2005 Formula One World Championship

The 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 59th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 56th FIA Formula One World Championship, contested over a then-record 19 Grands Prix. It commenced on 6 March 2005 and ended 16 October.

Fernando Alonso and the Renault team won the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championships, ending five years of dominance by Michael Schumacher and Ferrari since 2000 and also ending nine years of Ferrari , McLaren and Williams dominance triopoly since 1996. Alonso's success made him the youngest champion in the history of the sport, a title he held until Lewis Hamilton 's 2008 title success. Renault's win was their first as a constructor. Alonso started the season off strongly, winning ...

Alonso and Renault had to contend with the pace of the resurgent McLaren team with lead driver Kimi Räikkönen outshining teammate Juan Pablo Montoya , who came highly regarded from his time at Williams . Räikkönen won seven races like Alonso but would have won more if not for a series of reliability issues, resulting in qualifying engine change penalties and retirements from the lead on three occasions. Nevertheless, Räikkönen grabbed the headlines winning from near the back of the grid in Japan...

The 2005 season was the last before the Minardi , BAR and Jordan teams were taken over by new owners and changed names to Toro Rosso , Honda , and Midland respectively in the 2006 season. The former Jaguar team was sold from Ford to Red Bull GmbH and made its debut as Red Bull Racing during the 2005 season.

Free practice drivers

Five constructors entered free practice only drivers over the course of the season. Sauber Petronas were also eligible to enter a free practice driver, but elected not to do so.

Regulation changes

For a time there existed a distinct possibility that some teams would be running three race cars per Grand Prix: fewer than 10 teams, or 20 cars, starting on the grid would have resulted in some teams running three cars, under a term in the Concorde Agreement . By the first round of the season, there were ten teams, as Red Bull completed their takeover of Jaguar and were ready to race in Australia . Minardi, which initially received an injunction allowing them to compete despite their cars' non-...

Season report

The most-noted aspect of the season was Ferrari 's lack of pace caused mainly by a new rule prohibiting tyre changes during the course of a race. The Bridgestone tyres used by Ferrari could not find the right balance between performance and reliability, leaving the Michelin runners to battle for race victories. [ 13 ] Further rule changes emphasised the new focus on reliability, with engines required to last two Grands Prix without being changed. This change caused BAR to slip out of the top fiv...

Renault appeared the fastest team in pre-season testing and it was no surprise they dominated the early fly-away rounds. Giancarlo Fisichella won the season opener in Australia before teammate Alonso demonstrated his title credentials with a series of victories in Malaysia , Bahrain and San Marino . As the season progressed the McLarens of Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya became increasingly competitive and by the latter stages of the season the McLaren was generally considered the faster p...

Alonso secured his Drivers' Championship with a third-place finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix . Despite both him and Räikkönen having six victories to their name at this point in the season, Alonso's greater consistency meant he was able to claim the championship with two rounds to spare. The Constructors' Championship was secured by Renault at the final race , with Alonso's seventh victory of the year. This gave Renault their first championship as a constructor (after only previously triumphin...

Ferrari finished third in the Constructors' Championship with only one win, at the United States Grand Prix , a race that was only contested by the six Bridgestone cars after Michelin declared their tyres unsafe to run in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 's unique banked corner. [ 14 ]

After a high-flying 2004 season the most conspicuous drop in performance after Ferrari was BAR-Honda, who were banned from two races after scrutineers in San Marino discovered a hidden fuel compartment that allowed their cars to run underweight. They were beaten in the championship by Williams, whose engine partner BMW had announced they were leaving to join Sauber in June, and Toyota, who achieved 5 podium finishes and were only beaten to third in the championship because of Ferrari's 1–2 in In...

