moved Schumacher to third in the World Drivers' Championship —no driver above him in took part in the race. [ 9 ] The final race result was the lowest number of finishing entries ever seen in a major open-wheel motorsports...

The race was the 9th of the 19 rounds in the 2005 Formula One World Championship , [ 1 ] and the sixth to be held at the 4.192 km (2.605 mi) 13-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield road course, [ 10 ] [ 11 ] located in Speedway, Indiana . [ 3 ] It took place on June 19, 2005, and was formally called the XXXIV Foster's United States Grand Prix. [ 1 ] Before the event, Renault driver Fernando Alonso led the World Drivers' Championship with 59 points , ahead of McLaren 's Kimi Räikkönen with 37...

During the afternoon's practice session on June 17, 2005, Ralf Schumacher , driving for Toyota , crashed badly in Turn 13 of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, as a result of a left-rear tyre failure. He was unable to continue racing, and was replaced for the rest of the weekend by the team's test driver , Ricardo Zonta , who himself suffered a left-rear tyre failure during practice as well. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] Schumacher had crashed in the same spot as a result of a tyre failure the previou...

Turn 13 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was a high-speed banked turn, unique at the time in Formula One racing, which causes a greater than usual tyre loading . [ 18 ] This section of the track had been repaved since the previous Grand Prix with a more abrasive surface which may have placed the tyres under even greater load than before. [ 6 ] [ 19 ] On June 18, Michelin reported that it did not understand why the tyres it had provided for its seven customer teams— BAR , McLaren , ...

In a letter to FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting dated June 18, Michelin representatives Pierre Dupasquier and Nick Shorrock revealed that they did not know the cause of the Toyota tyre failures, and unless the cars could be slowed down in Turn 13, they could not guarantee the tyres' safety for more than 10 laps. [ 22 ] Whiting replied on Sunday, June 19, expressing his surprise that Michelin had not brought suitable tyres, suggesting that the teams should limit their drivers to the maximum safe...

In a second letter, also dated June 18, Dupasquier and Shorrock confirmed that they would not permit their teams to race on the Michelin tyres used during qualification without changes to the circuit, and reiterated their request to slow down Turn 13. Whiting's brief reply maintained that no such change would be permitted, and gave the teams the choice of limiting speeds through Turn 13, using tyres of a different specification to those used in qualifying, subject to a penalty, or changing tyres...

Paul Stoddart , the owner of Minardi , a team using Bridgestone tyres, published an account on June 22, of the events leading up to the race. Stoddart recorded a meeting around 10:00am on the day of the race, to which Speedway president Tony George , two senior Michelin representatives, Bernie Ecclestone (president and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration ), the team principals, and the teams' Michelin technical representatives were summoned. All invited were present exce...

Ecclestone returned at about 10:55 to inform the group that Todt had refused to agree to the chicane, maintaining that it was an FIA and a Michelin problem and not his. By the time Stoddart's account of the meeting was published, Todt had already denied that he had ever been consulted, but stated that, if asked, he would not have agreed to the chicane. [ 25 ] Furthermore, Ecclestone reported that Mosley had "stated that if any attempts were made to alter the circuit, he would cancel the Grand Pr...

The group, according to Stoddart, continued to propose alternative solutions, including "a non-championship race, or a race in which the Michelin teams could not score points, and even a race whereby only the Michelin teams used the new chicane", but eventually agreed that the best option was to install the chicane and run a non-championship race, without Ferrari if necessary. [ 26 ] To ignore the FIA's instructions and carry on the race would have resulted in the FIA's withdrawing its staff, so...

They proceeded to summon the twenty drivers and present their plan. Of the drivers' opinions, Stoddart writes: "While I cannot testify that each and every driver agreed with what we were proposing, what I can say with certainty is that no driver disagreed." The Ferrari drivers expressed no opinion in the matter, leaving the decision to Todt, who was not present. The nine team principals who were present then resolved that, unless they and the FIA could come to a decision in the best interest of ...

After a short break, the group gathered again in Ecclestone's office to find Renault team principal Flavio Briatore on the phone with Max Mosley. Mosley had apparently rejected all of their proposals, and it was stated that "Mosley had informed Mr. Martin, the FIA's most senior representative in the USA, that if any kind of non-championship race was run, or any alteration made to the circuit, the US Grand Prix, and indeed, all FIA-regulated motorsport in the US, would be under threat". [ 21 ] On...

Having exhausted their options, the Michelin team principals, Stoddart, and Bernie Ecclestone – but not Jordan's Colin Kolles – discussed whether their cars should proceed to the grid, and decided that they should participate in the formation lap but that they could not race. [ 21 ] Stoddart asked Kolles if he would be allowing his cars to take part and was informed that Jordan would indeed be racing, despite having previously agreed not to. Stoddart was then approached by a Bridgestone represen...

At the start of the race, all the cars lined up on the grid per FIA race procedure . As Charlie Whiting signalled the green light to start the formation lap, a full field of twenty cars set off as normal for a single lap before forming the starting grid. At the banked Turn 13, the entrance to the pit lane and the turn that was the centre of the controversy, all teams that ran Michelin tyres returned to their pit box areas, leaving just six cars from the three Bridgestone teams ( Ferrari , Jordan...

The move by the teams, to come to the grid and then pull out after the formation lap into the pit lane, infuriated the fans, who did not know about the plan. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] BBC Radio broadcaster Maurice Hamilton said of the event, "Without question, it was the strangest race I commentated on in F1." [ 30 ] Because of the retirement of the drivers who qualified ahead of them, Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari teammate, Barrichello, were the foremost starters, although using the grid positions the...

The race was a story of pit strategy, as the only passing on the circuit was of lapped traffic. Albers was the only car to run a three pit stop race, as all other drivers chose to stop only twice. The only lead changes came on lap 26, as Schumacher's 32-second stop gave Barrichello the lead, and on lap 51, as Schumacher turned in the quickest pit stop at 23.615 seconds, giving him enough time to exit pit lane at the same time as Barrichello, with the result of forcing Barrichello into the grass ...

At the podium ceremony, at which none of the scheduled dignitaries were present, all Ferrari team members quietly accepted their awards, and quickly exited. Monteiro stayed behind to celebrate his first and only podium finish, and the first, and, as of 2025, only podium finish for a Portuguese driver. [ 28 ]

The win, Schumacher's only victory of 2005, moved him from fifth to third in the World Drivers' Championship. [ 42 ] [ 43 ] Alonso and Räikkönen remained first and second in the championship standings, with 59 and 37 points respectively, while Schumacher moved up to 34 points. [ 31 ] [ 44 ] With his second-place finish, Barrichello went into fourth in the drivers championship, with 29 points, and Trulli dropped to fifth with 27 points. [ 31 ] The Ferrari team moved into joint second in the Const...

Bernie Ecclestone, in answer to a question by ITV 's Martin Brundle in an interview just before the start of the race, described the future of Formula One in the United States and the future of Michelin in the sport as "not good". He also said that the "incident's not the fault of the teams, to be honest with you". [ 45 ] The race was labelled a farce, and David Coulthard said that "it throws into doubt the future of the race in US". [ 22 ] Associated Press writer Stephen Wade pointed to the boy...

Minardi boss Paul Stoddart was noticeably angry with the FIA both during and after the race, calling the race a "farce". He went on to say that the points battle between Jordan Grand Prix and Minardi was ruined during an interview during the race, saying: "This is fucking crazy! The FIA needs to get a grip with itself and sort this sport out before there's no fucking sport to sort out. The championship's over for Minardi. We were only fighting Jordan. This bullshit race means that the season fin...

The following day, the FIA published a justification of its refusal to permit a change in tyres or the installation of a chicane. It contended that Formula One operated under "clear rules" which could not be altered when a team "brings the wrong equipment to a race". It further claimed that a chicane would have resulted in the race being run on a track that had been significantly altered "without following any of the modern safety procedures", which would have exposed FIA to significant legal li...

On June 22, the FIA produced a press release from Max Mosley, in the form of a question-and-answer session, in an effort to clarify the FIA's stand on the controversy. [ 54 ] In it, Mosley drew an analogy to a hypothetical situation where the engines from one manufacturer had oil starvation problems due to high lateral loading in one corner, and pointed out that those cars would simply have been forced to run slower as a result. He reiterated that the reason for not installing the chicane was pu...

On June 29, the FIA World Motor Sport Council found the teams guilty of not being in possession of suitable tyres, "but with strong mitigating circumstances", and failure to allow their cars to start the race. The teams were found not guilty of the other three counts. The punishment was not decided, and was to be announced on September 14. [ 56 ] On July 22, the FIA World Motor Sport Council voted to overturn its previous decision, and exonerated the Michelin teams of all charges. The decision w...

At the Grand Prix of Cleveland , held one week after the US Grand Prix as part of the 2005 Champ Car World Series season, free admission was granted to all bearers of ticket stubs of the US Grand Prix. [ 62 ]

Teams that were not in the top four of the 2004 Constructors' Championship standings were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. [ 63 ] These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race, [ 13 ] [ 64 ] [ 40 ] with the exception of Ricardo Zonta, who replaced Ralf Schumacher after his practice accident.