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top eight classified finishers. [ 17 ]

Table 1

Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine†	Tyre	No.
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2004M F2005	Ferrari Tipo 053 Ferrari Tipo 055	B	1
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2004M F2005	Ferrari Tipo 053 Ferrari Tipo 055	B	2
Lucky Strike BAR Honda	BAR-Honda	007	Honda RA005E	M	3
Lucky Strike BAR Honda	BAR-Honda	007	Honda RA005E	M	4
Lucky Strike BAR Honda	BAR-Honda	007	Honda RA005E	M	4
Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault	R25	Renault RS25	M	5
Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault	R25	Renault RS25	M	6
BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams-BMW	FW27	BMW P84/5	M	7
BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams-BMW	FW27	BMW P84/5	M	8
BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams-BMW	FW27	BMW P84/5	M	8

Table 2

('Constructor', 'Constructor')	('Practice drivers', 'No.')	('Practice drivers', 'Driver name')	('Practice drivers', 'Rounds')	('Practice drivers', 'Unnamed: 4_level_1')
McLaren–Mercedes	35	Pedro de la Rosa Alexander Wurz	1–2, 4–5, 8–11, 14–15, 18–19 3, 6–7, 12–13, 16–17	nan
Red Bull–Cosworth	37	Vitantonio Liuzzi Christian Klien Scott Speed	1–3, 10–19 4–7 8–9	nan
Toyota	38	Ricardo Zonta Olivier Panis	1–9, 11–19 10	nan
Jordan–Toyota	39	Robert Doornbos Franck Montagny Nicolas Kiesa Sakon Yamamoto	1–6, 9–11 7 12–17, 19 18	nan
Minardi–Cosworth	40	Chanoch Nissany Enrico Toccacelo	13 14–16	nan

Table 3

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	Australian Grand Prix	Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne	6 March
2	Malaysian Grand Prix	Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur	20 March
3	Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir	3 April
4	San Marino Grand Prix	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola	24 April
5	Spanish Grand Prix	Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló	8 May
6	Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte-Carlo	22 May
7	European Grand Prix	Nürburgring, Nürburg	29 May
8	Canadian Grand Prix	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal	12 June
9	United States Grand Prix	Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway	19 June
10	French Grand Prix	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Magny-Cours	3 July

F1ABY Commentary

The scent of wet asphalt and high-octane fuel hangs heavy still, doesn’t it? Renault’s triumph, a phoenix rising from the ashes of years gone by, a testament to a team's unwavering belief. Consider the weight of history shifted, the established order irrevocably altered. A young man, barely a man, seizing the crown, forever etching his name into the very bedrock of motorsport. A moment suspended, a legend born.

The scent of high-octane fuel and rain-slicked asphalt – a phantom still clinging to the Imola circuit – irrevocably altered the course of motorsport. Fernando Alonso, a name etched in the annals of racing’s finest, seized upon this moment, shattering a dynasty built over half a decade, a testament to youthful brilliance and the relentless pursuit of victory. This was not merely a championship; it was the rebirth of a legend.

F1ABY Trivia

Alonso, a ghost in the twilight, extracted every ounce of power from that 3. 0 Renault V10 – 920 horsepower, a beast truly unleashed on a track designed to punish it. The gearbox, a meticulous dance of six speeds, dictated the rhythm, a crucial element in securing that pivotal pole position. A victory born not just of speed, but of precision.

Three poles for Fernando, a testament to his instinct, a brutal dance with the track's capricious moods. The numbers themselves – three poles, five wins – paint a portrait of a driver utterly consumed by the pursuit of perfection, a breathtaking, almost unsettling, spectacle.

F1ABY Tales

The rain hadn’t relented, a relentless curtain drawn across the Tuscan track. A plume of spray erupted from Webber’s Jaguar, a furious white cloud obscuring the Australian’s desperate attempts to hold onto second. The scent of wet asphalt and ozone hung thick in the air, a primal fragrance of speed and peril. A shriek of tyres, a brief flash of scarlet – Alonso, impossibly, had seized the advantage, the Renault a predatory beast unleashed in the storm. The weight of history pressed down: a young champion, a team’s first victory, and the echoes of a dynasty crumbling. This, this was the heart of it, wasn’t it?

The rain in Monaco, a silver curtain descending. You could almost taste the salt spray, feel the slick asphalt beneath the tires – a visceral reminder of Stewart’s desperate gamble. A single, audacious move, a calculated risk mirroring the man himself. He chased down Villeneuve, a ghost of a memory, a duel echoing through the tunnels. The crowd, a hushed, expectant entity, witnessed a moment of pure, unadulterated audacity. A legend was being forged, not just in victory, but in the heart of a city steeped in racing lore. This wasn’t simply a win; it was the embodiment of a spirit – a defiance against the inevitable.